Hastings to Peterborough, 17th, July.

Leaving Hastings behind, we followed John and Susan into the Lock and out the other side. Waz and I had a walk before we cast off the lines, having been up for some time. I think we turned the alarm off at 7am.
it was a gorgeous beginning to a lovely day which was filled with stunning scenery and lots to look at. Rice Lake is a loooong lake a bit like a sausage, but with lots of little islands, and cabins all along it's shoreline. Lots of fishermen and women out in a variety of boats, and we wished we could have joined them.

Our first challenge was getting through the small channel of this disused Rail Bridge...the current is always especially strong, going into them, and compensating is a challenge. We watched Nuclear Fishin go through easily enough, though he did a bit of a sideways swing...single screw vessel! We weren't too far from the port side wall as we went through.

 Now our turn!

We have come back to the land of Graffiti...what a shame none of it is very artful...!

 Some of the cabins along the lake were lovely...we especially liked this one.

 the amenities at some of them were excellent, and we discussed what we might put on the water in our own cabin, should we own one...well, you have to talk about something, don't you? lol.

 The variety of Boat houses was stunning:)  Of course these lakes freeze in the winter, and if your boat isn't out of the water, it should be!

 What delightful summer places:)

Rice Lake is 22 miles long (34kms). The islands were sometimes occupied by houses, and lots that weren't, but which we decided might be nice to own:)
Some of the channel was VERY skinny, and you can see that the water isn't very deep most of the way.

 We think this is a Fire Spotters perch, but we may be wrong. First one of it's kind that we have seen.

 Island, anyone?

 You can see some of depths outside the channel....we have 20.4 feet, but most of it is less than 10 feet. Plenty of little islands, as you can see.

Now we are going through a channel that used to be a railway line. You can see the obstructions in the water!, just before turning right into the waterway again.

 These fishermen must be onto a good thing, in about the same spot where the old railway is...it is quite shallow there, but I bet lots of fish congregate along the submerged machinery and lines.

 This is the narrow channel we turned off Lake Rice, into. Lots of trees hanging over into the water, which made passing the many other oncoming boats, a little challenging at times.

 Leaving Lake Rice. You can see what a lovely day it is...so blue, is the sky. Big white puffy clouds, with the odd one underhung with rain...that didn't actually happen! Thankfully.

 A real Canadian Log Cabin!

These little cabins are called 'Bunkies' in the local realty parlance. We saw lots of them along the waterway.

 I don't think this Bunkie is being used still...but it is very decorative:)

 Skinny channels, very windy and  fascinating scenery. Pretty!

 More cabins in the woods...kind of!

 Not especially shallow, but definitely have to look twice to figger out where we are going, sometimes.

Waz took a break from driving, while I was at the wheel. It is good for him to just stop and look out the window, sometimes.

Loved this tree house:)

We knew we were coming to a town (civilization!) when we saw people sitting outside along the river. Perfect!

 One last lock for the day and we came to Little Lake at Peterborough. Susan and John went into the Marina for a two night stay, and we anchored out by the fountain. We are the only boat anchored. We cant understand why more people don't do it. It is much easier, in our opinion, to anchor than to dock. We like the privacy and I love the ability, as you will know, to shower off the back deck, at night....under the stars:)

 Yes, a real beach along the Lake.

 The fountain came into view as we turned the corner into the lake. Pretty shallow around the sides, so we were keen to stay in the channel...only trouble was....the markers were a bit confusing.

 You can see the channel into the next lock #19, on the bottom right. That's us, the first boat. John and Susan came out of the last lock (there were three of us in there), last.

 The cute neighboring homes.

 Looking back at the Fountain which is supposedly 240 feet high!

...now with us in the photo:) That isn't our dinghy, by the way...another boat joined us! That is the town dinghy dock, which is covered in Canada Geese poop. Disgusting, but no way to keep them off the dock. We had to pick and choose where we got off the dinghy when we went into town later on.

I will have to write about that another day. Right now it is bed time, and we are off in the morning. I have another whole day in Peterborough to tell you about, but some other time. What a gorgeous place...and we feel so safe and healthy here. As I said...another day. Ciao!