We left BYH on Thursday  morning and moved to Buckhorn lock wall.  We didn’t plug into power until about 3:00, as we wanted to see if the solar panels would charge up the batteries.  To keep busy, I stenciled “On Business” onto our life ring, and then painted the inside of the letters blue.  I also  did some weeding around the lock building, in the late afternoon, I played photographer, as Parks was  having a bench dedication for a long-term lockmaster—Pat, who had passed away in 2019.

  That evening we went to the Cody Inn for supper.

On Friday, we locked through with another boat, when the lock opened around 9:00, we followed them through  Lovesick, Burleigh Falls, Youngs Point, and finally tied up at Lakefield lock 26 around 1:15.  We stayed there for 2 days.

On Saturday, afternoon we walked into Lakefield to pickup a few things.  We also stopped for ice cream- our first since coming to Ontario—it was not Kawartha but Central smith.  I tried a new flavour Lemonade lavender—very refreshing. When we returned to the lock,  we met loopers Bill and Margie from Florida,  we spent several hours showing them potential anchorages and places we had stayed in Georgian Bay and the north channel. On Sunday morning we toured the Crustacean, 42 foot Grand Banks, and Margie and Bill came aboard and looked at our boat as well. I walked around the lock station in the morning and took pictures of the garden as well as these purple irises, and the boats at the lock.

My neighbor from home had sent me some pics of my irises and roses.

  When we left on June 1^st, there wasn’t even a bud on the rose bush- it must really like the heat and rain that Winnipeg has been experiencing.

 Just before 11:00 we untied and followed Crustacean  to Young’s Point lock, it was raining off and on all afternoon.  Once we were through Hell’s gate, they turned and went to explore Stoney Lake.  We continued on  through Burleigh Falls and Lovesick locks, arriving at Buckhorn at 2:15, once through the lock we tied up in front of “Just Wright”.  We hadn’t seen Roy and Dalaina since last September, when the pulled their boat and drove back to B.C.  We had happy hour and caught up on what we had been doing over the winter.  After supper, we invited another couple, Andy and Stephanie from Colorado, who were on a houseboat rental to take a look at the inside of our boat.  Sometime in the future, they would like to do the Great Loop.  Andy gave them some advice on boating and what to look for in a live-aboard boat.  After they left, we played cards, like we do most nights—I have not won a game yet.  It started to rain again once it got dark and rained through the night and was still raining in the morning, as well as a bit breezy.

On Monday it rained most of the day, in the afternoon we had a crib tournament with Dalania and Roy. We learned from all the rain, that the design of our canopy needed some alterations, as water just pooled on the canvas around the solar panels. But the rain didn’t stop the Canada geese from being around, there were 4 adults and 40 small ones hanging around the lock.

 On Tuesday morning, Just Wright left through the lock, they are headed east to Montreal.  After a walk to the grocery store and liquor store, we headed over to BYH to fill up our fuel tanks.  We showed them the problem with the canopy.  We went into an empty slip and several people came to take a look.  It was eventually decided that we needed three more bars that were slightly hooped to make the water flow to the end of the canopy.  Tuesday night after taking the crew from Crustacean grocery shopping, we drove to Lakefield to do a load of laundry.

On Wednesday, Cindy and Amanda came and added the 3 new bars,

Later in the afternoon  Todd came and tie-wrapped the solar panels to the canvas. We are still waiting for the final part for the solar setup- hopefully it comes on Thursday. We went out to Home hardware to pick up pipe insulation to put around all the exposed support braces.

In the evening we drove to Bobcaygeon for our first Kawartha ice cream, right from main location.  I had coconut and Andy had salty caramel truffle. 

When we got back to the boat, we invited Jo and Ken  over for a drink.  We had been parked next to them at the marina last year for several days.

In the morning, Cindy and Amanda returned to the boat and moved some of the snaps on the canvas, as now with the extra support bars, they didn’t meet up.  In the afternoon, Andy and I put the pipe insulation around the support bars, where the weight of the solar panels could damage the canvas.    Andy was having issues with the Renogy M1 monitor and after conferring with Karl several times, he has decided to turn it off, and only use his phone for monitoring the batteries and electrical system. Our Blue-tooth solar monitor accessory was not in today’s mail. We have made the decision to leave in the morning and head to Bobcaygeon and beyond, likely will stop in Rosedale. It has now been 15 days since we left home, and Georgian Bay is calling. We checked in with the Port of Orillia about getting dockage next weekend, but because of Christmas in June festivities, they are completely booked up. Will have to pass Orillia, and the great chelsea buns at Wilks bakery for now. Andy also called to Henry’s fish restaurant, and they will be opening as of June 27, so we will get the opportunity to spend a night there. We just found out that the Solar monitor accessory is out of stock until July 9- so I’m glad we decided not to wait any longer for it.

