My last blog posting said that we were still waiting for Brian's luggage. Well, it arrived about 90 minutes after I posted, at 1:30 am Sunday night. The next day, Brian took a much-needed shower and had his own clean clothes, so see how happy he is??
We departed Fenelon Falls Monday morning at about 10:30, and we cruised all day until 9 pm. We went through 7 locks, and all the way across the big Lake Simcoe. There was lots of interesting terrain, and I was glad Brian liked to drive the boat to give me rests.
One extremely interesting spot we traveled was through this very narrow channel, which was the final section dug in the entire Trent-Severn Canal in 1920. They had to cut right through the rock base that Nothern Canada is known for. You could see the rock just below the surface on both sides, and the banks were piled high with the rock cut out when this channel was dug (by hand). There was no room for error, so we kept a close eye on the way forward. This went on for many miles, and we were lucky no other boats were coming the other direction. In a way, we were lucky that Brian's luggage was late, because if we had tried to go through here on Sunday, instead of Monday, we would have had lots of boat traffic and therefore lots of trouble!
This picture is out of order, because we didn't have our BBQ veggie-burger dinner until that night, long after the photos coming up next!
One of the day's highlights was the Kirkfield Lift Lock, similar to the Peterborough Lift Lock. This was actually more "thrilling", because we entered at the top and looked WAY down to the ground with nothing under us except a steel structure. And, once we started to drop, our speed was about four times faster than the Peterborough Lift Lock. Isn't this photo interesting, to see how high up we were? In a big "bath tub" of water?
Once we dropped down in the Lift Lock, the gate in front of us laid down forward, and then we could depart. Again, we traveled in narrow passages cut into pure rock. We descended five consecutive locks and then went out into the big Lake Simcoe.
Out on the big lake, we used the auto pilot for the two-hour cruise, giving Brian a chance to make us sandwiches. We still had a ways to go to the next lock's wall for the night, so we ate while underway instead of taking a break.
This is a picture of the railroad bridge that foiled our plan to stay at the next lock's wall that night. As we approached the bridge at about 8:15 pm, it looked like it was going to be too low for us. The books had said all bridges were either tall enough for me, or would be opened. Well, as I got closer and closer, I thought we were too tall. Brian went upstairs and when I was within 15 yards, he yelled out "STOP!" Luckily there was zero wind as I backed up and gradually turned the boat around. We had to back-track about four miles out to Lake Couchiching to anchor for the night, all by ourselves in the middle, in 5 ft of water. It was so clear I could look down at the anchor lying on the lake floor.
The next morning I went for a swim, then we headed back up the narrow river to our favorite little railroad bridge, and it was STILL closed! I honked my horn three times, and sure enough, I saw a man come out and do something at the edge of the bridge, then he walked to the other side and did the same thing, then he walked up the stairs to the control room at the top of the bridge. We thought good, he'll open it for us. Well, he did eventually open it, but it took about 10 minutes of us staying right there idling and waiting. Luckily, there was no wind, so I did not drift during our wait.
This picture shows the bridge finally opening, and we were cheering! As soon as we passed by, the bridge closed behind us. It turns out that they close the bridge for good every evening at the same time the locks close - 7 pm. And they open when the locks open, at 8:30 am, but they always leave it closed until a boater comes along who is tall enough to need it opened.
Our next interesting lock was at Swift Rapids, where there was a powerplant. This picture shows all the water emitting from the plant. Look how high it is! This lock descended 47 feet, the highest single traditional lock in the entire Erie or Trent-Severn system. Normally when we approach a lock, we're in 6 feet of water. This lock was at the end of a deep lake, and I entered in 75 feet of water.
This lock is the most recent in the entire system, finished in 1965. It holds 1.5 million gallons of water! Look how high the gates are, once we descended and they are opening for us.
This picure was taken before the last one. The lock operator let us get off the boat at the top, to sightsee this amazing spot. She took a picture of Brian and me just in front of where our boat was, looking WAYYY down below where we were about to descend.
Then yesterday we went through the incredible Big Chute Railway Lock. This came after some dicey navigating through many narrow channels where there were rapids and swirls and big DANGER signs. It was a beautiful day through lakes and rivers and cuts and cliffs, and then we got to this famous lock. A huge "rail car" dips into the water, and you drive the boat right up onto it and the lock operators lift up your hull slightly using slings. This photo shows the loaded rail car descending after it raised the boats up and over a road. It descends to the wide river below, where it again goes into the water deep enough to let the boats float, and we start up our engines and drive off.
This final picture shows how a boat leaves after the rail car drops into the water. Anyway, we docked at a side dock so we could get out and watch the whole process before doing it ourselves. When it was our turn, they took two smaller boats first and instructed one to go to the front left, and the other to the front right. I was the lucky one to come in last, right in the middle!! I didn't have to have any finesse handling. The operators just told me to either slow down, give it some more forward, give it some reverse, give it a touch more reverse (they said that one about five times), and finally they were confident they had my two slings positioned correctly under me, and told me to cut the engines. Then we lifted a few inches, and the whole contraption started up the rail line out of the water, over the hill, and down the other side back into the water. It was SOOOO COOOOOL!!!!
After that, we had a relatively short distance to this final lock (#45) at the end of the Trent-Severn Waterway. This is Port Severn. I must say, though, we had some dicey narrows to navigate, through rapids and sharp turns, to get here. Last night was great other than the bugs. Brian loved the role I had previously of turning on the vacuum cleaner and sucking up all the bugs he could find.
We'll leave here in a few minutes and go out into Georgian Bay. We will go to a big marina about two hours away, and tomorrow I'm scheduled to get new batteries. We've continued to have a heck of a time nursing the battery situation each day. It'll be great to get new ones. By next Monday night, we will be in Parry Sound at a marina where months ago I made a two-week reservation. Brian and I will take a bus to Toronto on Tuesday, stay with a Nestle Canada colleague (Andrea Papamandjaris), and then fly out next Wednesday. Brian will be going home to start his move to South Carolina for his new job. I'll be going to visit Janet in Idaho, where I'll accompany a jillion Amuchasteguis in attending a huge Basque festival called Jaialdi (Google it!), which occurs only once every five years. I'll return to Toronto on Aug 1, and meet brother Rick and sisters Janet and Cheryl. Breaking Away's adventures will continue with four siblings. Arrrrrrrrrr!
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