July 18-24

Jim and Wendy, Loopers, who we had met in Delaware City stopped by after lunch.  In the afternoon   we went for a walk by the Canoe museum but it was getting ready to close so we didn’t go in.  We ended up at  Landsdowne mall  and only bought  a lemonade in the food court and then walked back.  We had previously had our Kawartha Ice cream fix for the day, so no more of that.We decided to stay an additional night at Peterborough Marina,

On Tuesday we walked up to Lock 20,  checked it out and then walked on to Lock 21- the lift lock.

We watched a boat get ready to go throughand then ran up the stairs and saw them arrive on top.We saw more red chairs, so another photo-op.We then went to the  visitor centre  and looked at the displays and the video on the making of the canal and another one on how the lift lock works.   On our return trip to the boat we stopped for lunch downtown and at the Boaters store.

On Wednesday we were at Lock 20 for the first lock through—we were in the lock with 3 other boats, one of which was a 52 foot Looper boat called Miss Ly.    We then went a ½ mile to the lift lock, where only 3 of us went up.  I timed the lift it took just 2 minutes and 17 seconds to rise 65 feet.   Here’s the Captain tied off and watching us go up. The lift lock works using only gravity and water and is like a see-saw. Once the boats go  into the lower chamber  it displaces it’s weight in water and therefore considered weightless.  The upper chamber has an additional 30 cm or 144 tons of water added to it and it causes the chamber to descend, because of gravity.  Thus the lower chamber rises up.  Amazing.

Following the lift lock our group of 3 followed  the waterway through the  countryside, passing Trent University and  through an   additional 4 locks- Nassau Mills, Otonabee, Douro, and Sawer Creek.  We reached Lakefield Lock #26, and went through it at 2:00.  Making our lock count 7 for the day.  We decided to stay and the other boats went on further.  We walked into town and checked out the Canoe bar, and the adjacent bakery Stuff’d that sold ice cream. We then walked to the downtown and checked out the stores,   Does this suit me?Saw this store a few blocks away- not sure if it is associated with the Bakery- but similar names.We  stopped at Foodland for a few supplies.    After supper, Andy returned to the Canoe pub for the Quiz night.  He joined up with the fellow transients at Lock 26, 2 canoeists that were in pup tents and a couple in a runabout that were also tenting.  Their quiz team name was the hillbillies, hobos and the rich guy.   They had a respectable showing, but weren’t the winners.

On Thursday morning, Andy cooked Pancakes and Bacon for the Quiz team, before we all set off for different destinations.    We left the lock wall at 9:30, as we were only going about 7 miles up to Lock 27 Young’s Point.   We were through and tied up by 10:30.   We checked out the Lockside Trading Company store- amazing store with furniture, clothes & gift ware, can you guess what we bought here?  It was a hot day, close to 30.  For supper we opted to go to the Old bridge Inn for supper.  It looked like we may get a rain storm, but only amounted to 15 drops of rain not enough to cool off.

On Friday morning we left the lock around 10, and went about  5 miles to Clear Lake.  We had been offered the use of Jim and Wendy’s dock  (Clear Lake Habour Hosts) for the night.  They have a lovely place called Cougar Landing. It was a windy day with some whitecaps, so it likely wouldn’t have been a good day for anchoring in Stoney Lake.    Wendy and I went to Lakefield, which was about a 10 minute drive to pick up groceries in the afternoon.  We had a lovely BBQ in the evening,and Andy brought out his inland river charts to show Jim, as they have not done that part of the loop as yet.  I tried to make friends with the cats, Martini and Daiquiri On Saturday, we decided to stay another day.  Jim and Wendy were hosting  a BBQ for the area home owners association – we helped with setting up and clean up and  lots of people from the area.  I think there were over 60 people in attendance.  It was another hot day, with a  little bit of a breeze.  Later in the afternoon the wind picked up and there was some chop on the lake.

Here’s the Lake early Sunday morning,  Here’s Jim and Wendy’s Looper Boat  Triple Threat , with 3 – 300 HP Mercury outboards.Andy went for a  swim  at 7 am  to check the props for weeds and nicks.   We are in less than 5 feet of water here at Jim’s dock and the water is so clear, it shouldn’t take long to do an assessment.  The water is also quite warm, as it’s been hot the last few days.  All is good.  We had planned to go to Buckhorn to have the boat pulled and the props checked, but we are likely going to cancel our booking.I think the tentative plan is to move to an anchorage on Stoney Lake today.  We are going out for supper with Jim and Wendy, somewhere across the lake, so they would pick us up at our boat.

July 12, 2016

The Trent Severn Waterway (TSW)  is 240 statue miles long and zigzags west  through rivers and lakes  from Trenton to Port Severn on  Georgian Bay.    Water depth in the TSW is approximately 6 feet, so it is necessary to stay within the marked channel.   Speed limit is 10 Km/h, and there are 44 locks which have to be traversed.

