We left Peterborough marina around 9:45 and proceeded to Scott’s Mills.  Lock staff took our ropes as we were about to tie up on the blue line, and took us into the lock.  Current was very strong.  We were out of the lock by 10:15. The water was so high on the other side of the lock that the top of the tie up wall was right at the water level- fenders would be useless if you tried to tie up.    Here’s the speed sign in the water, as reference for the water level- it is on a post, that is not visible. 

  We proceeded down the Otonabee river for a couple hours and entered Rice Lake.  Lake was very weedy near the mouth. 

We arrived at Hastings lock wall at 2:15 and tied up.    We met Barry, Laurie and Leslie on GZL Adrenaline, the boat tied up next to us. 

They were waiting for parts to be delivered from Peterborough for their generator.  We visited with them and learned that a boater- Chris, that we had met last year was a good friend, and they were going up the TSW to meet up with him.

The next morning, we helped them off the wall, as they wanted to move up the TSW past Peterborough.  On Tuesday, we did some shopping at the grocery and beer store.  The water here is still very high, here’s a picture of the dam and spill way by the lock.

On Wednesday, we decided to leave after lunch, and were out of the lock by 12:45.  Our destination was the basin at Lock 15.  So, we only had to travel through the double lock of 17/16. When we were tying up on the blue line, lock staff came out to ask how wide our boat was.  When I told him we were 13 feet, he said to proceed into lock 17.    He said we were going to participate in a cross-over.  I didn’t understand it at the time- but here is how it worked.  A crossover occurs when one boat meets and passes another boat within a lock.  We entered lock 17 at the top, while the other boat entered the bottom of lock 16.  As we descended our discharge water filled up lock 16.  The single gate opened between lock 17 and 16, and we passed each other within the lock.  The gate then closed and we continued down in lock 16 and the other boat went up in lock 17.  In our 7 years of boating on the TSW, this was our first cross-over experience.  We were out of the lock by 14:45 and tied up in the basin of lock 15 by 15:00. 

We were the only boat there, I put on a bathing suit but only put my feet in the water to cool off.

Early the next morning we watch the Ontario hydro people assess their swing bridge that crosses over the lock.  A couple hours later we figured out why all the scrutiny- a large crane on a truck was taken across to do some work near the power plant.  By about noon, it came back across.   Around 2:00, a boat we had met in Hastings- Grace, came through the locks- Andy went to watch him go through Lock 15.  While there Karen, the lockmaster warned us that they were predicting a powerful storm later in the afternoon, she wanted to know if we wanted to move on to Campbellford or stay put.  We decided to stay and shut everything up and added a couple more ropes to the boat.    At about 2:15 we started hearing thunder in the distance—20 minutes later the storm hit.  We went from 0 wind to winds approaching 100 km/hr in seconds.  On our port side, we couldn’t see out of the windows and the boat felt that it was tipping to starboard.  It was accompanied by rain that was hitting the boat sideways.  The wind and rain lasted about 10 minutes, and then it cleared up.  At 3:05 we both received a storm alert on our phones, but by then the storm had passed and we had blue skies again.

That evening I saw a guy go by the boat and then I heard a whistle.  The guy was training his black lab using voice, whistle and hand signals to retrieve items from the water.  The dog would swim out to the object and return with it to his master.

Once the dog was on land he was told to shake, to dry off.  He was also told to go to his kennel on the back of the truck, so he couldn’t see where the next items were thrown.  The pair was amazing to watch.

On Friday, the winds were supposed to pick up, so we wanted to leave Healy falls, as soon as the lock opened.  We were through Healy by 9:25, then it was on to Crowe Bay, when we got there the lock wasn’t open, and the wind and current was working against us.  Andy honked the horn, and the lock people opened the gates.  They also helped me tie up the stern rope, as the wind was blowing us to the port side.    As we were locking down, there was water rushing over the upstream  gate, as we approached the bottom, more water was coming in than was going out.  After several attempts lock staff got the lower gates cracked open to let out enough water to drop us the rest of the way.

We were out of the lock by 10:05.  We moved on to Campbellford lock #13 and we were through it by 10:40. We moved on to Old Mill Park in Campbellford, and were tied up by 11:00.  As the day progressed the winds picked up to almost 70 km/hr.  We were glad to be safe at the wall in this small town.  We paid for 3 nights and planned to leave on Monday morning. 

