5th Week Out-2 July 15-22

Before we left Peterborough, we took this picture of the clock tower which is about 1870s vintage. It was the farmer's market building back then.

When we entered this lock just outside Peterborough, the lockmaster offered to take our picture. The people working the locks are so friendly and helpful. We got quite a bit of good advice from them.

This is Healey Falls lock - our first double lock. This is actually a triple lock but you descend through two locks and travel a short canal to the third one. Total descent of the first two was 47'. We took this series of pictures because we hadn't encountered one of these types before.

We went through Rice Lake and just beyond is a town called Hastings. We didn't take any pictures but this was a very nice stop. We stayed 2 days. Deb caught up on work. I wanted to do some fishing on Rice Lake but we could not find anyplace that could handle our boat. Hastings is on the southeastern end of Rice Lake where it narrows into the Otonabee River. Ray started trolling in the dinghy and 50' from our boat, he caught a 12" smallmouth bass. In the first hour, I caught and released lots of fish, mostly smallmouth. Had a lot of fun! We rode our bikes into town and stumbled onto Redtail Paddle Company, a hand-crafted canoe paddle company. Met the owner, John Bell, toured the little shop and bought a beautiful, walnut and hickory paddle for $60. Deb also bought a small one with a saying on it that she liked. It was quite windy while we were there and a section of our canvas blew off the back of the boat. We were near the dam and lock and Deb thought the canvas had probably gone over the dam; I, however, decided to look for it. A couple of linemen working on the opposite side of the river hollered over and told me they saw it blow away. I walked down to the dam and the owners of the little bait shop right next to the dam asked me if I was looking for a canvas cover. I was carrying a boat hook so I could retrieve the canvas from the water if I saw it. They said they saw it about to go over the dam so they cast a line out with a lure, hooked it, dragged it back to shore and had it hanging up to dry.

We are now in Campbellford. We rode our bikes downstream and took in this suspension bridge that Deb had read about. It was at the lock and there was also a powerhouse there. The walkway was grating that you could see through. We walked across it and took these pictures.

All the boaters talk about Campbellford because you can get fuel for road prices. So we planned to be low on fuel when we arrived here.

Can you see the eagle in the nest? This is just one of many of this type of nest that we have seen on this trip.

This is the last lock for us on the Trent-Severn Waterway. So I took this series of pictures. We are about to arrive at Trenton, Ontario located on Lake Ontario. We plan on a stay at Trenton and then head west toward Toronto. We will then continue following around the lake, back into the US near Niagara, on to the east end of Lake Ontario to Kingston, up the Rideau Canal to Ottawa and down the Ottawa River to Montreal. If, by this time, the boating season has not ended, we will have to think about entering the New York canal system on our way to New York City.

While we were in Trenton, we visited the Canadian National Air Force Museum at the Air Force Base. We met Bill Tytula, a retired aeronautical engineer, who is a volunteer at the museum. He took us on a personal guided tour. We were escorted back where they restore airplanes. They were building a large wooden wing, so I asked him how they know to build it authentically. He showed us some of the plans and talked about the arduous process of searching out the old documents.

This large World War II airplane, the Halifax NA 337 2P-X, is one of their prized restorations. It went down in a lake in Norway where it lay until 1995 when it was raised by the museum's efforts and Bill was in charge of this restoration. It has only been on display for about 6 months, so it took them from 1995-2009 to restore it. If you look close you can see the plane being lifted out of the lake.

From Trenton, we headed west to the port of Cobourg. This picture is of the municipal building there.

Our goal is to visit most ports. So, after leaving Cobourg, headed for Toronto, we pulled into Oshawa, but the marina had been closed since 2001 because of pollution from a tannery, so we moved on to Whitby. The picture of the ship is at Oshawa.

5th Week Out-1, July 11-14

After we left Kirkfield, our next overnight stop was Bobcaygeon, a vibrant little tourist town. Girls, you would not have believed the shoe store in this town. Bigley's! They must have had 8,000 pair of shoes, everything from flip-flops to high-end dress shoes. Oh, they did have men's shoes. Several people we talked to mentioned the green bags that come out of Bigley's. This is an old town, located at a lock and Bigley's has taken 3-4 shops, knocked an archway in adjoining walls that make up this store. The main storefront was an old bank.

We stayed two nights here and met John and Gail (in the picture). They had just returned from a 2-1/2 year trip doing the Great Loop. Bobcaygeon is their home port; they make their home there. We had cocktails on the back of their boat and they filled us in on some of the things we should try to take in.

From Bobcaygeon, we spent a night at Lakefield and then moved on to Peterborough. Peterborough is another lift lock, similar to Kirkfield, but concrete instead of steel. It is 65' high. They had a nice Visitor's Center with exhibits and a film about the making of the lock. We spent two nights here. The town is large enough that it has its own TV station. We went to the ball fields and watched a fast pitch softball game. We spent quite a bit of time riding bikes and checking out the town. We found a museum where we spent a couple of hours.

4th Week Out, July 5-10

We entered the Trent-Severn Waterway on Monday, July 6. The first picture is the first lock at Port Severn after we had locked through. Pictures 2-13 are Big Chute the marine railroad. This actually takes your boat out of the water and over the hill. We handed the camera to one of the lock attendants and he took a picture under our boat. When we were here in 1994, they slung our boat with two slings. This time they used two slings but also sat our keel on the deck of the structure and let our props hand off the back. This is the second lock we entered on Monday. We spent the night tied up at this lock.

The last two pictures of Big Chute are the old railroad track that essentially used a railroad flatcar.

The next six pictures are of the Swift Rapids lock. This lock has the highest lift (47') of any conventional lock in the system. This lock is so isolated that the staff arrive at work by boat.

This picture is of one of the many swing bridges along the waterway.

This is a picture approaching and leaving a short conventional lock.

This is a narrow stretch of canal. There is quite a bit of waterway that is like this.

Kirkfield Lift Lock. This lock raises or lowers a boat 49'. It is one of the biggest lift locks in the world. We spent the night here waiting for our mail. The mail did not come, so we rode our bikes into town (about 2 miles) and talked to the postmaster about our options. He was so accommodating. He took our cell phone number and said that when the mail came, he would call us and either bring the mail to us, by personal vehicle or forward it through the canal system mail. The people here are so nice. The post office is in a storefront that is the library, pharmacy, Sears catalog store and post office.

The last few shots are the approach to the Fenelon Falls lock.