Wednesday - Slow start this morning. We had anchored just off the channel in a bay like area. Others had warned about the weeds on the anchor on the Trent. This was a new experience for us.
This big ball of weeds took Jerry about 15-20 minutes to clean off with the boat hook. Basically what we learned after this is to anchor in water greater than 15 ft deep to avoid the weeds.
Marshy on the way to Lock 8.
One of the lock masters showed us a piece of drift wood that the local school had decorated by burning designs into the wood. This was how it went, most all of the lock masters were friendly giving advice for places to anchor or restaurants to try. Lockmasters from locks 8-12 pushed Doohers Bakery for the cream filled donuts.
This guy was in Lock 8 with us
Approaching the double lock 11/12.
I don't usually help with the lines, but we needed to keep the back end close because a boat was passing us from the first lock.
Locks 11/12 is our first double lock. This first part of the lock raised us about 20 feet then the huge doors open to the next lock and you move up and it raises us some more.
A beautiful canal coming into Campbellford.
Cute kids walking along the canal waving at us.
We have arrived at Campbellford.
Boats on the left get 30 amp power, boats on the right side get 50 amp. We went for the 50 amp power so we could turn on the AC. It is hot so having air feels good.
After lunch on the boat, we walked to Canadian Tire, then stopped at the Visitors Centre to get a better map. Passed the Stinking Rose Pub for a local brew. Nothing special even though it was recommended by one of the lockmasters.
Joleen and David stopped by. Said Goldleaf may have a transmission problem so stayed in Trenton to get it checked out. Forget me Knot is moving on tomorrow.
Had dinner on the boat. A concert in the park on the opposite side of the river was easy to listen to from our sundeck. Good ole country western.
AC will make sleeping tonight the best!
Thursday - Got the bikes off. Rode to Doohers Bakery. Met David there. We got a cream filled, as recommended. It was as good as advertised. Light cream filling.
All of these boats are loopers.
Only one or two of the boats on the other side are loopers. This is certainly a great place to settle for a few days.
Rode to locks 11/12 Pretty cool watching the locks operate from above. This lock is tremendous.
This looper started in Maine and is doing the loop in reverse he said.
Back to the boat to do some chores. Jerry took the dinghy out to clean the sides of the boat. He did the port side (shady) while I cleaned the deck. Will do starboard side when it's shady, this evening.
After lunch, I gave Jerry a haircut. We rode bikes to the World's Greatest Chocolate factory. I remember selling this stuff as fund raisers when I was a kid. Of course back then it was 50 cents for a 16 oz bar. Now it's $3 for 1/2 that. We bought some of the 70% dark chocolate covered almonds and some mint meltaways. Yummy. Took them back to the boat and headed for the Butter Tart Factory across the river. She was sold out of tarts and said to come early tomorrow. Yeah, we are eating really bad.
Back to the boat to chill. It's hot out today, so glad we have AC.
Friday - Rode bikes to Butter Tart Factory this morning but they weren't opened yet so decide to have breakfast out at Be My Guest. Lots of locals.
Jerry heard there was a hardware store past Canadian Tire so headed that way. They didn't have the tubing he was after so back to Canadian Tire. They had something but not exactly what he wanted but got it anyway. Back past the tart place and picked up a lemon and pecan tart for later. yeah right! They were yummy.
Back to the boat. Checked email. The Visitor's Centre has wifi. The signal wasn't very strong since it is across the canal. Tried to get the blog computer hooked up but no luck. Jerry had to return something to Canadian Tire so he jumped on the bike and was off. We love having bikes available to run errands.
Goldleaf came in about the time Say Goodbye did. Goldleaf went to the other side, I helped Say Goodbye with their lines.
In the afternoon, decided to do laundry so stripped the bed and took what dirty clothes, we had about 3-4 blocks away to the local laundromat.
Jerry worked on a pump that needed to be mounted while I was at the laundry.
Had dinner with Goldleaf (Carl and Glenda) and Say Goodbye (Ralph and Celeste). Good time.
Saturday - Breakfast at Doohers again then went to the Farmers Market. Picked up maple syrup from a guy from Hastings, Ontario. Also tomatoes, snap peas and beets.
Got the hose out to wash down the boat and fill up the water tank. Started up engines just as Say Goodbye came back (they had taken off about 30 minutes before). They forgot to buy bug zappers. We did too. Jerry jumped on the bike and rode to Steadmans to get one. It looks like a small tennis racket. Add batteries and you can smoke just about anything that flys as well as spiders. We've had lots of flying critters lately, thought this might help.
