Thursday 12 July 2012

July 6 (part two)


Otonabee River the next few pictures, shallow and
Mississippi looking



not a swimming area


old bridge not used now


waiting for the next lock to open ... swing bridge has to
open then the lock gates


this island has disappeared


entering another canal 


we had time to spare, as they had divers down in the lock
ahead fixing something ... helping lock thru Modaki



our day trip  .. on a very humid day

July 6/12
Campbellford #13 to Glen Miller # 3
9 locks in 8 hours

Our stay was quiet and peaceful at the bottom of the lock ... we could of stayed free at the municipal dock in the centre of town, but we just wanted to be alone, not have someone's stern at the back of ours.

Our next lock was the chutes of Ranney Falls ... as we passed down stream and looked back, we saw the Suspension Bridge that was across the Ranney Gorge, 30 feet above the water, part of the Trans Canada Trail ...we are sorry we missed this .... one of us would of walked across ... RIGHT JOE ????

We are getting quite use to coming up to a lock, if it is open you drive right in (not usual), if not you dock at the blue line and wait for gates to open, then drive in and loop bow and stern lines around vertical rubber tubes, and hold the boat there at the wall.

Another thing we have learnt is that locking down is less turbulent than locking up.
Thank goodness we did the hard part at the beginning of this trip. For a drop 15 - 20 feet, it takes about 15 minutes inside the lock.   If it is hot and humid, you suffer, as we did. Once the gates open you get a bit of air.

To keep your self busy in the locks is to talk to other boaters, if you have anyone in with you ... OR ...examine the wildlife on the lock walls.  Zebra mussels grow on some walls, they are small and when locking down they expel water, and it looks like they are spitting at you.  But what we learnt it is not spit, they are actually peeing.
I wish we could of taken a video of this !!!

We are on a bit of a mission to get to CFB Trenton Yacht Club to meet Joe's friend, Peter Gamble, as he is helping us take the mast down.
The lock master said not to stop at lock 2, because of hwy 401 traffic above and lock 1 has the VIA Rail above. So we decided on Lock 3 Glen Miller would be our stop.
So we asked at Lock 4, should we stay above or below, he said both areas would be good ... but by the time we locked thru he yelled to us to stay above lock 3, because of geese problems below (poop).  He had called ahead to say we where
coming and that lock master informed him of the goose problem.

At any lock, if you are spending the night you tie to the grey wall .. so we did ..oh boy was it hot there, no shade trees and no wind ... The lock master came to us and said move across the canal to the blue wall and spend the night in the shade.
We are still amazed at the great service from the lock masters that we have received ....... it was about 4:30 when we got to this lock and they had a garden hose with sprinkler out watering the lawn ....  We where so hot and  if you looked at the canal water , there was no way you would want to swim there, and a sponge bath did not do it.  We asked if we could use the hose to cool off ... they had already put it away for the evening, this included the handle to turn the water on    We where granted.  OH after a day of humidity 30 plus, cooling off under the garden hose was so good, ( thinking about my childhood back in Paisley).  We actually came back at about 9 pm and repeated the cooling down.
THANKS LOCK #3















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