Bobcaygeon to Kirkfield Lift Lock

July 21st

Here is the rest of the story...you got the short version in the last blog. I had written this one some time ago and saved it in word...so if you are reading things over, forgive me!

Leaving Bobcaygeon.....

I woke early…like 5am. Sometimes that just happens…you wake right up and cant get back to sleep. I had a lot on my mind, obviously. I got up quietly and came upstairs to the salon to write Blog. I had a lot of catching up to do, so it was the perfect time to sit and be quiet and write.

I woke Waz around 6.45, by starting the Genset to make coffee. We didn’t intend to move off the Bobcaygeon wall until the ‘crowd’ of other boaters had locked through and we would have a little more time to have a good breakfast at EggSmart, just across the bridge, in the town. We ordered Eggs Benedict. Mine with Smoked Salmon, of which there was plenty (hold the muffins please) and Waz ordered the Pea Meal Bacon with his. We didn’t know what Peameal Bacon was, so we asked the waitress who couldn’t describe it, so she brought a piece to show us. It is basically a thin cut pork chop without the bone. His honor said it tasted like bacon though. No matter, he enjoyed it! The service was friendly and courteous and the coffee was good also. Well worth a visit!

We walked the town afterwards, going down to the lock wall to see which boats remained after the night before, and said hello to couple of the occupants who were out walking their dogs. One very cute 16 week old German Shepherd puppy called Nala was on the receiving end of many hugs from us. She was just perfect J

We then made our way down a main drag to the hardware store. We LOVE small town hardware stores. It took us a while to see all the ‘stuff’ contained therein, and ended up buying Waz a new raincoat $25! This one should keep him dry!!! The old one is ready for the trash. It isn’t even good enough to recycle, unfortunately. I have to say that we had been looking for one for a while, but they are all too short. This one comes down to his knees, and is about 16^th the price of all the others we had looked at. Bravo!

We are still looking for a new part to the dinghy pump…no luck anywhere. While Waz went into yet another store to search, I went to take photos of the locking through of several smaller boats.

We made our way back to the boat after talking to the Lock staff to arrange for us to go through. We didn’t want to move the boat yet again to the blue line, indicating that we were ready. Waz walked up to the lock to tell them we would go through when they opened the bridge. This bridge goes over the lock, and is a major thoroughfare in the middle of town.

We had talked to the lockmaster the day before, about where to eat dinner. He recommended a couple of places, which we checked out, but decided to go with Chinese. We like Chinese food, especially if it is well done. We were STARVING, but by the time we got to the restaurant, but it was a bit like watching paint dry…two women serving, taking orders on the phone, packing up and dealing with the money for said phone orders, on pick up, and eventually serving us water and giving us a menu. Ho hum. This had better be SPECTACULAR.

Well, I am happy to report that the food WAS well worth the wait…It was hot, cooked just right, and there was enough for lunch leftovers the next day. Yaya!

We must have been hungry, because we seemed to eat a lot of food without feeling full! Afterwards we went next door to the supermarket and bought fruit and veg and perused the aisles, as we do.

 

All this being the night we arrived!!!
I have filled in the rest of the picture, I think. Sorry is this is a bit disjointed...too many places, things to see and no time or internet to keep them coming!

 

I  am going to skip through the next parts....please forgive me. Too much of the same kind of terrain, lots of Cottages on Islands, both by themselves and small numbers of neighbors. Idyllic in some ways, for the summer. Winters are harsh up here and all these little cottages get shut up for another 6 months or more. The past winter was particularly harsh and there was still 4 feet of snow on the ground in mid-April.

We have entered the area known as Kawartha Lakes, after Lakefield and Balsam Lake. The terrain is rocky…almost suddenly. A little scary, to be honest, but we kept to the straight and narrow, known as the Magenta Line.

We passed through towns such as Burleigh Falls, Buckhorn, and Fenelon Falls.

The latter was quite an eye opener. Not only was the canal narrow but it was deep, for a change, and there were cottages and holiday homes all along the narrow, rocky channel. Fascinating to see kids all playing in the clear waters, and lots of adults sitting on chairs enjoying both the antics of the kids and the various boats going by, so close to their homes. The channel was no more than 100 feet wide, at the widest, I would estimate. We went VERY slowly.