We left the lock before 8:00 and tied up at BYH gas dock just after 8:00.  Ralph came onto the boat and took a look at the new leak on the port engine.  After consulting with the manual and looking on-line, it was determined that we needed a damper.  Andy sent pictures and contacted Rovan, who had sent us the washers for our leak on the Starboard engine.  They didn’t respond until the following day with what we needed and a cost. While we waited at the gas dock for this, Andy spent multiple hours, working on stripping and re-staining the teak railing. He was able to strip and stain almost ¾ of it. 

Around 4:00 Friday, we moved into Peter’s slip at BYH, as he was away on his boat.  Once there I did a thorough washing of the decks to try to remove the sanding dust.  We didn’t do any more sanding and staining here, as we were in close proximity to other fiberglass boats.  We will finish the teak work, once we are back at a lock wall.

On Saturday morning, I went into Lakefield to do laundry.  I was curious to find out where the laundry, in case I ever need to go there from the lock.  It would be a fair hike, but likely not as far as going to the laundry in Frankford—so it is doable.  On my return I stopped at Foodland for a few things.  Shortly after noon, David arrived at the boat, he was coming to do a few more updates to our Garmin electronics.

  Around 3:00, we decided to take the boat out for a test drive, so he could see some of our issues while it was running.  Since he had never been through a lock, we proceeded to go down through lock 31, and once we were at the bottom we turned around and came right back up, as the new fall hours are in effect and the locks close at 4:30.  People watching, must have though we were crazy—who would go through the lock twice.  Only us—I guess I needed more practice.  After cruising in upper buckhorn lake, with David driving, we returned to the marina.

   David then installed the JVC radio/CD player to replace the one on the boat that was no longer functioning.  It took him less than 10 minutes to complete this task, Andy and I had looked at the instructions about a week ago—and it was all Greek to us.  It’s great to be able to play CD’s again and hopefully have better radio reception.  For supper we ordered pizza, and David was on his way back to Hamilton.

On Sunday we got up and did a little cleaning, we then left the slip and moved to the blue line at the Buckhorn lock.  We were through and travelled to Lovesick lock and were through it by noon.  We tied up at the wall below the lock.  We were joined by a number of other boats.  One was a looper boat called Wild willy with Casey and Kerry, who I immediately recognized.  

We had previously met them on A dock at Victoria Harbour marina, however at the marina they had a different boat.  We had a long visit with them talking about their looping experience.   I had noticed that the Canadian flags at all the locks are at half-mast as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth.

On Monday morning, rain was in the forecast so we left Lovesick around 10:30 and travelled to Burleigh Falls, and were through the lock by 11:10, we then moved on to Young’s Point, and were through by 12:20.  We decided to tie up at the bottom, and the rains started shortly thereafter.  In the afternoon, we went to Lock side Trading to shop and get ice cream. We were disappointed regarding the ice cream as they no longer had staff in the café- so no ice cream for us.  We then walked over to the general store, but there was no ice cream or baking there, so we went home empty handed.  It rained most of the evening and overnight.

On Tuesday we left Young’s point at 9:15 and slowly moved to Lakefield and were tied up there by 10:15. There was rain in the forecast for the afternoon, but we decided to finish sanding the teak railing on the starboard front quarter.  Our thoughts were that if it was to rain, we could always cover the raw wood with saran wrap to keep it dry.  It took Andy and I almost 3 hours to complete this task, but all the old stain was off by 2:00.  I then swept up the sanding dust, followed by washing the deck using by anchor wash hose.  I covered the wood with saran, and we waited for the rain.  When it didn’t materialize, we decided to put on the stain.  Andy gave the raw wood a good coat, and did the remainder of the railing with a light coat.   We spent some time reading on the back sundeck in the sun, and there was no rain in sight. The rain didn’t materialize in the night either, so the railing will get a second coat of stain today.

 On Wednesday morning we walked into Lakefield and bought a couple things at Foodland, on our way back we stopped at the café for coffee, a muffin and Central Smith ice cream- definitely not as good as Kawartha.  We went back to the boat, and in the afternoon, the railing got another coat.  It was very breezy, and quite overcast.

On Thursday, we left at about 9:30, and crossed the two lakes before arriving at Burleigh Falls.  We encountered a triple threat here—we locked through with 3 houseboats, but since we were the last boat in and out, no mishaps.  We followed the three boats to Lovesick and we decided to tie up on the bottom.  We visited with the other boaters there, and Andy gave the teak a few touch ups.  He put the dinghy down later in the afternoon and cruised around the area feeding his remaining worms to the fish.

 While he was gone, I watched the neighboring boats play bean bag toss.

  When he returned to the boat, he still had a few worms left and caught a few “blue gills”.   He filleted them and we had them for breakfast on Friday. 