We left the marina at 8:20 and proceeded to mile 1.8– Lock 1 of the Trent Severn Waterway.

We made it through with 2 other boats by about 9:20.  When we arrived at Lock 2 only ½ mile up the river, there were now 4 boats, and for some reason only tie up to the cables is allowed on one side.  Because we were the 4^th boat in we had to raft with a 34 foot Meridian. Seemed strange as we were the largest boat in the lock and instead of tying up to the wall we had to attach ourselves to another boat.  At Locks 3, 4, 5 and 6, the same 4 boats locked through but we had now switched to tying off on the wall in the 3^rd position, and a smaller boat Harmony rafted to us. We had met Steve and Vera on our way up the Rideau and then connected up again in Ottawa; they boat out of Queen’s Cove marina in Victoria Harbour, where Andy had started our Loop adventure.  We arrived at Lock 6 Frankfort at 12:10, and three of the boats dropped off as this wall had power.  We decided to go on to Lock 7- Glen Ross, and went through this lock alone.We tied up on the upper wall at 1:25. It’s been a hot day in the mid 30’s, lucky for us there is a convenience store nearby that sells double scoops of ice cream for $2.50. The owners of the store are originally from Transcona- small world.By nightfall there were 5 boats on the wall here.

July 13,

We left the dock just after 7, to go the 11.4 miles to Lock 8- Percy Reach so we would be there when they opened at 9 am.  We then proceeded through Locks 9, 10 and the combined flight   11 & 12 at Ranney Falls, which we were through by 11:10.This lock was huge!There were lots of cottages and trailer parks along the canal.We arrived at Campbellford at 11:30.  We had only gone 17.2 miles and 5 locks today, but it was suppose to be one of the hottest days of summer (> 32) – and we wanted to get tied up and connected to power, so the AC could run. We are in Old Mills Park, and are located next to this giant Toonie.The park is very safe, we were told this by the OPP officer that came around to all the boats on the dock.Once we had checked in at the Chamber of Commerce and paid our fees for the night, Andy was approached by a senior asking if he would like to play Euchre at the senior centre starting at 1.  He agreed and went and played, while I worked on the write-up for selling the boat.

When he returned we went to the Church Key pub for a cold one,  this pub was next door, which we thought Dave, our neighbor  would like.We then walked over to the No frills store. Tonight is Melodies at the Mill (in the park) from 6:30 – 8:15 with the featured singer- Victoria Pearce and we have ring-side seats on our aft deck.  Her first set was Patsy Cline songs while her second set was other favourites.

July 14

It’s a cloudy day, hopefully with only a couple of short showers.  Before 8:00, we trekked across the bridge to Dooher’s Bakery, where we bought a sampling of fresh baked goods including butter tarts and whole wheat bread that was still warm.  Andy just snagged our fishing rod that had fallen over the side yesterday, so we have 2 rods again.  Brian and Helen arrived from Bancroft for the day so we can do some other touring in Campbellford and the  surrounding area.  Our first stop was Ranney falls- our last lock from yesterday.  I had seen the Parks Canada Red Chairs and wanted to get our pictures taken in them.  We had only seen the red chairs a couple of times on the Rideau- but they were never that accessible.

We next went to the Suspension Bridge which is over the river.  Here’s the view from the boat yesterday, and here we are on it today. Next stop was the World’s Finest Chocolate factory outlet store, where we bought nothing.  Wrong !We bought  a pound of dark chocolate and milk and almond bars.Next we were off to the empire cheese plant, which was several miles outside of town.Once again, we couldn’t leave without buying something– Old Cheddar with Hot Whiskey Mustard,  Cheddar and Mozza with Salsa,Mozzarella cheese with Red Chillies– you have to get some veggies with your dairy products – who wants to eat boring cheese?

As we were driving along the countryside, we could see the soy and corn fields as well as the winter wheat, already golden, but not harvested as yet.We then went to Stirling for lunch.  Afterwards Helen and I did some shopping– I found 6 balls of Patons Melody yarn for $10.    The colour was called Fantasy- but it is a deep purple.  Once I’m back to work, I’ll be looking for knitting lessons from one of my friends.  Not sure what I’ll be able to make.On our way back to Campbellford, we encountered these animals in the field.which  I learned were Water Buffalo.  They looked hot as it was close to 25 again today, and I didn’t see any water.Back at the marina, entertainment was again happening in the park- but this time by fellow boaters- Steve and Vera from Harmony.  Great songs!We went back to the Church Key bar with  Lynn and Brian, other boaters, for yet more beers.

The night ended with more beers on  the boat in front of us, with  Canadians– Ken and Diane, who live in St.Lucia, and operate Lost our Marbles Sailing Adventures.