The Indian names for these lakes are interesting. Another one that is almost unpronounceable is Katchewab-ooka.

Clear Lake was just that. The water was a gorgeous color. Stony Lake abounds in rocks both above and below the surface and we were ever vigilant.

After Fenelon Falls, where the town again seemed to be centered around the Lock and the waterway, we took ourselves out the channel (narrow) and turned left to find ourselves an anchorage and time for lunch.

At the end of the canal channel was this disused Rail swing bridge which creates a hazard...not a wide channel and thank goodness there was little wind, at this spot.

Looking back at the boats lining the Lock/Town Wall in Fenelon Falls

We were very hungry by now, and you can see we are taking a left turn towards the 15 feet of water where we sat just off the beach, to eat our lunch.

 

 

 The day was stunning, so we were happy to take five or ten, and just enjoy the scenery. It was a bit of a zoo at the township, with boats stacked along the lock walls and town walls, boats waiting to go into the lock, and those coming out, like us.

These are the Fenelon Falls, below the Lock. This was a favorite place for boaters to tie up, do a bit of fishing and picnic on the Wall below the dock.

 The lock wall with day trippers tied up, and the looper boat on the right. We parked in front of them to wait for the lock to open.

Lock #35 was at Rosedale, where cottages line the channel. We didn’t stop there either, but made our way across Balsam Lake, the Highest Point on the Trent Severn Waterway. This was followed by a trip down a narrow canal to the Lift Lock at Kirkfield.

 

The lock at Rosedale. A pretty place, especially now that the sun is out!

It was hot enough for the locals to be enjoying the canal, alongside the boats.

 Instead of parking the car...you park the pontoon boat!

 One of the many pretty cottages on the Canal at Rosedale.

We crossed yet another lake, after Rosedale, and then found ourselves at the entrance to the Narrow Canal.

In the Beginning!!...The approach to the Canal.

 Lovely new homes on the right hand side, just inside a breakwater , before entering the canal.

 Small boats that could negotiate around us.

 Layers of rock reaching out to us, just beneath the surface. I kept a look out on the starb'd side. Waz captains from the Port side of the fly deck, so he can see just below him.

 Not much room..and none for error. No negotiating space AT ALL, in this canal...hence the need for a Securite alert on channel 16.

 Another small boat passing us to port

 Trees literally within an arms reach.

 and then it opens out into a VERY shallow lake. We stick to the red and green markers, because there is literally only 1 foot of water in this lake. Those are water lilies, in the lake. They are everywhere...and blooming!

 

The narrow canal on the way to Kirkfield is a story on it’s own:

We had to give a Securite warning on Channel 16 before we started down the REALLY narrow channel (The Talbot River) towards Kirkfield. The channel was no wider than 50 feet (at the widest point) and got increasingly narrow as we went on. Not only that, but it was INCREDIBLY SHALLOW!!! Aieeeeee!!!!

We had read the warnings to go dead slow, and we did. There was no margin for error on this trip...the rock is granite, so you don’t argue with it.

We met several small ‘local’ boats who thought it was their right to go at fast speed through the channel, and most gave us room to pass, but one in particular thought he could hog the middle. Sheesh! There is a 10kph speed limit here for good reason!

All was slightly well until we saw a large boat bearing down on us, 2/3 the way along the channel. Waz called him on the radio…we hadn’t heard his securite message coming from the Kirkfield end, so we didn’t know he would also be in the channel.

We could see he was making a bow wake, so he was going more than the prescribed 10kph (about 5.3 knots). We had reached a point in the channel that was marginally wider than the rest, but there was a green marker warning not to go towards the port side. Waz told the oncoming boat that we could pass to port QUIETLY, but he would have to slow down. The boat got to the marker and was in the process of going to starb’d of the marker (shallow and WRONG) when Waz radioed him to say DON’T GO THERE! The captain pulled his boat up short (he was still going fast at this point!!!) and backed up, before coming at us . Waz backed up and we heard AND FELT a great clunk! That was the first time…then as he repositioned so that the other boat could get around us to port, he hit a rock a second time. As I said, there was NOWHERE to go!  The other boat took off again, even though I had indicated for him to stay on the other side of the divide, at the marker, so that we could proceed carefully past him…he had more space on his side of the marker. No such luck.