Friday morning was cool, and it was raining.  We locked through on the second lockup with 2 other cruisers around 10:30. We arrived at Buckhorn lock about an hour later and locked through, earlier in the week we had worried about staying at the lock, but there were only 3 boats tied up on that dreary day.  We continued on to BYH, and tied up near the gas dock.  Andy checked in with the service department, as well as Cindy in the canvas shop.  Our part for the fuel leak had arrived and will be installed likely on Monday.  Cindy agreed to meet with us in the afternoon to go over our requirement for a solar canopy over our sundeck.  We met with her for about an hour in the afternoon, looking at Andy’s sketches, pictures from another PT 35 that we had seen a canopy on

and the materials that were available.  It is possible that she may be able to make the frame the following week. 

We returned to the boat, and packed a bag or two, as we were going up to Bancroft to spend the weekend with Brian and Helen, as Saturday was Brian’s 70^th birthday.  We stopped at the Bancroft Kawartha store for ice cream. We had a lovely dinner of bbq roast beef, potatoes, cabbage rolls and cake for dessert.

Saturday morning, Andy and Brian went golfing, only 9 holes as it was Andy’s first golf game for 2022.  Here’s the pair of them in the afternoon after their outing, the 70+ year old needed afternoon naps. 

While they were out Helen and I went to downtown Bancroft and did some shopping as well as stopping at the farmer’s market.  For dinner, we went to the Bird’s Creek café, and then returned to the house for wine, cupcakes and ice cream. 

We saw this wild turkey family return to the bush near their house, they have a daily routine of walking out of the bush each morning and returning before nightfall.

Sunday morning, we woke up to heavy rain.   We left Brian and Helen’s around 9:30 and headed to Buckhorn and the boat.  It continued to rain, we caught up on some missed episodes of Coronation Street and started packing up the boat. 

On Monday morning, Andy went and checked with the service staff, regarding our leak.    Mark came around 10:30 and installed the damper fitting on the port engine.   We were told that we would be pulled out on Tuesday, so the packing continued, and I defrosted the freezer.  Cindy and Amanda from the canvas shop came around noon, and took some measurements for the solar canopy.    In the afternoon, Andy decided to change the oil in the two engines are we had put on about 125 hours over the summer.  After he warmed up the two engines, it took about an hour to complete this task.

  He also topped up the water in the batteries.   By running the engines, Andy noticed a slight leak in the starboard engines, so went back to the service staff, and asked to have the spare damper fitting installed on that engine as well.

We waited until 4:30, and since no one came to do the repair, we decided to go to Lakefield.  I wanted to do laundry including our bedding, so that I wouldn’t have to take it home.    We returned to the boat by 6:30 and had a late supper.  We continued to sort through and pack up things that needed to be stored, as well as stuff that we wanted to take home.

On Tuesday morning, Andy moved the car and we started loading it up.    We completed packing shortly after 9:00.  Andy also got confirmation from Renogy that the additional solar panels and clips were shipped.  We drove back to Bancroft to stay at Brian and Helen’s.  

  After lunch, Helen and I went downtown to do some shopping, and I bought some yarn for an upcoming project.  We will be returning to the boat on Thursday to check on the progress of the boat top.

Our plan is to leave Bancroft Friday morning and go to the Sault.  We originally had hoped to go via Owen Sound and the Chi cheemaun on ferry, but couldn’t get a reservation until Sunday, so that side trip won’t happen again this year. We were told that there are lots of people, likely seniors, doing the fall colours tours so bookings are hard to get at this time of year.  We also found that hotel rooms in Sault St. Marie on Friday night were very limited. On Saturday we hope to make it as far as Thunder Bay.  No more two-day driving marathons to Winnipeg—we’re too old for that!

Wednesday, we did our own tour of the area, going to Haliburton, as Brian was getting his 5^th covid shot.  We went up into the Haliburton highlands one way and returned on a different route.  Lots of leaves are changing to yellow and red.

While in Haliburton we did some shopping and went for lunch.   Once we were back, I pulled out knitting needles and started playing with tension and the new wool.  In the evening we watched a little TV, and I read a book.

On Thursday morning- the first day of fall

I got some sad news from my friend Veronique she told me a recently retired colleague, Bert Siemens had passed away suddenly last weekend, and his funeral would be on Saturday. This was a bit of a shock, Bert and I had worked together for years on the Harvest survey.  Later in the morning, Andy and I drove back to the boat to check on the progress of the deck cover and winterizing.   We were disappointed to learn that our boat was exactly where we had left it on Tuesday,

we were told it was too tall for the canvas shop space.  Some progress had occurred with respect to the new top.  When I got to the boat, Amanda was adding some clips to the radar arch.  Cindy and Andy had some final discussions about the top and the attachments.  We then went to the canvas shop to see the assembled stainless-steel structure, as well as the canvas material that will be covering it. 

