This boat secured to the waiting pier at Lower Nicholsons while the people travelling on it had a meal at a picnic table in the shade. The blue line on the edge of the docking platform tells that it is for boats waiting to go through the lock.
Lock 18 at Lower Nicholsons has a lift of 2 metres (6.5 feet). There is a 300 meter channel from Lower Nicholsons to Upper Nicholsons, with another 300 meters beyond that, where there is a weir and dam on the west side. All the channels in the Ridea Canal system were dug by hand, i.e., men with shovels.
Visitors to Lower Nicholsons and Upper Nicholsons can walk the length of the channel on the west side. Here you can see the boat that has left Lower Nicholsons approaching Upper Nicholsons, which has a swing bridge on Andrewsville Road.
Visitors to Lower Nicholsons and Upper Nicholsons can walk the length of the channel on the west side. Here you can see the boat that has left Lower Nicholsons approaching Upper Nicholsons, which has a swing bridge on Andrewsville Road.
The swing bridge at Upper Nicholsons has been rebuilt three times since the canal's completion in 1832. Each time it has been rebuit exactly the same as the original. Just like the origninal a canal operator swings it open and shut by pulling or pushing it into position, all eight and a half tons of it.