On Saturday, David Nadja came to the boat to finish up the electronic calibrations.  He brought his mother, Grace along as they were headed up to their cottage once David was finished.   Grace and I visited, while the guys worked on the setup.  The two of us walked over the bridge to Dooher’s bakery to pick up muffins, tarts and cinnamon buns.   I took Grace’s picture in the park with the toonie.  

David was able to get the display screens changed to Andy’s specifications, as well as all the inputs that he wanted.  This was something that our two previous electronic specialists couldn’t accomplish.  Finally, the electronics that were installed in 2019 are working for the captain.  The bad news was that David could not get the JVC radio/cassette player (circa 2006) working, guess it’s time to replace it. Here’s Andy and David celebrating the end of this ordeal.

After they left, we pulled out our cart and the battery that had failed at Douro and walked to the Canadian tire.  The battery was still under warranty, so we were able to exchange it.  Now we will have a spare starter battery on board at all times, seeing as how this is one of our frequent issues.

 Around five we had dock tails with the other boats on the wall.  Dave and Kathy from Godspell, Ross and Maureen on Seneca, Jim on Live Wire and   Ken and Rhonda on Nine Lives. 

Godspell has a PVC rack which holds up their 2-400 watt solar panels, which gave Andy some ideas.

That night we learned that there would be a partial closure of the locks as of Monday, as per this memo.

This partial closure will protect boater safety, and help to prevent shoreline erosion and property damage experienced by local residents and businesses. All boaters are strongly encouraged to lower their speeds and watch their wake.

Parks Canada will continue to work diligently to re-open the entire system for navigation and will open individual lock stations in stages as soon as it safe to do so.

We decided to wait it out at Campbellford, rather than being at an isolated lock without power for multiple days.  There are a number of things that could be done on the boat, as well as shopping in town. 

On Sunday morning, out came the cart again and we walked up to UPI energy to have our 20 lb propane bottle refilled.  Next on our list was to run some soapy water through our shower and bilge in order to clean it.   As it was Father’s Day, Andy chose the menu for supper, which was BBQed beef tenderloin and veggies.  On Monday, my task was laundry.  Using the cart, we walked over the bridge, and went to Laneway laundry.  While the clothes were in the washer, we walked over to Sharpe’s food market and bought some groceries.  Andy returned to the boat with the perishables and I waited for the clothes to finish before trekking back to the boat.     In the afternoon we went to V&S, we were looking for graph paper and a toaster, as our toaster oven takes ages to make toast.  We also found a few other items; this store never disappoints there is always something that we may need.  We then walked over to the ice cream café; however, it is closed on Mondays.  We had dock tales with the other 3 boats that also chose to remain locked up in Campbellford, we are hostages on the water.   Tuesday marked the first day of summer, and the weather complied, it got to close to 30.  In the morning we pulled out our folding bikes, pumped up the tires, and lubricated some of the working parts.  Here’s Andy testing that everything is working.

  In the afternoon we walked across the bridge for essentials- ice cream & wine.  Saw this on the wall of the ice cream café. I had the Kawartha coconut and mango- both good but I am really enjoying the coconut!

 Later in the afternoon the captain pulled out his paper charts to show the other boaters places to stop along the TSW and in Georgian Bay.

In the evening we went to the movie theatre and viewed Jurassic World Dominion.  The Campbellford chamber of commerce bought us complimentary tickets.  The story line was a little unlikely, but I didn’t dream of dinosaurs.

On Wednesday we did some cleaning within the boat, as it was very hot outside. At about 3:20, we heard a bang at the back of our boat.  A boy who had been swimming on the other side of the canal in the strong current had been pushed diagonally over to our side of the canal.  Fellow boaters, Dave and Ross had heard his cries for help.  Ross had jumped onto our swim platform with a rope to try and pull him out.    He was successful, here’s the young lad resting after his ordeal. No lifejacket in a very strong current—not too smart!

Since it was very hot, we decided to order from Ming Star restaurant for supper. After dinner there was music in the park, here’s a view of some of the spectators, as well as our fellow boaters.

In the evening, Steve and Dodie Sharpe stopped by for a beverage.  We are loaning them our paper charts for the great loop, as they will be starting in August. Dodie showed me how to sign up for Nebo- so our boat location will now be visible to others.

We received some good news: TRENT-SEVERN WATERWAY TO RE-OPEN FOR NAVIGATION JUNE 24, 2022 Issued: June 22, 2022

Yippee, we will be leaving Campbellford after a week in this great town! Today we will fill up our water tanks, and reprovision before moving on tomorrow when the locks open. Here’s what I’m missing at home- one of my rose bushes covered in blooms.