Woke up early and traveled one mile to tie up at the Campbellford town wall. We arrived as their famous bakery opens up and we indulged in donuts and pecan buns. Yum!
We then walked around town and picked up a few groceries that I could not find in the last two towns. There are lots of grand old homes, several churches and a small downtown.
Campbellford is known for its dairy products, especially cheeses, it’s bakery and wool mills. The residents say that things haven’t changed in Campbellford in over 80 years.
After our walk, we went back to our boat, untied and headed toward Lock 13. That lock raised us 23 feet. Our next lock Lock 14 Crowe Bay is about a mile and a half away was manned by the same crew at Lock 13. So as we traveled the waterway they drove up to the lock to raise us another 25 feet.
After Lock 14, we entered Crowe Bay where the Trent River widens and the shoreline is marsh grass and forest, with the occasional home.
Traveling another 2.5 miles we came to Healey Falls. There is a combination of three locks ( Locks 15-17) which allows boats to navigate around the rapids and small falls. The first lock is the traditional gate lock. The Lock 16-17 are double chambered locks, where you enter one lock and upon being lifted move directly into the second lock to be lifted again. Each of these locks lifted us 22 feet for a total of 66 feet.
After Healey Falls, the canal opens up into Seymour Lake, where we wound through its four islands dotted with cottages. I took a picture of the chart so you can see part of our route. The Trent Severn is quite twisty and turny.
As we finished cruising through Seymour Lake, the channel narrows and the house are few and far between with heavily forested shores.
As the waterway continues we get near the town of Hastings and Lock 18.
We just made the last lock through for the day and rose 10 feet, tying up to the lock wall for the night.
We completed 6 locks and rose a total of 124 feet today.
After we got settled, we walked through the small old mill town of Hastings. Saw the old mill building, big brick/stone homes and churches.
Will plan our cruise stops for next week this evening and hit the sack. All that locking takes it out of you!!
Day 19 2nd year. June 8. On to Peterborough. Miles 34. Total miles 3057
Woke to a drizzly rain and untied the boat from the dock to could continue our journey. We traveled through a break in an abandoned railroad bridge and followed the waterway to Rice Lake.
Rice Lake is shallow lake with many cottages dotting the shore. We will travel 11 miles on this lake before we turn off onto the Otonabee River. The lake has lots of islands, a few with cottages on them. Indian Reservation land covers part of the north and south shore.
Had a short scare as the depth sounder starting reading much shallower than our charts indicated. We slowed down and saw we were in a weedy section so the depth sounder was bouncing off the weeds versus the lake bottom. What a relief!
As we finished moving through Rice Lake, we made a hard turn north and head into the Otonabee River. The Otonabee River begins with a marshy shore and wild forest, but quickly cottages appeared on the shore, until the marsh and forest took over again. The river takes many winding turns and switchbacks. Otonabee means swift moving river.
Next we headed to Lock 19, Scott’s Mills and rose 8 feet and entered the city of Peterborough.
Traveling through the city we cruised past Little Lake and went through Lock 20, Ashburnham, to rise another 12 feet.
After the lock we had to tie up along the wall to wait for a three engine Canadian Pacific freight train to pass.
Once the train passed and the swing bridge opened, we proceeded to Peterborough Lift Lock, Lock 21. Peterborough Lock was built in 1904 and was considered an engineering marvel in its day. The lock consists of two lock pans weighing 1300 tons when filled. As a boat enters the pan, it displaces its own weight in water. The lockmaster then displaces an extra foot of water in the pan on the top side, which causes that pan to descend, and raises the other pan at the same time. Once the pans have descended and risen to their new positions, they are locked into place, gates are lowered and the boats leave the pan and return to the channel. Now the lock is ready to accept a new set of boats!
We entered the lift lock first and a tour boat entered behind us. After securing the boat, we rose 65 feet in our tub in 2 minutes. Was amazing to ride in your boat up in the tub and watch the other tub descend. Bill took lots of pictures!
Once leaving the tub we tied up at the lock wall with an incredible view!
As we settled, a group of Filipino women struck up a conversation with Bill. This led to finding out they missed the cruise boat that locked through with us. So we invited them aboard and after lots and lots of pictures, we said our good-byes.
We then met Ed, the Lockmaster at Peterborough, and he provided us with informational brochures about the lock and stickers and coloring for the grandkids. Then he offered to to show us the control room for the lock- lots of buttons. I even got to practice welcoming boaters into the lock!
Ed also volunteered to drop us downtown once he was off work and we took him up on his offer. So we walked around downtown and saw historic buildings and churches and ended our tour of the city with dinner out.
Another full day!
PS Bill tried the drone and met Malik a college student who was also flying his drone. Good luck, Malik with your studies and thanks for helping us get some drone shots.
