ssloop: Trenton-Peterborough

Tuesday morning we checked the weather as rain and wind was predicted. The rain passed early and we decided to move on. We allowed the end of the rain to take our focus off the wind. Wow, what a challenging day! We fought our way into and out of 6 locks. You never know how the wind will affect the boat until you are in the lock. Sometimes it can be a battle to get the boat against the required wall. Upon entering Lock #6, (our worst of the day,) after getting near the assigned starboard wall, we ended up against the port side wall twice. In reaching for the cable on the starboard wall with the boat hook, the first mate could not hold us against the wind and the boat hook was pulled out of her hands and dropped into the lock. This scene played out twice before securing ourselves to the lock wall. The Lockmaster was able to retrieve one boat hook but the other sank. Bummer! They say the lockmasters talk to eachother. Evidently this is true. Upon arriving at Lock #7, the Lockmaster came down and greeted us before the lock suggesting that the wall before the lock may be a nice place to spend the evening. We readily agreed as we had enough drama for one day. We had a lovely evening out of the wind below the lock.

We woke up Wednesday morning to calm winds and blue sky. Two other boats pulled up as we waited for the first lock opening of the day. One of the boats was Greg & Reenie on Thistle (Loopers) who we had met in Picton. We traveled with Thistle for the day through 6 locks a total of 17 miles. The last two locks of the day were what they refer to as a set of flight locks. The first lock lifted us 25 feet, the doors opened and we passed directly into the next 25 foot lift. We stopped by early afternoon at Campbellford Wall at the Old Mill City Park. We unloaded the bikes and peddled back to the flight locks to cross the suspension bridge over the river to Ferris Provincial Park. We rode for miles (most of which we were kind of lost) on dirt, rocky and grassy trails. The captain was good enough to to explain to the first mate that we were in bear country and you don't need to be faster than the bear, just faster than the slowest bicycle. Great! Once we found our way out of the park, we entered town and the captain was rewarded by finding the famous World's Finest Chocolate Factory Outlet Store! The evening entertainment was a band playing at the park where we were docked.

On Thursday we left Campbellford with Greg & Reenie on Thistle. We traveled together through 6 locks and a total of 20 miles to the small town of Hastings. We tied up to the Lock wall. It was a little rainy but Sheli still got a walk in and Greg & Reenie tried their hand a fishing. We went to a small restaurant named Banjos for dinner with Greg & Reenie after which we had a rousing game of Farkle on the back deck of the Pura Vida.

Friday's travels took us 39 miles and through one lock. We crossed Rice Lake which is a popular fishing lake (many of Steve's relatives had come here in the past for summer fishing vacations) We pulled into Little Lake at Peterborough and dropped the hook. It was such a beautiful day so we took the dinghy for a ride along town. The water was crystal clear so it was easy to see the rocky bottom.

Saturday morning we cruised 2000 feet to the Peterborough Marina. Whew! Once settled in we walked to the local Farmers Market where we had a yummy Canadian Bacon sandwich for lunch. We also explored the town. Great place! By evening the rains came in but this did not deter us from attending the free concert in the park next to the marina with Greg & Reenie from Thistle. We donned our full rain gear to go enjoy an awesome concert by Randy Bachman, formerly from the group Bachman-Turner Overdrive. What a hoot!

The rains continued all night and most of the day on Sunday. We spent the morning working around the boat (oil changes and cleaning). In the afternoon Greg & Reenie joined us for soggy walk under our umbrellas to town to see the movie Jurassic World in 3D.

Monday we plan to move on. Greg & Reenie will be staying in Peterborough a few more days and then traveling home to California for a couple weeks. Our paths will most likely not cross again on this trip. We will miss them as we had a lot of fun together.