Finally off around 10.Went through locks 13-18 today.
Interesting walkway to this cottage.
Cool looking boat
We saw lots of float planes
Narrow opening. Popular place for kids to jump off.
Stopped at Hastings Village Marina for a pump out. $14 + $4 tip.
Off again heading for anchorage at Rice Lake. Landed between Margaret Island and Grasshopper Island. It was about 7pm when we arrived. Had already started cooling down. Took a dip in the water, water temp about 78F. Felt cool and refreshing.
One of the lockmasters said we should see Northern Lights tonight.
Had a beautiful sunset but no Northern Lights. We stayed up until about midnight but the clouds were just too thick to the north. Bummer.
Sunday - Off about 8:30. Rice Lake is beautiful. Lots of fishing boats out today.
We go a few miles in the wide openness of the lake to a huge red flashing daymarker. We turn right 90 degrees into a narrow channel.
We are now on the Otonabee River.
Passed this lovely home. People on the dock enjoying the wonderful morning.
Lily pads along the channel.
Through lock 19 with The Zone. Met them in Kingston at Confederation Basin and again at Campbellford. It was a tight squeeze. They are a 52' Jefferson. Big boat. Talked to the lock tenders about where to stay. They suggested we stay at lock 20, Peterbourough. We arrived about 1pm. After checking in we rode bikes into town for lunch. Found a micro brew restaurant. Had a great lunch then rode to Boaters World to check it out. Not open, but ran into Ralph and Celeste, Say Goodbye. Talked for a moment. The wind kicked up and it was clouding over so we headed back to the boat.
A tour boat going into the lock.
The big draw at Peterborough is the lift lock. Incredible engineering. It was the first lock to be built out of concrete and at the time (1896) was the largest structure ever built in the world with unreinforced concrete. We walked to the lock, about 1/2 mile from where we were to get some pictures before we actually locked through.
The lock has two identical ship vessels (like bathtubs) that ascend and descend. Both are enclosed at each end by pivoting gates
Each "bathtub" sits on a ram, the shafts are sunk into the ground, are filled with water, and are connected with a pipe that has a crossover control valve. The "bathtubs" are guided up and down on either side by rails affixed to concrete towers.
No external power is needed: the lift lock functions by gravity alone using the counterweight principle. One always ascends and the other always descends during each locking cycle.
It is quite a site to see.
After dinner, talked to the folks on the boat tied to the wall behind us. They were just up for the weekend.
The fountain in the Peterborough harbor with the town in the background.
Monday - This morning we needed charts so waited for the office to open. Bought charts, a hat and t-shirt. Went through lock 20 with a sailboat. Talked with them while going up. They are from Denmark, had crossed the Atlantic and plan to do the loop.
Our next lock is the lift lock. The gate goes down, the green light comes on. The Trent tug is ahead of us as well as the sailboat. The tug goes in first followed by the sailboat. We notice the sailboat is not going in so I pull over to the wall to stay out of the way. Come to find out it is stuck on the threshold. It draws 6 feet. About 6 guys, from the tug and the lock, pull the sailboat off and it backs up to try the other side after we go up. We found out he had to sign a waiver at the start of the Trent Severn because of how much draft the boat has.
What a spectacular experience. We had heard, read and seen pictures, but being here is the best!
Looking out the back of the boat
Going up
Went through 8 locks today. Stopped for the day in Clear Lake at Fiddlers Bay. Anchored in 20 ft about 1/2 mile from shore to avoid weeds. Had just settled in when a guy on a jet ski cruises over to us. Asked where we are from, said he lived in one of the houses on shore. One of the lock masters told us the cottagers might dinghy out and ask us to leave. I guess we didn't look threatening.
Jerry got this great picture of a Loon.
Hot again today. Got our suits on and jumped in. Water really feels good. Clear water. I decide to wash my hair in the lake.
Not your typical Midwest lake water. Others told us they used lake water to wash dishes then rinsed in tap water.
After dinner, we sat on the sundeck until the bugs chased us inside.
Our buddies, on the Coast Guard boat
The bridge at Charlevoix
The seawall at Frankfort.
The lighthouse at the sea wall coming into Manitowoc.
One of the lovely gardens along the bike trail.
Those crazy kids standing in Lake Michigan cooling off.