We have reported this idiot to the authorities. What else can we do? There is literally no place to pass another large boat. He was a DeFever 43ft trawler!  There are signs at the beginning of the channel of each end, to indicate that boats over 40 feet must give a Securite warning before proceeding, and wait for any other boat over 40 feet to clear the channel. Just good common sense, right?

We were pretty shaken up by this idiot, and for the first time in one year, one month and two days, I was ready to quit! I really have had enough of idiots in boats. AND…wouldn’t you know it…his boat is registered in FLORIDA! There is no place on the waterways for impatience and rudeness.

 

By the time we got to the end of the channel at the Kirkfield Lift Lock, we were exhausted in every way possible. We tied up wayyy down the Lock wall at the very end, avoiding the road (noise) so that we could have a good night’s sleep.

 

A cup of coffee was called for and enjoyed and then we were ready for a walk, also. It was 4.30pm when we tied up, and after our coffee we just had enough time to walk down to the lock and take photos before the staff went home at 6pm. The young man at the top of the lock was very helpful with our complain and they let the locks further down the line know to have a word with this maniac that endangered us and the boat. He also reported it to his superiors and they have filed a report.

We enjoyed our little photographic session at the lock…it really is impressive and an amazing engineering feat…and incredibly simple!

In this photo I am standing at the top of the bath tub looking down 50 feet to the ground below.

 I am now on the ground looking up at the tub, suspended above me. The tub on the right is down at ground level.

 Not sure if you can see how this works, but...See the boat on the top side in the tub? and the boat at the bottom about to enter the tub at ground level. A small amount of water is pumped into the top chamber to make it heavier than the bottom chamber, and up the lower one goes and the top goes down. Simple!

 and from ground level. We went into this chamber and came down with a boat going up at the same time in the other chamber. We waved as we passed.

 

 

An early night followed dinner, and we were able to take a lovely hot shower off the back of the boat.

We slept like logs until 7am.

 

22^nd July, 2014

 

We had indicated to the Lockmaster that we would take the first locking at 9am.

Another large (40ft)  boat steamed past us just as the clock struck the hour, and they went straight into the lock. We took a few more minutes to get ourselves untied and then we too went into the lock. The lockmaster had already started to bring the gate up, but when he saw us moving forward, he lowered it again....thankfully!

 

 

We entered, tied up to the railing (it was a bit windy!) and the supervisor came over to chat about the incident yesterday, and to report that the word had gone down the chain, and the local cops would be patrolling the area more frequently, in their boats. Thank goodness!

So, here is the experience of going down in the bath-tub lock at Kirkfield. I have taken video of the descent, but there really is so little to see in the 90 seconds it takes to descend.

This is weird…here you are, suspended 5 stories in the air, in a bath-tub. The lock is remote, in location. Essentially you have come into the lock from an aqueduct, 50 feet up above the road.

This photo is taken looking at the gate, and over the top to the canal below.

 

This is where the red and green markers changed, also.  We are now back to red on left, and Green on the right. for a bit....

 

From the lock we are immediately in Canal Lake. It is a man-made lake with extreme shallows, WEED for China, and much submerged ‘stuff’. The wind had also come up, but at slow speed we did ok with that.

Several bridges, more shallow lakes, swing bridges, and finally, Lock #37 at Bolsover. Nothing here…very isolated!

We negotiated the Hole In the Wall Bridge...or rather, Waz did...it is rather narrow and there is a current running...and we had wind to contend with too.

These bridges never look wide enough, let alone tall enough, but we scraped through with about a foot to spare.

 and we are about to go through.

 out the other side!

The lake

 interesting homes along the shore, but the weed was horrid, and also lots of lilies, again.

 ...and back into yet another narrow channel...:(

 

Lock #38 at Talbot was similar, although a secluded residential area…and NARROW channel. Much caution was needed going through here. Very pretty, though.

Lock #39 at Portage…nothing here! Just another rural setting.

From there it was quickly through Locks #40 and #41, at Thorah and Gamebridge respectively.

The last bridge was #50, a swing bridge that let us through the VERY narrow channel into Lake Simcoe. You have no idea how happy we were to be out in the open, on a glorious blue sky day, with some real clear blue water under our keel! PHEW!

