080 Trent Severn's Waterway Part Two

On July 21^st we left Hastings, ON heading toward Peterborough home of the famous hydraulic lift lock, the highest in the world.  More on that later.   We got some nice pictures on the way.

 War Memorial:

Double lock:

Not a real bear, but we are looking for them:

We got a marina slip at Peterborough to relax a bit and get some laundry done.

 

A highlight of our visit was the Canadian Canoe Museum.  Just fantastic. 

I liked this: 

Inuit kayak:

That night Gary and Pip, the Canadian couple we met in the Thousand Islands, stopped by for a visit and it was nice to see them again.   We got a strong admonition to play the song “Bobcaygeon” by The Tragically Hip at sunset when we got to the town of Bobcaygeon.  More on that later as well.

The next day we took the famous lift lock, it operates on hydraulics.   Earlier the previous day they did their annual “stuff as many canoes and kayaks into the lift” event:

The lift lock:

Kayak event:

We followed this boat into the lock:

Sign at the lock:

 

We had a long day (twenty-eight n/m’s and eleven locks!) wanting to get to Buckhorn as that lock station has power.  We were delayed in Peterborough as the lock masters needed to lower the water a bit before we could lock through that region (seven locks in nine s/m’s), so we weren’t sure if we could make it through the Buckhorn lock to the upper side where the power pedestals are located.   The locks close at 5:30 pm on the weekdays (except Friday till 6:30) and they will lock you through if in the lock by then.  Well, long story short, we pulled into the Buckhorn lock at 5:28 p.m. (I might have gone a little faster than no-wake speed in certain areas 😉) and got through.

Getting through the lock that late probably meant that all the power stations would be taken, but there was one opening that we just barely fit into on the lock wall.  And by barely, I mean less than a foot on either end of the boat, but we made it.   We had dinner on the boat, but did go out for ice cream, which is why I’ve gained weight on this trip.  

 We left Buckhorn on the 23^rd, but not before Nancy got this nice sunrise shot:

 

We only had to go fourteen n/m’s to get to Bobcaygeon.  This is a crowded section of the TSW, so I wanted to get to Bobcaygeon as close to 9:00 a.m. as possible, when the locks opened.   The logic here was that some boats would be leaving their lock wall spots when the locks open at 9, and we could get a highly coveted wall spot with a power pedestal.   I had to put on my Captain Bligh hat and order the crew to shove off by 7:15 a.m.   We made it to Bobcaygeon at 9:15 a.m. and just as we were arriving, a boat pulled out of a spot with a power pedestal, and we slid right in.    This was two days in a row where Hygge’s diminutive size proved major bonus as larger boats would not have fit.

We walked around the town and then walked over to the Settlers Village, which is small recreation of a village circa mid to late 1800’s.   They moved older homes, log cabins, barns, to this area where an old church was located, and now you see how it was done in the late 19^th Century.  Not particularly picture-worthy though.  Later that day Nancy went over to a beach for a swim, and I worked on the prior blog post.

And later that evening, but not at sunset, we got the “ok” from our boat neighbors and played Bobcaygeon Hygge’s stereo.   There were a few wet eyes on the dock as the song is practically Canada’s second national anthem.   (There is a backstory*):

 

On the 24^th we left Bobcaygeon not exactly knowing where we’d stop.   As motored to the town/lock of Fenelon Falls, we saw a front coming in with severe thunderstorms.   I powered Hygge up to full throttle and long story short, we made into the lock at Fenelon Falls, got through it and seconds after tying up to the lower lock wall, all heck burst loose from the clouds.   Wind, lightening, the works.  We spent about an hour there waiting out the storm, and after the front passed, Nancy got some pictures of the town: 

We then continued on and at the Rosedale lock we pulled over for lunch and a shower (a very few of the locks have shower facilities).   

We went through the Kirkfield lift lock, which is the second highest lift lock in the world, and I tried to get a picture to give some perspective of the height:

 

At Kirkfield, you start going down instead of up as you head west, and the red and green channel markers reverse, so it pays to be on your toes.   At 4:30 p.m. pulled up to the Talbot lock and tied off for the night.  The upper side of Talbot was in a very nice setting so we saw no reason to lock-through and just enjoyed the surroundings and a nice pasta dinner.

                                                                          

Dave

 

Odometer:  5,213 n/m’s

 

*click for the  The Backstory