Trenton ON to Campbellford ON

We left Trenton Port Marina early this morning.   First we filled with diesel.  We weren't out but considered that we are early in the season and that many marinas might still be selling last year's fuel we chose to buy from the main marina at the start of the canal system where most boats fill up after crossing Lake Ontario.  $2.02 a liter.   That's like $8 a gallon.   Sure there's a discount to US dollars but considering I paid $3.89 a gallon two days ago in New York..... 

Prices in Canada for fuel are high.  

Yesterday after we checked in with customs Katie did some free laundry and went shopping.  I washed a part of the boat.  The boat is too big to wash in one sitting and not accessible all of the way around unless it is moved.... So I washed the side I could reach.  

Then we went to dinner with looper friends we crossed Lake Ontario with.   One of them is completing his loop here in Ontario and lives just the other end of the Trent Severn waterway.  

Today we started the waterway.  And what a start.  It sure didn't take long to become beautiful and unique.  

The locks in the TSW were first built in the mid 1800s.   They were built of timber.  They've since been hard scaped with concrete and iron but many of the lock doors are still identical to the original.  Huge wood timbers pivoted with a large cam by what looks almost like a merry go round. 

The lock operators still operate them manually by pushing them in a circle to open or close a lock door.  One on each side of the canal.  

Once we entered Canadian waters we had to fly a yellow flag on the bow for quarantine.  No going ashore until customs says ok. 

We called the 800 number and gave them our details including what supplies we had aboard and nothing for sale.  They cleared us to change the flag to a Canadian courtesy flag on the bow and enter Canada.  We could go to town and get off the boat!

We also fly an American flag on the back of the boat (because we are US registry).  

Today we went through locks. Lots of locks.  A new personal record for us.  12 locks in a single day!   Whew.  We are tired.  

The locks here are pretty close together because the granite here goes vertical right off the lake and the rivers naturally have lots of waterfalls and rapids.  The channels for the canal were cut into the rock on the sides of the river and allow boats to pass via the locks.    The TSW has 45 'locks' but some of them are not really locks because they are non traditional conveyances for a boat.  

Today, however, all of our locks were traditional locks with a door on each end and flooded by letting water in from upstream to lift the boats.  

Sometimes right at a lock there is also a road bridge and the road needs to be moved out of the way for boats to pass.  They usually rotate here on a pivot.  

Katie was the lock queen today.   We are both a bit sunburned, wind burned and tired.   

On the Erie and Oswego canals they had ropes hanging on the sides with weights at the bottom. We had to physically hold the slimy ropes with our hands (or gloves).  

Here on the TSW there are no ropes. There are large cables/wires running vertically.  We loop our own ropes around the wire and then the ropes slide up the wire holding the boat in place as the water rises.  

It really stirs when the water is coming in.....  

and also really moves when it comes out of a lock you are waiting for.  They ask that we tie the boat to the wall because the water coming out moves fast, makes waves and creates strong currents that would really move you quick.

Today we hit a new kind of lock.  A staircase lock where multiple lock chambers are attached physically and the lock door on the upstream end of the first lock is the downstream lock door for the next lock.  

Once we are raised to the first lock level the 'exit' door we typically leave through is only a gate to the next lock.... 

We got to the top of lock 12 and there was another road.... Which they quickly moved for us.   

The lock masters here in Canada are the nicest people.  Friendly, helpful and love to talk. I think they sit by themselves isolated much of the year.   (They manage the locks and water control on the river year round even though the boats stop and the water is lowered.)

Driving through some of these places is idyllic.  Just stunning and beautiful little towns.   We entered Campbellford about 5:30pm and were met almost immediately with the rep from the chamber promoting the town, giving us guides and volunteering to help with the paperwork for our overnight.  

They have power, water and wifi right on the side of the channel on both sides.   This is a great little town, home of Worlds Finest Chocolates (visiting tomorrow) - an annual ritual for fundraising children.....  They also have the best bakery in Canada (voted best), but it's closed on Sundays.    We will get some of their butter tarts at the grocer tomorrow since they are going to be closed.   We also intend to go to the local cheese factory.   Katie wants cheese.  

Not a bad setting to have the boat parked in.   Food truck 100ft away that was very busy until it closed for the night.  

And of course... I found ice cream.  I've wanted ice cream for much of a week but haven't found it available at a cool place...  No room for it on the boat.   

28.4 miles today but 7 hours and 34 minutes of journey.  Yes, three hours of that were spent sitting still but we were holding the boat with ropes while the boat moved vertically that whole time...

We weren't sure if we would have Internet here in Canada.  We are fortunate here that the chamber provides good WiFi with the power and water by the canal!  

So ... A blog it is....

See you tomorrow (if we again have Internet!). Our cell phone plans here are expensive and incredibly limiting. 

We are no where near 1/4 of the way through the waterway but we are definitely through 1/4 of the locks!