Day 3 on the Dismal Swamp

Hi Family and Friends,
Woke up to a beautiful sunny day and decided to leave at 8.30am in plenty of time to catch the 15ft Gilmerton bridge which first opened at 9.30am.Would you believe it ,the previous rail bridge usually open decided to close to let on a 49 carriage train! So we waited a good half hour there and missed our opening.However we called up the bridge keeper who informed us it was a 15ft 1/2inch clearance so we just got under ( we have a 15 ft clearance on the boat)and headed off for the Dismal Swamp. So named because the diggers of the canal( all employed ruffians back in 1787 ) declared it a dark and dismal area.It is the oldest operating artificial waterway in the USA. Our first stop was at the Deep Creek Lock where again we had to wait for an opening of about 45 mins. Not the kind of journey if you are in a hurry!
The Lock Master organized us and the sailboat behind us then proceeded to open the gates and the water flowed in to a height of 8 ft. Once completed, the Lock Master decided to give us an informative lecture  about the canal . The area surrounding the Canal has Jupiter and Cypress trees in abundance .They leach tannins into the waterway and the fresh water becomes very acidic.So much so ,no bacteria can survive in it. The water is the color of dark tea. George Washington owned the whole area of the dismal swamp. He was a man of many talents and means.He harvested the trees for lumber  , and another fact little known fact, he was also the largest rum producer in USA ! The Lock Keeper had double duty and once we were underway,he drove off down the road to open a bridge we then went through. The  journey to our destination the Dismal Swamp Welcome center took about 5 hours going through the lovely serene vistas at about 6 miles speed and using 1.7 gallons per hour.
 ( normally we would be using around 30 gallons per hour)The sailors would be proud of us ,we were enjoying the journey not aiming to get there as fast as possible! We tied up and two sailboats joined us for the night.We went for a nice long walk through the nature reserve then cooked dinner on boat thanks to Lets Dish. I was in bed by 9.30pm!
Over and Out
Erica. 

Sent from my iPad Canal.