Kim’s Korner:
July 1st is Canada Day and corresponds to our July 4th. There were lots of food, festivals, and fireworks around the area. We spent our last day in Campbellford riding our bikes on the Trans-Canada Trail which took us through some beautiful country and farmland. We saw chipmunks, rabbits, cows, sheep and a hole in the ground filled with eggs – not sure what animal had laid them. It was a great day even though more rain came in during the afternoon – the water is raging here with really strong currents.
We left for Hastings on a beautiful and sunny Monday morning. We locked through six locks (one with a frog and turtle) during our 15-mile day and were hot and tired when we arrived at the top of lock 18. Many of these locks are less than ½ mile from each other so it really keeps us busy the entire time we are moving. Each lock has a small park associated with it and they are really very nice areas. Each side of the lock has a mooring area which has a blue painted line which is the line of boats which will enter the lock next. The rest of the mooring area which is not painted blue is available for an overnight stay or even just day usage. A few locks offer power but all have restrooms that the lock master will give you the code for when you pay him for a night’s moorage. The fee is very reasonable and these lock parks have lots of locals who are riding bikes, picnicking, and fishing. School is out (end of June) so the kids are everywhere having a great time!
July 4th, we headed for Peterborough which is a bigger town than we’ve seen since we started the Trent-Severn. We had so many Canadians wishing us a Happy Fourth of July – it surprised me that they even knew – it was such a nice gesture! We moored at the bottom of lock 20 and took off on foot to lock 21 which is the infamous Peterborough Lift Lock. Built in 1904, this lift lock is the highest hydraulic lift lock in the world and the largest unreinforced concrete structure. It is like two sheet cake pans side by side – as one side goes up, the other side goes down. Only eight of these lift locks exist in the world and we will be lucky enough to lock through one more while on the Trent-Severn. I include pictures here of our walk there – you will see more when we actually lock through it in Overtime. Peterborough also had a Boater’s World store which I took full advantage of. These locks are much smaller than we are used to so they pack boats in like sardines and we have found we need all six of our fenders on one side to adequately protect Overtime while locking. Not only do we need to protect her horizontally but also vertically so we have to place a few fenders high and a few low. This is great as long as we can always lock and moor on the starboard side or the port side, but you know the saying “Nothing’s Ever Easy” so between tying up to the blue line to wait on a lock, actually locking through, and tying up to moor for the night, I was swapping fenders constantly and NOT a happy camper as a lot of times, I had only minutes notice to do this. So I happily spent some money at Boater’s World for some additional fenders and supplies 😃. Now I have fenders on all four of Overtime’s corners and 4 on one side which I can easily move to the other side as needed.
The next day we took off for Young’s Point. We locked through the Lift Lock – it was very cool! The actual movement only lasted two minutes. We did 7 locks this day and can’t tell you how many times I said to David – “I’m so glad we bought those extra fenders!” The locks are getting busier and busier now. When exiting a lock, the canal can sometimes be very narrow with boats lining each side. Sometimes I wonder if we’ll even fit! I just keep my mouth shut and watch David work wonders. Then there are the rental houseboats that we are now seeing and have been warned about for months. Avoid them at all costs - people rent these houseboats, don’t know how to drive them and will basically play bumper boats with them. Even the lock masters use loud speakers to warn boats waiting on the lock to “get your boat poles ready to protect your boat” – the lock gates open and out comes a rental houseboat. It’s actually pretty humorous – but kind of scary at the same time - just totally different experiences than I’ve ever even known existed! We are also running into the fact that this area is very busy with locals as well so everyone is jockeying for a place on the wall to stay for the night. The lock master will call ahead to see if there is room at a lock ahead of you – of course, there is no guarantee the spot will be there when you arrive but it does help knowing if you might have a chance. We were searching for an anchorage since every lock around us was full. At the next lock, the lock master informed us that some boaters had left the bottom of Lock 27 – we arrived exhausted (again) but the spots were still there when we arrived – thank goodness!
There is a trading post right at Lock 27 that Anne and I had wanted to go to. We’d heard it was a must but we arrived at 6:00 PM which was closing time. Since the locks as well as the store both open at 9:00 AM, Anne and I were there waiting for the store to open. It really was a neat place – they had furniture, clothing, housewares, and snacks – really nice! I found David a Canadian t-shirt (yes, for those of you who know David well – it was a Life is Good t-shirt too) and for myself? It was Kawartha mocha and chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone for breakfast! Oh – life is good! So we paid and rushed back to the boat to lock through. Yes, Anne and I were finishing up our ice cream cones as we locked through – I bet we weren’t the first to do that! Today was a beautiful journey through Stoney Lake which reminded us of the Thousand Islands in NY. We got separated from our buddy boat, Ivanhoe, at one of the locks due to the fact only one of us would fit with all the other boats that were waiting. They went on ahead in order to scope out any available wall space – they got in on upper lock 31 (Buckhorn, Ontario) and started talking to other boats to see who was leaving when in order to make room for us. They found a houseboat that would be leaving in a few hours so we luckily got a spot at lower lock 31 and with the help of the lock master, locked through and made it to the vacated spot once the houseboat left before anyone else got there. Let me explain – there was power available at the upper lock - not so at the bottom of the lock. We plan to stay here two nights due to rain (again). It’s good to get the blog caught up again!
Picture of Chattanooga
No comments:
Post a Comment