We got a little way out into the bay and Waz put the boat in reverse a few times to chop the weed off the props. It worked. I watched the clippings come out the back and float on the surface.

YEs, we did get around this corner out into Simcoe Lake!...just! we had to go around to Starb'd of that red marker...between that and the rocks on the right!

 FREEEEDOM!!!!:)

 for a while.

Here we are entering the next set of narrows at the far end of the lake. The conditions couldn't have been better!

 

Waz then opened the throttles and we sped across the lake for about 20 mins at 12 knots. The blue smoke at the beginning,was something terrible, but the engines needed a good blow out, after running at idle speed for the past two days. There havent been too many places we could do that.

 

Lake Simcoe is 20 miles long and some 16 miles wide. We stuck to the markers and the magenta line, for the most part, being particularly careful, when we reached the end, as you could see the great slabs of Limestone on the bottom, not far beneath us. Yes, we were back in VERY shallow water again at this end.

We had lunch on the fly again, with some left over salad from the night before. We also had dessert!

Lots of berries, green sugarless flum duffery and lightly whipped cream! Yum:)

 

We had been warned that Lake Simcoe can cut up something awful and there are signs everywhere to let you know this. Thunderstorms can bring 8 foot waves…hard to believe on a day like today.

Lake Simcoe is named after Sir John Simcoe who was the 1^st Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada in 1791. He is well known for having abolished slavery in Canada, in 1793, long before the USA.

 

The Narrows: This is the northern most corner of Lake Simcoe, headed for Port Severn. Sheesh…you can see the rocks just below the surface, and the crosses on the chart remind us not to always blindly follow the magenta line….it wanted to take us right across some of these rocks…no thanks! The boat in front later told us they saw me zigzagging across the lake…I was looking for the deepest water, always…out of reach of rocks. Talk about Paranoid Polly, today. I ended up taking the wheel just to stop telling Waz how to drive the boat and where, lol.

 narrows, lots of diversions, such as kids jumping off the wall into the water in front of you!!

 more subsurface rocks!

 

 We followed Cindy and Grant under this bridge on our way to our resting place for the night....the wall before the next lock. We are Pooped!!

 We think this woman is getting dressed, way out in the open...putting her suspenders on, for sure. Sorry....shouldn't have been watching, let alone taking close-up pics!! lol.

  and last but not least, the swing rail bridge opened for us.

 We watched others go into the lock, late afternoon...happy to sit by and watch. This is a great place to stay for the night, and as the weather is turning windy, also maybe another day for rest.

Finally, there is the Railroad bridge, which the book says is usually open, unless there is a train coming. Well, it was closed, today, and we were up the spout of another trawler, by now, in yet another narrow channel (not as narrow as the other, thank goodness). We marked time while the old bridge creaked open, and then closed again after us.

We were nearly at our destination for the day. Waz wasn’t too happy that I made him wait, instead of overtaking the trawler, knowing we would all end up at the same place…a limited space lock wall, for the night.

As luck would have it, there was plenty of space, once we asked the trawler people to move forward. We feel our size at times like this. Nowhere to anchor here, and we weren’t going back!

We tied up to the wall east of Lock #43. Not too many more to go!!!!

We enjoyed some snacks and a glass of wine with the trawler owners, Cindy and Grant. This is their first boat, and they too are on the Loop, starting in Ontario. They too have sold up to do this journey. We enjoyed their company and swapped boat cards. No doubt we will see more of them on our way south.

 As it turned out, we did take an extra day, and were happy to wander the area (very pretty and green with gorgeous wildflowers), talk to the lock attendants...one of whom is going to NZ with his girlfriend in January...we gave him lists of places to go:)

 

Late afternoon with Silver Birches. My favorite trees!:)

 Wildflowers...sweetpea that don't smell:(

 

The next day...

…We will be going on the Marine Railway!!! Lock #44 is called the Big Chute. You go up 58 feet, with the boat in a sling (high and dry) on a railway carriage, across the top of the highway underneath, and down the other side. You drive the boat on to the carriage, and off the other end.

 Will post pics when I have them!!!

We aren’t out of the woods yet, though…more narrows, shallow channels and no passing room before we can get out into Georgian Bay. One lock to go..#45, and we are done with the Trent/Severn Waterway.

Time for a shower off the back and bed.

 

Wild Thyme!