Last night these young people were setting up their tents on the roof of the rented houseboats. It rained through the night. Wonder how it was for them in there?
Today was all about locks. These little peepers locked through with us on the first lock.
The first lock was just like all of the others we have been through on the Trent-Severn except that today three other boats locked through with us. It was like packing sardines in a can, but glad to report none of us are any worse off than when we started.
The second lock, Lock #21 is called the Peterborough Lift Lock which was built in 1904.
Wikipedia explains it well. “The dual lifts are the highest hydraulic boat lifts in the world, rising 65 ft. However it is not the highest boat lift in the world – the lift at Strépy-Thieu in Belgium being greater in both capacity (1,350 tons) and height difference (73.15 m).No external power is needed, the lift lock functions by gravity alone using a counterweight system. When one side reaches the top position it stops about 2 inches below the adjoining canal’s water level. When the gates open water flows into the ship basin until the water level rebalances. The weight of the extra water is enough to power the hydraulic lift. As the top level lowers to the bottom position it pushes the other side up to the top position where the cycle starts over again. Many local residents of Peterborough skate on the canal below the lift lock in the winter.”
This was our view from the top
and as we leave.
Unfortunately as many locks as we went through today, it was raining in every one.
These following pictures show the beautiful areas and how tight the “course” is. Most of them were taken in an area called Hells Gate.
Even this church sits on an island and is accessible only by boat.
One of the tight areas looks like this as you approach
and then it opens up a little.
Funny, Buckhorn is only a half hour drive from Peterborough and it took us almost 10 hours. We traveled 33 miles through 11 locks. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the slips they had assigned us were too small for the boats. They let us tie up to their fuel dock overnight. We had no power and Yacht Harbour might be a loose term, but we were glad to be here.
It is still raining.
The Great Loop 