Trenton, Ontario – Campbellford, Ontario, July 10, 2008

We got underway at 8 this morning. It was 2 miles to the first lock and the locks open at 8:30. There were 2 other boats at the marina that left when we did, making a total of 4 of us starting at lock #1.

The first lock would only take 2 of the 4 boats. We were #3 in line, so had to wait for the next opening. You figure about ½ hour to go through a lock. Bellissimo was #2, so we would be at least ½ hour behind them the rest of the day.

The boat that was locking with us was a 28’ sailboat with its mast down. The couple on it had previously owned a sailboat, but had just purchased this sailboat today, had never taken it on the water and had ever been through a lock before. This boat had wheel steering rather than a tiller which they had before. They had a lot of trouble with the first 4 locks. They didn’t have their lines in the right place and had no boat hook to help grab the cable. They lost control of the boat several times, were crossways in the lock and their mast hit the wall a couple of times. Darrell loaned them one of our boat hooks and had them move a line and they improved. The lock tenders keep in touch with each other and by the time we reached lock #5 the tender came over and asked us if the sailboat was getting any better at locking. The time it took for the sailboat to catch the cables at each lock put us even further behind Bellissimo. There were also several locks where we had to wait for the lock to open. We arrived in Campbellford about 1 ½ hrs behind Bellissimo.

There is a fee for use of the 44 locks on the Trent-Severn waterway. We purchased our pass at the first lock, a seasonal “Transit One Way” pass. The cost of this plan is $4.45/ft Canadian. Almost all of the locks on the waterway are opened manually. The dock tender must walk the controls around in a circle turning a gear mechanism to open or close the lock gates and the water valves.

The speed limit on the Trent-Severn is 10 kilometers per hour, about 6.8 mph. That helps the fuel economy, but also make for a longer day.

The canal system allows you to tie up to a lock wall to spend the night. The Canadians call it “mooring”. The cost is $0.90/ft. There are picnic tables, water and restrooms and a few of the spots have electricity. Some of the locks are located in very rural areas, but others are in towns and villages. This gives you a chance to spend some time in these lovely places.

Our last lock today was a flight lock. In a flight lock when the boat comes out of one lock it is actually entering the next lock. These are typical when a large life must be achieved in a short distance. After coming out of that lock we were in a beautiful stretch of canal leading into Campbellford.

We got to Campbellford, Ontario and were tied up at 5:45 p.m. That’s 12 locks (a total of 44 locks) and 31.1 miles in 9 hours and 45 minutes. We had had a long day!