Peterborough, Ontario – Buckhorn, Ontario, July 17, 2008

The diver/millwright/mechanic did not get back to the boat last night. The job he had to go on took much longer than he anticipated and he didn’t finish until 9 p.m. He was unable to come today due to a previous commitment. Darrell had been working on aligning the engine yesterday afternoon and evening. He needs a jack and some additional muscle power to finish it but felt it was OK to continue our trip.

We left the marina this morning at 9:00. The locks started immediately, .1 mile after leaving the marina. The second lock of the day was ¼ mile further, the Peterborough Lift Lock. This lock was completed in 1904 and was considered an engineering marval at the time. There are two large pans, each weighing 1300 tons when filled. With one pan up and the other down the two balance each other. It doesn’t matter how many boats are in either pan. A boat displaces its own weight in water. When it is time to lower one pan and raise the other, one extra foot of water (130 tons) is allowed to enter the upper pan. This extra weight allows the upper pan to push down and raise the lower pan to the top level. The two pans are locked in place and the extra water is let out of the lower pan. Boats enter and exit the upper and lower pans and the process is repeated. You drive your boat into one of these pans and tie up just like you would to a dock. The lift lock really moves once it gets going. It feels like an elevator ride.

We caught up with a houseboat. There are many houseboat rentals here and we’re told one of the fun things to do is watch these houseboats go through their first lock. The houseboat we got behind was on its way back from a their rental and had already gone through several locks, so they had the procedure down pretty well. They travel slower than the speed limit of 6 mph on the canal, but it doesn’t do any good to pass them. We would have arrived at the lock first, but because the lock tenders talk to each other they would know there was also a houseboat coming and would wait for the houseboat to arrive before locking you through. Lucky for us they stopped along the way for lunch.

We left Rice Lake and The Ontonabee River and entered into Kawartha Lakes. This area is a vacation spot for Canadians and has many lakeside homes, cottages, boating and recreational activities. The Kawartha Lakes are a series of lakes joined by locks. The terrain is often rocky. Native Indians traveled these waterways by canoe more than 3 thousand years ago.

Clear Lake and Stony Lake are 2 of the lakes making up the Kawartha Lakes. Clear Lake was reminiscent of 1000 Islands in the St. Lawrence River. There were many rocky hillsides and small islands. Many have homes on them.

Between Clear Lake and Stony Lake is a 1 mile stretch called Hells Gate. Hells Gate is very narrow and has many small islands and mounds of rocks scattered throughout. There are many markers there to show the channel and it is absolutely beautiful.

We stopped at 5 p.m. at Buckhorn after going through our 11th lock today. 8 hours of travel, 11 locks (total of 62), guess how many miles?????? 31.6!!!!!!!!!!!