On August 20^th, we moved back to the Buckhorn lock and paid to be connected to power for the weekend.  It was very hot.  We visited with the boaters who were tied up near us. 

On Sunday morning we left on the second lockdown, and went through Lovesick, Burleigh Falls and Youngs Point.  We tied up in Lakefield at 1:15 under some trees, but it was still very hot.  In the evening we played cards- euchre, skipbo and 5 crowns with our boating neighbours Brad and Debora, who live near Owen Sound.  We fired up the generator to cool the boat down, so we could play inside, as there were many bugs outside. On Monday morning we trekked into town at 7 am to the 24-hour Foodland to pick up a few things.  We left at 9 am locking through Lakefield, followed by Sawer Creek, Douro, Otonabee, Nassau Mills.

Just before the Peterborough Lift lock, we met two American looper boats- Moonshine and First light; they were the first loopers that we had seen in over a week.  With the boarder being closed, I think a lot of loopers have taken the Erie canal rather than coming through Canada.   We followed the Peterborough tour boat into the lift lock.  The ride down was only about 2 minutes.  We continued to follow the tour boat through the swing bridge and Lock 20 Ashburnham.  Once through we tied up for the night at 12:15   We had travelled about 9 miles, and gone through 7 locks.  Far enough on another day of excessive sun and humidity.   We had never stayed at this lock, and it had a nice little park with shade trees which we welcomed. On Tuesday morning we met some Canadian Platinum Loopers who were on their way to Midland, after spending time on the Rideau Canal.  We visited with them and then  left Lock 20 about 9:15 and  went the mile to lock 19, Scotts Mills.  We were through before 10 am, then it was about 40 miles down the Otonabee river and crossing of Rice Lake before we reached Hastings. 

We were tied up by 1:40. In the afternoon we went in search of ice cream, but both stores having ice cream were closed We decided to walk down to the grocery store where we picked up 1.5 L of Kawartha Pralines and cream- It survived the walk back to the boat without completely melting. 

On Wednesday morning at 7 am, I headed over to the Hastings laundromat, to do a few loads, with it being so hot, we are going though a lot of clothes.  On Thursday, Andy was at LCBO when it opened at 10:00 to pick up some cold beer.  We untied and moved to the blue line, so that we could lock through.  There were a couple boats being locked up, so it was around 11:00 before we were through.  We had decided that we were only going as far as Lock 15- lower Healey falls,

as we had heard that the “basin” there was a good place to go swimming.   After going through the flight locks 16 & 17, we arrived at our destination by 2:00.  After tying up on the grey wall we went to the lock station to check-in — we were given creamsicles, because my husband asked where the closest ice cream store was.   We then   donned bathing suits and went into the water. 

My thermometer on the boat was reading 45 as the outside temperature.  Way too hot!  We stayed in the water for about an hour, then went to sit under some shade trees and read our books. 

At 4:00, I found out how Ontario Hydro secures their site for the night, they use a ½ ton truck to pull the bridge into the open position so no one can cross the lock. At 5:30, two other boats joined us at this lock.  The couples were from Montreal, instead of dock tales, we visited while we were all waist deep in water- cooling off in the basin.   Our new boating friends are planning to do the great loop in the next year or two- so they had lots of questions. 

On Friday morning, when we got up it was only 19 C—which was great!  At 7:00 a.m., I watched the first Hydro employee move the bridge back into place, so the workers could cross to the dam. 

In order for boats to get into the lock, the dam staff, have to come back and move the bridge, so that boats can pass through.  We really enjoyed the stop at this lock- we had always passed it by, but will now stop here more frequently, this also had the cleanest bathroom, of all park facilities that I have used this summer. We were through the Healey lock by 9:15 and then it was off to Crowes Bay at 9:50 and Campbellford at 10:20. We were tied up at Old Mill Park in Campbellford by 10:40 having gone 5.2 miles.  There was a bit of a breeze, and it was pleasant, as the day progressed, the temperature rose to about 28.    We took a walk and checked out a couple of stores, we had planned to go to the bakery but there were about 10 people in line outside, so we passed.  We stopped by a food truck, and I got a chicken roti- with extra hot sauce nothing on the menu interested Andy.  On our way back to the boat we ran into our Montreal friends-they had docked on the other wall, and were only stopping for something to eat—they hoped to make it to Frankfort tonight, they left shortly after we had seen them, and waved as they passed us by.

I finished reading my book and then went for a shower, around 5 we walked over to the nearby grocery store for a few items.

On Saturday morning, Andy walked to the Canadian Tire and then to Duoors bakery for some fresh donuts.  I did some interior boat cleaning, and called one of my sisters to check-in.

 Around noon, Brian and Helen arrived, as we had a lunch date with them. 

We went to 52 North, and sat on the patio under a pear tree.  The tree was loaded with pears, and the wasps were swarming around.  Following lunch, we stopped at No frills for more bottled water, and then drove over to world’s finest chocolate outlet to buy some chocolate covered almonds. When we returned to the boat we sat outside and visited some more at a picnic table in the park while eating chocolate almonds.

On Sunday morning before 10 am, another looper boat came and docked in Old Mill Park.  The boat was Serenity II, owned by David and Susan Neilan from Kenora Ontario.  

We had met them back in 2019, when they came to our house in Winnipeg, to ask questions about the great loop.  They are returning to Victoria Harbour where they are keeping their boat for the winter, next year they will be starting the loop from there.   We had a thunderstorm blow through early afternoon with only a little rain, the temperature was still close to 30.      We stayed hunkered down inside with the air conditioning going, but lost power a couple of times, and had to wait for it to come back on.   Around 5:00 we met with Susan, David and Sam for docktails at the picnic table.

We had a great discussion about electrical issues and the best places to stay between here and the Thousand Islands, as David and Susan had visited the islands earlier in the summer.  Andy and I ordered dinner from Ming Star, so we didn’t have to cook.  We will be eating Chinese food for a couple of meals. Another thunderstorm passed through around 10 PM, coupled with more rain.

On Monday morning we walked over to no-frills for some fruit, and then started to make preparations for leaving Campbellford in order to get closer to Lake Ontario, and the Thousand Islands.