Upon leaving BYH, we picked up pizza for lunch and then some fruit for the road and filled up with gas at Curve Lake.  Enroute to Bancroft, we stopped at Kawartha for the final taste of ice cream, I had a scoop of coconut and pumpkin pie.  The pumpkin pie ice cream actually had some pellets of pastry dough in it- this will not be a favourite! There are frost warnings out for this evening– so it is time to go…..

We plan to leave tomorrow morning and should be home by Sunday night. Another year of boating in Ontario has ended, we were here for almost 4 months. I think we used our mooring pass 72 times and travelled through 145 locks as well as spending a week in the thousand islands. Remarkable value for spending $650 on our Parks Canada mooring and locking passes! What a great country we live in, the boating here is amazing, as well as the ice cream!

  On arrival, at the Buckhorn lock, we still have the smell of diesel- so the leak was not completely fixed.  Andy spent some time phoning around looking for the gasket or washers that we require.  He was able to find what he thinks we need, and they will be shipped to BYH next week.  We took a walk on Saturday afternoon to Foodland for a couple of things.  There is a peregrine falcon nest in a tree above the lock, which still has young birds in it, wanting to be fed, so the 2 parents are constantly either guarding the nest or bringing in food. 

On Saturday Andy spent some time on his computer, cleaning up files and deleting duplicates, so that his file system will be ready for migration to his new computer. The Kawartha Voyageur was docked at the lock.

We were through the Buckhorn lock by 9:25 on Sunday and headed towards Burleigh Falls, as we were going to meet Dalaina and Roy from Just Wright there.  We hadn’t seen them since the Thousand Islands, but had been in touch by text.  We went through the Lovesick lock at 10:10 and arrived at Burleigh around 10:30. There was no place on the wall, and boats had until 11:00 to vacate, so we were advised to go through the lock and bobble around on Stony Lake for awhile.  We were through the lock at 10:40. We waited for a couple of lock throughs each way and came through at 12:15 and tied up on the upper wall.   

 Our friends came through about a half hour later, and tied up across the lock.  Around 2:00, the spot next to us cleared, and Just Wright joined us on the same wall.  We visited with them at the picnic table with a few drinks.   By the time the lock closed we were the only two boats at this lock.  On Monday morning, it was a little windy, and we decided to move to Lovesick.   We went for a walk to the Burleigh falls inn before 9:00, but not much was opened. 

On our return to the boat, Andy called Lovesick lock and was told there was room for both boats below the lock.  So, we fired up and went the 2miles and tied up there by 10:30.

One other boat was just coming through the lock, but we were all able to fit on the wall.  I walked around and took pictures of the very extensive perennial garden, as well as the sign board about the legend of Lovesick.

We spent the afternoon reading at the picnic table, until the rain started, when we moved inside.  Around 7:00, we were once again able to meet at the table, since we had heard that there were raccoons on the island, we sprayed some vinegar around the wall near our boat as a deterrent.  In the evening Andy and I played cards.

On Tuesday morning, more rain and strong winds were predicted, so we decided to go back to Buckhorn to see if our parts for the fuel injector had arrived.    Andy had some time before the locks opened so he put the dinghy in the water and tried fishing near the dam.

  We were through the Lovesick lock at 9:35 and through Buckhorn at 10:45, and tied up on the wall with Just Wright.  We had rain off and, on all afternoon, so stayed inside.  Our part had not come in yet.  We had drinks with Roy and Dalaina at 5:00 in our salon.  We played cards in the evening- Andy is on a winning streak, I haven’t won more than a game or two a week.

In the morning, rain and wind was predicted, so we decided to get the car and go into Bobcaygeon, so that I could catch on the laundry.  Andy took down one of the folding bikes and pedalled to the marina in order to get the car. 

He then put the bike in the trunk and came back to the lock.  Around 10:00, Andy, Roy, Dalaina and I went to Bobcaygeon.  While I was at the laundry mat, the other three went to the LCBO, Beer store and grocery store.  Once I was done, they picked me up and we did a little tour of the best of Bobcaygeon, we showed them the Kawartha Dairy production plant- (no we didn’t stop for ice cream), Kawartha Settler’s village, Bigley’s shoes, and the location of the farmer’s market.  We stopped at the British store, as we saw a sign that they were going out of business, I bought some raspberry preserve with famous grouse scotch as well as a jar of red pepper relish, Andy bought a tweed cap. Dalaina bought a dish towel and a really neat Scottish bag/purse.

We drove back to Buckhorn with our purchases and had lunch.  Buckhorn Yacht Harbour called to let us know that our parts for the injector pump had arrived, hopefully they can be installed on Thursday, and that will put an end to the fuel leak. Around 2:00 we drove to Foodland for a couple additional items, then we took Roy and Dalaina to Buckhorn Yacht harbour to show them the marina.  On the way back we stopped at the Adam and Eve rocks for photos. 

