To ‘visit’ the Rideau Canal WHS there are a couple of approaches possible: you can (1) ‘tick’ it as part of a city trip to Ottawa, (2) focus on the 5 locations in and around Kingston, or (3) spend some time following the Canal on its flow between those cities. The latter is what I did: after an overnight stay in Montreal, I drove south and visited Burritts Rapids Lock Station, Merrickville Lock Station, and Jones Falls Lock Station. This part of Ontario is a flat and green farming area, like a supersized version of the Netherlands or Northern Germany.

I started at Burritts Rapids -  a small, deserted site where I was the only visitor. Here you can do the 4km long ‘Tip to tip trail’ that runs from the locks via a swing bridge to the dam. It provides a pleasant morning stroll, but the canal features are a bit underwhelming. The trail can be muddy and some parts have a lot of mosquitoes (the blood was on my arms!). It’s a good area for spotting birds (it’s very quiet), as well as squirrels and turtles (the main road even has signs warning of turtles crossing).   

Merrickville Lock Station has a very different setting: it lies in a town center. If you need to have a coffee or lunch break, this would be the best place to do so as there is little along the way or at the other locations. The eye-catcher here is the Blockhouse, a defensible building once (occasionally) staffed by the British colonial military, and designed after the example of medieval fortifications. Unfortunately, it has very limited opening hours so I did not manage to see the interior.

Finally, Jones Falls. My Waze app had trouble directing me to these locks; it’s best to navigate towards Hotel Kenney. You can park in front of the hotel or at the Parks Canada overflow parking a bit further down the street. These locks were the most impressive of the trio that I visited: it is a very scenic wooded area and the locks have to overcome the highest difference in altitude. There were 2 pleasure boats making their way down when I was there. As in the other locations, Parks Canada staff operate the locks – a reminder that it isn’t a commercial canal anymore, and only in recreational use.

P.S.: At none of these three places I saw any indication that they are part of a World Heritage Site….