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We had quite a bit of rain yesterday with some dry periods between the showers. This morning started with the sky being very cloudy with dark clouds toward the west. Candy and I got our first walk in mostly before the rain started. I checked the radar and there were a couple of rain areas that appeared to be headed our way. After the first rain passed I kept checking the radar and the 2nd patch of rain started heading more north, so we decided to move to Newark, just 5 miles west on the canal.
We had 3 locks to go thru to get to Newark. The first lock was just ahead of where we were tied up in Lyons so it was easy to see when he was ready for us. The sky brightened a little which was good because it made rain less threatening. Lenore decided to stay on the bow for the locks instead of coming back into the cockpit each time. Made for less climbing up and down.
The canal was fairly rural with just a couple of cottages on the shores. We did have a road not to far along the south edge of the canal that provided access to each of the locks. There were no boats traveling west with us and only 3 eastbound boats that came out of the lock at Lyons so we waited to enter.
As we approached Newark it looked like the wall was mostly full and I was trying to figure Plan B. We approached a little closer and I wanted to look how big the one space was on the wall. As we were almost there, one of the boats pulled out and there was room for us. We pulled right in and tied up.
We met up with a couple on a sailboat that we talked with in Lyons and we had 1st met at Ess-Kay Yards in Brewerton. They had been to Newark before so they gave us some of the layout of what was where. Newark has a very nice dock area with a park like setting on both sides of the canal. On the north side is where the power for the boats is located along with the Chamber of Commerce Building. They have also painted the northeast bridge abutment to appear stone and inserted a life like mural of a room under the bridge. Look at the picture I took.
There was an open air BBQ going on across the canal from where we were anchored so Candy and I went over to check it out. They were BBQ’ing chicken diners with the proceeds for the Boy Scouts. I bought a couple of dinners and they were pretty good.
We also saw a canal rental boat that had been in Lyons yesterday and the people were newbies to boating and had no information on the Erie Canal except some verbal info they got. I lent them my Skipper Bob Erie Canal Book for the evening so they could look at it and they returned it this morning.
There was a steady stream of boats during the day that passed thru Newark heading east. I am thinking we will stay here tonight and move on tomorrow. We found out we do not want to be in Tonawanda on Wednesday because they have a band in the park on Wednesdays and there will be lots of people and boats with rafting. We will probably space the travel out with 4 days to go the last 116 miles. Sure is nice with the free docks.