We had a brief rain shower, and some very strong winds in the afternoon.  We had drinks and appetizers at the picnic table around 4:30. While sitting at the table, another boater walked by and told us that he had seen our boat in the Peterborough lift lock the previous week on YouTube.  He said the text accompanying the video was in Chinese, so we’re not sure if we’ll find it.  Andy remembered a crowd of Asian people at the top of the lock with cameras.  Small world!

 We bbq’d for supper, and then Andy checked our house batteries and added water to them.

In the morning, Andy returned our car to BYH, and had one of the guys bring him back to the lock.  He fired up the engines and we moved the boat to the gas dock at BYH.  We filled up with water and pumped out.  Ralph came down with the parts for the injector and replaced the washer.  All seems to be good. We left BYH at 9:05 and headed across the lakes to Bobcaygeon.  The wind was blowing, and there were some waves on the lake.  We arrived at Bobcaygeon at 11:00 and tied up on the bottom with power.  Just Wright joined us there a short time later.

In the afternoon, Dalaina and I checked out all the shopping on the main street, including Bigley’s shoe store.  We also crossed the bridge and went to the hardware store as well as a couple other.  It was great to have some girl time!  I wanted to buy Spider-out, as the spiders on the boat seem to be increasing.  We got back to the boat, just in time for 5:00 happy hour, which actually ended up being a 2-hour ordeal, as it may quite possibly our last time together. 

Hard to believe we only met them on June 14^th in Hastings; however, our paths have crossed numerous times over the summer.  They need to be back to Port Severn by September 10^th, so are on a tighter schedule than us.

On Friday morning, we left in the first lock up and headed to Fenlon Falls.  It was fairly windy on Sturgeon lake.  We arrived just before 11:00 and they already had a boat in the lock, so we joined them.  We got the last spot with power on the upper wall, and were tied up by 11:15.  Just Wright joined us about 45 minutes later. 

In the afternoon, Andy and I walked around town and stopped at the patio of the Cow and Sow for a beer and some appetizers.  It was very busy at the locks and town was quite busy as well for a Friday.   It was also really hot, when we returned to the boat, we closed up all the windows and put on the AC.  Roy and Dalaina joined us for happy hour around 5:00.  For dinner we opted for Chinese food and picked it up around 8:00.  The three dishes that we ordered is enough for 3 meals.

On Saturday morning, the lockmaster came by our boat, to ask if we were continuing on.  We said we were staying another night.  He had some bad news, the Kirkfield lift lock had sustained damage the day before, and likely wouldn’t be operational for some time.   He said that boats would be allowed to exceed the 2 day limit at Fenlon falls for this reason. Here’s a link to a story about the incident:  https://www.kawartha411.ca/2022/09/03/passengers-of-kawartha-voyageur-cruise-evacuated-after-scary-liftlock-failure/

  This messed up Just Wright’s departure as they were planning on moving on towards Kirkfield.  Since we had a source of water, I spent some time scrubbing the deck on the flybridge and sundeck.  I also sprayed the canvas with the Spider out, it works instantly, as well as leaves a residue for spiders that move to that area.     Dalaina and I checked out some of the stores in town, and went to the farmer’s market, where I bought some fresh produce.  I was looking for corn, but they were already sold out.  We partook in Happy hour on my clean deck. 

On Sunday, the temperature had taken a down turn, it was chilly on the boat, so we put on one of the heaters.  More boats that were stranded moved onto the lock wall, we had one boat in front of us, that put a lifejacket over our anchor, so that they wouldn’t hit their heads on it.    There was talk of a crib tournament happening amongst some of the boats, to warm up for it, Roy and Andy played 8 games, with Roy coming out the winner.

  Many of the boats tied up were trying to make alternate plans to get their boats passed the Kirkfield lock.  There was a guy advertising on the web, that he had a trailer that could take boats around the lock. But he had a tonnage limit on his trailer, so some boats would not be able to use his service.  Since our trip to Orillia would now be cancelled, we offered Roy and Dalaina a ride to Port Severn, where their truck and trailer is being stored, once we got back to Buckhorn.

On Monday morning we locked through the Fenlon lock around 10:30, and headed across Sturgeon lake to Bobcaygeon.  We were through this lock at12:35 and tied up on the power wall by 12:45.    I did some file cleaning on my computer for an hour or more, and then we went for ice cream at the Bigley’s sweet shop.  We weren’t sure if the Kawartha dairy outlet would be open, as it was labour day.  We visited with some of the other boaters on the wall, one of which was trying to get a boat to Georgian Bay.  After supper we played a couple games of cards.

On Tuesday morning we started the engines around 9:00 and headed back to the Buckhorn lock, arriving at 11:15 and tied up.  I walked over to the marina to pick up the car.  We wanted to drive in to Peterborough to get some stain for our teak railings.  We arrived back at the boat just around 2:00.  Andy started to sand, and decided it was going to be a very long process, so he called Brian in Bancroft to see if we could borrow a belt sander.  So back in the car and off to Bancroft, and then back again arriving at the boat around 6:30.  We had supper, played cards.

