We left Healey Falls on Monday, July 3rd and entered the Trent River. We went through only one lock on Monday, before we got into Rice Lake. This is a long, narrow lake - about 15 miles long. We had it mostly to ourselves, this being the end of the Canadian holiday weekend, and found a really nice anchorage just of Black Island. A friendly local came by to make sure we were ok. Apparently not many Loopers anchor in Rice Lake for the night. We had a very pleasant evening and stayed up to watch the full moon rise. The picture doesn’t do it justice - it was a gorgeous dark red-orange and very large.
Tuesday we headed into the Otonabee River toward Petersborough. Our plan was to stay in Peterborough at the town dock, but we were so excited about the hydraulic lift lock, we shot right past the basin where the town lies. There are three locks they consider to be in Peterborough, but only the lift lock is named for the town, and for some reason, we thought the town was after that lock. The lock itself was really impressive - two basins side-by-side, each on a giant hydraulic lift (think of a car lift at the mechanic shop). As one rises 65 feet, the other comes down. Unlike the other locks, in these you cleat your line, and then you’re free to wander the boat to watch the process in action. No tending. The water in the lift just remains placid. When that locktender asked us our destination, we said “here in Peterborough” he looked at us kind of funny and asked if we were planning on turning around. Oh, we said, realizing what we’d done. That’s how we ended up spending Tuesday night at the top of lock 22 in Nassau Falls, the next lock up the canal.
See the jetski in the lift lock to the right.
 |
| The signpost at Lock 22 |
It’s been very hot and humid, and nearly windless. Today was no exception. It was already in the 80s when we left Nassau Falls this morning and promising to be in the 90s. We started the ice maker when we left so we could have ice water to drink while tending lines in the locks. We had four locks to go through almost immediately, but it would take all morning, as these are front-filling locks and the locktenders do it slowly so as not to create too much turbulence for the boats inside. Thus we covered about five miles in about three and a half hours, spending most of that time in the sweltering heat of each lock. When we got to the town of Lakefield around 12:30 pm, both Dan and I were a sweaty mess. We tied off to the seawall, got our grocery bags and some spoons, and set off for the grocery store and a pint of ice cream. Lakefield is a cute little town, with all the amenities walkable from the lock. We enjoyed our ice cream in the little park across from the grocery store, and then went back inside the store to reprovision. We took our time; the air-conditioning felt heavenly.
From Lakefield we moved into Kathawanooka Lake and Dan said “This looks like a great spot to anchor.” So we dropped the hook a little ways from the channel and immediately went for a swim - our first time since the Bahamas. Wow, that water felt great. A nice breeze came up too. We are entering lake country now, so I think there’s more swimming in our immediate future! We should have been taking our cue from the local kids - they have been swimming off the bridges and seawalls since we entered this Canal! 
And here is how Tommie cools off - on top of the screen.
No comments:
Post a Comment