We moved from the Welcome Center to a free dock at the Douglass Landing, which is a small park on the Virginia side of the Dismal Swamp.
There is a length of road here that is closed to cars; that day it was used for cyclists training for an upcoming race as well as a few runners. We walked alongside the road for about an hour before returning to the boat and continuing on toward the end of the canal. We tied off at the seawall just before Deep Creek bridge. Since the bridge and adjoining lock open only four times a time, many boats tie off here to wait for a designated time. If they have a lot of time to wait, it’s just a short walk to the town where there is fast food and a grocery store and other businesses, and this is what we did while we were there: we went shopping. We made the last bridge opening at 3:30 pm, but declined to enter the lock, instead anchoring in front of the lock for a quiet night.
The next morning we left the Dismal Swamp and were almost immediately in the busy-ness of Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia. The Elizabeth River divides the two cities, and the shore line is devoted to tugboats, big ships, and the US Naval fleet and shipyard on both sides. We turned into the free dock in Portsmouth, right in front of the Portsmouth Naval Museum, squeezing into the last available space.
We had not toured the Museum last fall when we’d stayed here, so this was the first thing we did once we were settled. It’s a wonderful little museum and gives a great history of the naval shipyard and surrounding town of Portsmouth. We also got a tour of the lightship Portsmouth dry-docked on the other side of the museum building. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the historic district, pausing to read from our pamphlet about the various houses and plaques, and ended our self-tour with a drink in a small bar to celebrate Mother’s Day.
Monday, May 15th we moved over to the Norfolk side of the river, to Rebel Marina. We have a history here, as people who have read our 2015 blog know. This is where we came ashore to take our cat to the vet after she’d been sick from her walkabout adventure in Rock Hall. The folks at Rebel leant us their car and let us use their washer and dryer (I did seven loads of laundry!) to deal with Tommie’s illness. They didn’t remember us, but they did remember the cat! I only did two loads of laundry this time.
We didn’t need their car this time. Our good friend Jeanne picked us up on Tuesday morning to take me to my doctor’s appointment for xrays and a follow up consultation on my hand injury. Good news on that front - my fractures are healed enough for me to stop wearing a splint! (Now I begin the tough work of therapy- and believe me, after nearly nine weeks, it is tough.) After my appointment Jeanne took us to one of her favorite lunch places - Danny’s Hotdogs. We placed our orders and then posed for pictures. Bernard, one of the owners, came running outside to get in the picture with us.
Food collected, we got back in the car and Jeanne gave us a bit of a history tour of Norfolk as she took us to her home where Bob, currently housebound recovering from foot surgery was waiting. (Jeanne, we think, should start a side business of bus tours of Norfolk. She knows just about everything about the town.) The four of us and their three dogs spent a great afternoon on their front porch enjoying our takeout and catching up.
We pledged to get together again next year when we pass this way on our way home.
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