On Wednesday, we left by car at around 7:30, headed for Rosedale.   We made a stop in Fenlon Falls, as we heard that Peter the marina owner from BYH was there and was having engine issues.   We had a short visit with him and then we continued on to  the Rosedale lock where Roy and Dalaina were waiting.  We drove to Port Severn via Orillia, arriving there around 11:00.

  We left them with their truck and trailer, and we made the return trip to Buckhorn lock, arriving shortly after 1:30.  Andy started removing the layers of stain on the railing using Brian’s sanders.  Much quicker than what he had done yesterday, however it will likely take several days, maybe even a week to complete this for the entire railing. Once he is done the railing should look more like natural teak, than  brown wood.

  Around 3:30, several boats arrived with the Canadian rangers.  We had actually saw them in the morning, as they were in Rosedale, when we picked up the Wrights.  Here’s a picture of them in the lock. 

In the morning we went to BYH to check on our new fuel issue, may have to pull the boat sooner than we want to.

We left Campbellford Old Mill park before 9:00 and were through lock 13 by 9:25 through Crowe Bay by 10:00 and Healey falls by 10:45, and the Healey flight lock by 11:15.  We then followed the Trent river to Hastings and tied up on the bottom, as there was no room on the top.  They have lovely flowers growing in several canoes here.

 We had gone about 20 miles and 6 locks.  It was Hasting’s waterfront festival, and there were lots of people in town, many having come by pontoon or bowriders.  A lot of the activities including axe throwing and musical performers was taking place across the canal at Hastings Village Marina. 

  We walked around town a little and went for Ice cream.  Around 4:00, some room opened up on the top of the lock, so we locked through and tied up.  We were in front of Grace too, which we had last seen on the rideau.    We walked to LCBO, which is very close to the canal, and purchased more wine and cider.  We then spent some time reading on the back deck.  I saw a guy with a snake around his neck- he said it was a boa constrictor and I saw him drape it around a little girl’s neck—not something I would do!

In the morning, we were up early as our plan was to leave around 6:00 for the trek to Peterborough.  Andy was up and made coffee before 6:00, however he checked the weather and saw that a thunderstorm cell was predicted for 7:30, so we stayed put.   The storm and rain hit about 7:30 and was over by about 9:00, so we ended up leaving around 9:30, it was 40 miles across Rice Lake and down the Otonabee river, it did rain a couple of times, but not for long. 

We reached Scott’s mills Lock 19 by 2:05, we got to Ashburnham by 2:15, but had to tie up and wait, as the Lift lock tour boat was on its way.  We were through Ashburnham at 3:00, and the Peterborough Lift lock by 3:20.  We decided to keep going and were through Nassau Mills Lock 22 by 4:15.

  We decided to tie up here, as there were some dark clouds around us, and we had gone 45 miles.  The lockmaster here, was Kirk, who had been at Buckhorn for a number of years so we had a visit with him once we were tied up.

  Around 5:30 we met Korban, Kirk’s son, and took him for a tour of our boat, Andy even showed him the engine room, and how he checks the oil.   We gave him a few candies from our Campbellford chocolate stash.

  At the end of the day Korban, donned a life jacket, and closed the lock gate- wonder if he want’s to be a lockmaster like Dad.  

 The rain held off until about 11:00 and we had a big downpour that woke us both up.

In the morning, it was just starting to drizzle when we left Nassau Mills at 9:10 and were through Otonabee at 9:35, Douro at 10:05, Sawer Creek at 10:30 and Lakefield at 11:00.  We were tied up under a tree by 11:10 and plugged into power, as the solar panels would be almost useless in the rain. 

I finished reading my book, and did a little cleaning on the outside decks.  Here’s some of the vegetables and flowers growing in the planter boxes.

On Tuesday morning we walked to town and went to Foodland and the hardware store.  We stopped for coffee and a muffin at the ice cream shop.  Didn’t have ice cream as it was Central Smith and not Kawartha.  We came back to the boat, and decided to stay another day, as it looked like it may rain again.  Shortly after lunch we were joined by three boats, which we had previously met a couple of years ago in Rosedale.  One of the boats, Plan Sea, we had recently saw when we were on the Rideau.  We spent the afternoon visiting with them at the picnic table under the shade of the trees- as the forecast was wrong again, and there was no rain in sight.

On Wednesday morning we left at 8:30 and travelled to the Young’s Point lock and were through by 9:30, we then moved on to Burleigh Falls, and were through it by 10:00.  We were in this lock with 2 house boats, that were part of a 7-boat family reunion- we stayed far away from them, entering the lock once they were tied up to their cables.  We then moved on to Lovesick lock and were through it by 11:30. Our last lock for the day was Buckhorn and we were through it by 12:25.  We called Buckhorn Yacht Harbour and tied up by the launch ramp by 12:50.  In the afternoon we asked Pat in the marina office, to print off some papers that we required signed and sent in, so that we could retrieve our medical records, from our doctor’s office.   Andy talked to the service department, and a couple items from our list will be worked on in the morning. I saw this person removing weeds from the marina basin.

