Day #360 – Orillia, ON

Last night we had a nice visit and dinner aboard Good News with Salvage Crew and Hank and Anne from Queen Anne’s Revenge.  We have heard their names and the name of their boat many times this year, but had never had the pleasure of meeting them.  We had a great time.

Today is catch up day.  We have been pushing pretty hard for the last week and needed a down day and time to do some laundry, cooking, etc.

Bright and early this morning Andy and I walked to the local laundromat.  You just never know who you are going to run into in these places.

We finished that up and went back to the boat and put it all away.  Then we walked up to the local grocery store for a few items.

Most of the Canadian grocery stores have extensive bakeries in them.  We had never seen this before…a self-serve bread slicer.  You could even select how thick or thin you wanted yours sliced.

We got the things we needed which included cases of water and pop.  Sooooo, we “borrowed” a grocery cart from the store and stopped by the LCBO while we had a chance.  After our purchases were made we walked back to the boat.

Don’t worry, we returned the cart.

Orillia is nice little waterfront town with bike paths, parks and beaches lining the shore.

This iron flag sits on the shore near the marina.  Another show of the Canadians pride in their country, even the sea gulls like it.

The afternoon was spent aboard as we were treated to a storm with wind, lightening, thunder and heavy rain.  The temperature dropped 16 degrees.  We keep wondering when summer starts in Canada?!?!

We wish we could stay tomorrow.  Not only was it a free night of dockage (buy 2-get 1 free), but another quiet day would have been appreciated.  However, if we want to make it to the Looper Rendezvous we need to head out in the morning and get closer to arrive on Tuesday.

Day #358 – Fenelon Falls, ON

We were back on the waterway at 7:30 this morning.  We planned a much easier day today and the weather was predicted to be a bit better although on and off rain.

We traveled across Pigeon Lake and Sturgeon Lake and through Bobcaygeon.  Today was the day that all of the rental houseboats are due back to the marinas so the locks are crowded and busy.

The home that line the shore are beautiful.  So many flowers, beautiful docks

and many have boat houses right down on the water.

We pulled into Fenelon Falls about noon after having done only one lock.  This is the most heavily traveled lock on the system and we felt lucky to get a spot.

We are docked on a finger pier right at the base of the falls before you enter the lock.

We made sure the boat was securely tied to the pier.

Fenelon Falls is a great little town

and the flowers are plentiful.

We walked all over town and to the hardware store, etc., the usual stops when you are on foot.  We passed this truck and wondered what Santa Fe, Redneck and Newfie fries are.

They must be good as people were standing in line to buy them.

We walked uptown for dinner last night and passed this mural painted on a building.

Patti and Brad just can’t understand why anyone would live where there is snow on the ground.

Day #357 – Buckhorn, ON

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.

Day #354 – Hastings, ON

8:00 this morning we are back out on the Trent-Severn headed to Hastings.  We had planned on resting a day after yesterday’s workout but decided to shove on and get more of the locks behind us.  We were at Lock #13 when it opened and were the first boats through.  One down…five more to go.

Hang ’em on the left, hang ’em on the right, hang ’em on the left, hang ’em on the right…stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight! Takes me back to old cheer leading days.  The first four locks are different tie ups each time…port, starboard, port, starboard with seven fenders each time.  I am working on improving my time as it took me fifteen minutes with the first attempt.

Another one of the locks today was a double.

It is a beautiful summer Canadian morning.  The air is fresh, the water is calm and the birds are singing.  The temperature dipped to 50 degrees last night, but this morning the sun is shining and it is a beautiful day on the water.

Beautiful cottage country to travel through.

Canadians are very patriotic and fly their flags everywhere.  We loved seeing that.

Apparently, they rent house boats in these waters.  People were out enjoying the day.

The lock masters again are so friendly and helpful.  They make a point of going up to each boat and talking to the people.  One lady planted this “boat” with flowers and a trellis as a sail.  She said a critter ate the vine and she had to start over.

The highlight of my day was when we saw this mother loon and her two babies.  Usually the babies ride on their mother’s back, nit this time they were swimming along side.  I have many memories of seeing and hearing loons when I used to go as a child to Crane Lake in northern Ontario in the summers.  What a wonderful memory.

Today we traveled 20 miles, went through six locks and averaged 3.9 miles per hour.  We are thankful for another beautiful summer day on the water.

Day #352 – Trenton, ON

This is the memorial park that we look out over from our pilothouse door.  Beautiful flowers and nice area.

We had a nice stroll downtown last evening and went to Tomasso’s for Mediterranean food and it was excellent.

We decided to take this picture as we discussed that some day soon phone booths will be a thing of the past.

This morning Patti and I sat down and figured out our next few stops for the upcoming week on the Trent-Severn.  We like having some idea of a tentative itinerary before we begin.

After all of that hard work we walked up to the street fair again.

They had lots more entertainment,

shopping opportunities,

and we declined an invitation from these guys as we like the clowns we already have.

Welcome to Canada!  It wouldn’t be a Canadian town without a LCBO store

and right across the street…Tim Horton’s.

Guess we won’t be needing this sign!

We spent kind of a quiet afternoon catching up on charting, reading and shopping.  The weather has improved and is beautifully sunny, but still cool, high 70.