Buckhorn to Bobcaygeon

Lakes with small rocky islands -- and lots of clear deep water -- actually got to go fast for a few miles -- surrounded by indian reserves -- and places that one could explore for years


Below the lock at Bobcaygeon -- we are tied to the blue line -- that means we want to pass through the lock. Nicest of lock masters, he made room for us above the lock by moving a lot of boats around to make sure we could tie off for the night. The advantage was a quiet evening in a park-like setting, the disadvantage no showers or electricity (but you know we are crashing no later than 10 p.m. and it's still light then)
One of the loverly residences in Bobcaygeon -- a resort town for Toronto and Windsor Ontario. Today we are going another short distance to Fenelon Falls -- and will try to find a place on the wall or at a marina. More traffic than we experienced before.

Lakefield to Buckhorn

More lakes and lovely vistas
And only four locks -- Janet has it easy -- except I tried to back out of a lock after she had the lines and practically pulled her into the water -- oh, well we are still talking -- and embellishing the story as we go

From our covered slip at Buckhorn -- the only marina in town and we got the last slip.

Lakefield

Looking upstream to the Lakes that we will be travelling on later today...
No, this isn't the marina we are staying at, but it is a marina and the only fuel dock in town
You can see that they are crazy about their canoes up here
Lots of very pretty houses looking out on the river just blocks from our marina

Which isn't very big but certainly is very clean and well maintained. Today, just four locks and some 20 miles through lakes. We are definitely getting into rocky bottomed water, so watching for the marks and staying in the channel is a good idea.

Leaving Peterborough

Janet in the lift lock at Peterborough -- this seems simple at first
Until you looked down and realized we were in a bath tub suspended 65 feet in the air by a single, very large and hopefully reliable hydraulic pump
Locking through became a parade -- with this little boat leading the way -- all the way to Lakefield -- a total of seven locks in less than 10 miles. We were both pretty exhausted by the end of a five and a half hour day -- about four and a half of which was spent hanging onto lock walls.
Like ducks in a row, up we go between locks -- we started with five boats, but soon were seven in each of the locks
When you have to raft up in a lock, you know it is getting crowded

Getting ready for leaving Peterborough

Still no pictures -- Janet arrived mid afternoon, we walked around Peterborough a little -- even went into a very nice antique store -- listened to a great concert and watched fireworks. Poor Chessie will be glad to leave that noise behind!

It is spritzing again this morning, and we have to wait for the locks to open anyway, so will probably get underway around 10 a.m. -- Onto Lakefield which is only ten miles but seven locks away from here!

More this evening.

Canoe Museum

Sorry folks -- no pictures cause they don't allow a flash -- and I haven't figured out how to use camera without the flash.

The Canoe Museum was very special -- they trace the history of travel on the waters of Canada from before settlers from Europe arrived until the modern day use of canoes as relaxation and for competition. And they have a very large collection of birch bark canoes from the early 1800s as well as canoes made today following the traditional methods.

The craft are more rustic than we saw in Clayton, NY -- but the display was well worth the couple of miles I walked to get there.

Tonight will be quiet -- getting ready for the weekend rush of boaters -- and once again it is crystal clear.

The BIG Lift Lock at Peterborough

So just out of curiosity -- and because we know there won't be pictures when we go through -- another couple, their dog, Chessie and I wandered over to see the lift lock. The largest of it's kind in the world -- sixty five feet up into the sky. Both pans are filled with water, the one at the top is weighted with an additional foot of water to make it begin the descent. Note the powerful hydrolic pole under the pan -- it only takes a few minutes to move the traffic in either direction.
This is a large double decker tour boat passing through the lock -- thankfully we arrived just a few minutes before they pulled into the pan
Down comes the tour boat, up goes the pan on our side of the lock -- to get a sense of scale that is a full sized adult standing next to the lower pan.
They are almost down

Again, take a look at the scale of this thing -- that door at the front is eventually laid on it's side in the canal, and the boat simply floats out over the gate and into the Trent Severn.

WOW!! The good news is that the lock is apparently a piece of cake since there is no water flowing through baffles and valves -- the bad news is that there are two of these monsters on the water-way -- and they don't compare to the later railway lift. (I'll explain when we get near towards the end of the canal and the end of July)

Our walk has worn poor Chessie out -- about four miles round trip -- so we'll spend a quiet night listening to Black Umfolosi (Zimbabwe Acappella and Dance) -- they are practicing right now, and it promises to be a very special night in the park.

It's cool and breezy this evening -- after a day of overcast and periodic showers. Blue skies that hurt your eyes they are so clear.