We ordered pizza for supper, and went to pick it up in our car. Once again, we caught up on missed Coronation episodes. I picked a dozen ripe tomatoes off one of my Prairie Pride plant, not sure if I will grow cucumbers again next year, as I had dozens of blossoms, but only one cucumber matured.

On Thursday morning, Ralph checked our strainers for weeds, and also found the diesel leak, which was a fine spray coming from a pump fitting.  He was able to tighten the bolt and applied some sealant to stop the leak.  Todd re-arranged some of the cables on our VHF and AIS, so that the VHF radio now appears to be working correctly.  We also spoke to Cindy in the canvas shop, and asked to have 6 missing or broken twist lock fasteners on our flybridge replaced.  We drove to Foodland and picked up a few items.

In the afternoon we drove to Bancroft to visit with Muriel and Brian, as Muriel had just come home from the hospital last weekend, after having surgery.  We had stopped at the Kawartha dairy store in Bancroft, and picked up ice cream, so we all had a bowl.  Before leaving town, we stopped at Brian and Helen’s for a short visit as well.  Upon leaving we decided to go back to the boat, and then drive to Peterborough to look for a car radio, to replace the non-functioning one on the boat.  As well, we wanted to look for a new computer for Andy’s as his has a lot of issues, and is being held together by duct tape.  We were successful buying a computer at Walmart and the radio at Canadian Tire. 

We stopped for supper at Wendy’s, and then rushed back to the boat.  The rain was really coming down, at times it was hard to see out the windows.  We got home at 7:45, which was good, as my book club Zoom meeting was at 8:00 with Helen, Sheila and Jess.

It continued to rain until 9:30 and then seemed to stop, although more rain is in the forecast Friday. We plan to leave this morning, and spend a day or two at the Buckhorn lock, and possibly go back to both of Lovesick and Burleigh Falls for a night ( two of the locks on my list- where we haven’t stayed). We have been on the boat for three months now, I’m ready to go home, however the captain would like to spend another month on the water, and is talking about coming back in November, provided winter hasn’t settled in, to assemble what will become our sundeck cover and solar panel frame. He has asked BYH for a quote on the materials required.

We left Crates at 10:25. There was a pancake breakfast happening, so we stayed for breakfast before leaving. As we passed Trenton there was a plane that kept flying the same pattern multiple times, but didn’t land– must have been practicing!

  We arrived at Lock 1 Trenton around noon and Locked through by 12:40. We moved a couple miles and locked through Sydney at 1:00.  Then it was on to Glen Miller and we were through it at 1:45. We had contemplated staying at lock 3, but were told that Lock 4 was better as it was quieter.  We locked through at Batawa at 2:20 and were tied up by 2:30.

Pulling into the lock we saw a boat and a bunch of people having lunch.  It turned out that it was Rick and Linda from Compromise with their family. We tried to have a short visit with only one “long story short” but it didn’t happen.  Andy gave the Compromised family a tour of our boat.   We had a peaceful afternoon, and were joined by one other boat on the wall.  The lock station was a lockmaster’s house and is more than a hundred years old.

On Saturday morning, we stayed tied up and helped a number of boats tie up on the blue line.  One boat had an issue with one of its engines, but was able to restart it.  As they rushed to the next lock, two of their fenders fell off.  They didn’t seem to notice.  The one fender was fairly close to our locations- so Andy became the fender fetcher.  He got into our dinghy and rowed to where the fender was and retrieved it.  The second fender was close to a mile away, so we waited until it was closer, and on our side of the canal, before he launched the dinghy a second time and retrieved that fender.   The lock staff at Batawa had been in contact with lock staff farther up the canal, to say the fenders had been retrieved.  One of the lock staff from Lock 5, came and picked them up and delivered them to Lock 6, where the boat was waiting.  Good job Captain- you’ll get a gold star someday!  At 1:15, we moved on a mile to Lock 5- Trent and were through the lock by 1:50 and tied up.    The lock station at this lock is a twin to the last lock station.  Here’s pictures of it, it had a lot of flowers, and tomatoes growing, and I spent some time pulling weeds- Do you think I’m missing my weedy garden?

On Sunday we decided to stay at Trent.  We did some window cleaning

and waxing on the outside of the boat, as well Andy gave some of the teak railing another coat of Cetol.  We relaxed outside under the cedar tree reading in the afternoon.

  Later, Cat’s Pause with Phil and Caroll joined us on the lock wall.  We had previously seen them in Westport. They have a cover over their front hatch which I find interesting– it maybe a winter project to duplicate something like it for our boat.

In the morning we left Trent lock and moved on to Frankford lock at 10:15, and moved to our favorite spot under the shade of the big willow tree.

We were joined by Springbok and Nauti Jenny in the early afternoon.  Around 1:00, we talked to Lakewood Medical and got an appointment to meet a new doctor when we return in October. Around 2:00 we walked by the park canteen and had some Kawartha ice cream we then went into town to the grocery store, pharmacy and LCBO.  On our return we joined Rick and Jenny and Steve and Sandra under the willow tree for drinks and a visit. 

Rick and Jenny have completed the loop but are now doing the Canada piece.  Steve, Sandra and Oakley are from Reach harbour near Buckhorn, they have two boats, one for travelling around and another one that they live on full time.

In the morning, boats going south left, however those going on to Lock 7 Glen Ross stayed tied up, this was because two boats had become trapped in the lock when the water could not be released.  There was a hydraulic issue.  Before noon, the two boats came through to Lock 6, however there was still an issue at Lock 7, as the lock could not be filled. By 1:00 there were already 7 boats at Frankford, including Rick and Linda on Compromise.  We spent the afternoon at the picnic table visiting and drinking.

We have been friends with Rick and Linda for almost a year having met them in Frankford a couple of times in September of 2021.  Andy and Rick get along like brothers, and are always joking back and forth.  Prior to their arrival at Frankford, Andy had sent Rick a picture of the table under the coveted willow tree, this is what Rick changed the signage to after we left on Wednesday.

 For supper the four of us walked into Frankford to the new 3 Jacks steak restaurant.  Once we returned from town, we visited on our boat with the AC running as it was quite muggy outside.  In the morning a couple boats left in both directions.  Around 10:30 we decided to fire up and move on a couple of locks.  After we were through Glen Ross we tied up and went to the store for ice cream as well as Andy got some worms for fishing. Our friends Dave and Claudia from Still Waters II don’t think we’ve been eating enough Kawartha- so we are going to have to sacrifice our waistlines and eat more.   We then went about 12 miles to Percy Reach; we were joined in this lock by a bowrider with people from Calgary.  We continued on to Lock 9 Meyers and tied up. 

It was around 2:00, and a rain shower was imminent.  After the first shower, I went for a short walk to check out the Oasis cabins- which actually look like pods up in the trees. 

  There were two at this location.  I talked to a woman on Thursday morning who had stayed in one, and said that they creak and move a little when you are walking in them.  She also said that they cost $140/night.  For a washroom and shower they have to walk up to the lock house.  They now have Oasis cabins at locks 8, 9 and 10. The modular showers are also available for use by boaters- so I tried one out in the morning. 

The lock house at this location is the same design as the ones in Batawa and Trent- so now we seen three of them.  Not quite as many flowers at this one as at Trent, but still very well maintained for being over a hundred years old.  There has not been much rain and the grass at most locks along the TSW is dry and brown.

We had several more rain showers in the afternoon and evening, accompanied by thunder and lightning. 

In the morning we left Meyers and travelled to Hague’s reach and were thru by 9:45. We then moved on to the double lock at Ranney falls and were through by 10:30.  We were tied up in Old Mill Park at 10:50.  We had gone a total of 4.6 miles.  Our friends from Compromise arrived around 1:15, as they were coming all the way from Frankford. Shortly after 2:00 our friends Brian and Helen arrived.  With a car they took us to World’s Finest Chocolate ( where we bought this stash of chocolate treats),

the Beer store, V&S and Sharpe’s grocery store. Saved us having to lug bags around town.  We went for an early supper to 52 North pub and grill.  Helen and Brian left shortly after for the drive home to Bancroft.  We sat at the picnic table until dark visiting with Rick and Linda. We saw several first responders at the dock across the canal around 9:00- not sure what was going on.

In the morning after several of the boats, including Compromise left before 9:00 to make the first lock.  We moved our boat on the wall so it would be closer to fill up our water tank. 

We learned that there was an issue in one of the locks and Compromise’s trip to Frankford had been delayed because of weeds at Percy’s Reach, but they were able to reach Frankford and claim the willow tree again.

We did some more shopping, going to Dooher’s Bakery, Dollarama and No Frills.  I walked over to the laundry mat and washed a couple loads of clothes.  Once the clothes were drying, I went to D’s island shack for an extra spicy chicken roti. On my return to the boat, we caught up on a few episodes of Coronation street. Starting around 4:00 the wind started to pick up and then we had a rain shower.

So far we have stayed at 3 locks on the TSW that we had never stayed at before, and I was able to remove them from my list.

Back at home, we got an update on the progress of our new apartment building, the builders are now starting on the third floor where are apartment is to be.

We will be leaving Campbellford in the morning, likely going as far as Hastings. We hope to be back in Buckhorn by the middle of next week, as we are having a few minor fixes done to the boat before moving farther northwest on the TSW.