Left
Clayton NY on 14 June and traveled about 9 hours into Canada to Trenton ON.
This is the starting point for the 245 mile Trent-Severn Waterway (TSW) which
will take me to Georgian Bay. This Bay is suppose to be the prettiest place of
the whole loop. The ride down was uneventful but had a variety of weather
including the usual rain, wind, testy water at times but nothing I hadn’t seen
before.
Stayed at
the best marina that I have ever seen in Trenton….. bar none! This place was 2
years old and has about 350 slips in it but only 20% full. Their season has not
started yet mainly because of all the rain. Older marinas, which have fixed
docks (do not float) are underwater around Lake Ontario. This marina had a clubhouse
where they hold receptions and parties for the city, beautiful showers, and
Free washers and dryers that are the most modern front loaders I’ve seen. My
only complaint is the distance I have to walk at every marina because of the
size of Phantom. I’m always at the very end of the dock. There was a large,
modern grocery and variety of other stores nearby.
I was
planning to only stay overnight and start the TSW the next day. There were 2 other
looper boats there and I introduced myself to the people on them. One I knew
from Tarpon Springs and the other was at New Bern in April but I don’t remember
meeting them. Neither were sure when they were leaving so I wasn’t counting on
being able to travel with them.
Rain again
caused a delay the next morning. It was going to be a challenge doing the locks
by myself and I didn’t want to have to begin in the rain. Next morning,16 June,
I left the marina in time to reach the 1st lock by their opening
time at 9 am. Bill and I had done the Erie Canals & Locks the week before
and I couldn’t see how it could be much different except I was1 person short!
The 1st
lock opened and I eased Phantom inside it’s walls just as I had done through
Erie’s 31 locks, stopped her dead in the water, jumped out and caught a line
and looped my catch line around it and tied it off. Then I jumped back in the
boat and shut the engines down. Canadians are a little different because on the
Erie they let you keep engines started. Bill was choking so we even turned them
off on the Erie too.
I stood
there with my wireless thruster control in case the bow or stern started to
swing away from the wall as the water entered. A little push here and little
there and soon the level was up to the top of thel lock, gates opened up and we
were ready to go on to the next one. Nothing to it, piece of cake….. only 44
more to go!
The river
was well marked and it was nice and smooth. You couldn’t really make very good
time because there were too many cottages and holiday houses along a still
flooded bank and to make a big wake would not be cool. These people had been
fighting flood waters for a couple of months and it was my responsibility to
watch my wake and keep it small.First day I made it through 12 locks without
any problems. A couple of times, I missed grabbing the Lock line on the first
try but other than that..;. no problems.
Soon I came
to Campbellford. A little village along the canal walls where the Chamber of
Commerce rents you space to tie up your boat overnight. You can have power but
somehow I forgot to bring an adapter so I ran the generator for awhile then
shut it off and went to bed. I didn’t even go out to eat because it turned out
to be a pretty exhausting day for me. I think mostly the stress of locking
alone didn’t seem like much until I sat down after stopping.
Next day,
rain delay again but this time it was with tornado warning and 25-35 mph winds.
Even the river had white caps on it. I’m glad I was docked almost under the
bridge and sorta around out of the wind using the wall to shield me from the
full force.
Next day, I
day I was ready to go and at the lock when it was to open at 9 am, One slight
problem, they weren’t there. I called on the radio and telephoned but there was
no answer. I thought maybe I had mis-read the time or something but there I sat
until 10:15 when they came to the water’s edge and shouted they were ready.
Explanation given and we went in and out just as the day before another 6
times.
I reached
Hastings about 2:30, went through lock 18, and decided this was enough. I
called the marina and pulled in there, shut Phantom down and sat down. It’s a
nice little town with a good hardware store, which I needed for 2 batteries
(normally $5 at home and $10.95 here!
Boat owner
next to me said a good place to eat was the Captain’s Table (but it wasn’t). He
claimed the Halibutt was big (it wasn’t), cooked nice (it wasn’t – it was over
breaded, deep fat fired, and soaked with grease, Ugh). The cute blonde’s, who
ran the marina for the city, told me to eat at Banjo’s. I had walked by on my
way to the hardware and it was about as big as a postage stamp. As I walked
back by on my way to the boat after eating, I stopped in to see for myself. Sat
outside on the 3 table porch and enjoyed the sound of the river and a bread
pudding for desert. Knew I had made a “halibut” mistake. They were serving
homemade meatloaf as their daily special and it looked great.
This
morning at 6 am when I woke up it was pouring rain again. I covered my head and
went back to sleep. When I woke up again at 9, it was bright sun. I jumped up
and checked the weather. This was a “sucker hole” or about an hour of nice
weather followed by you guessed it….. heavy rain. I have about a 5 hour run to
get to Peterborough tomorrow and there was no way to make it without getting
into nasty weather….. so here I am in Hastings until tomorrow. BTW, I did eat
at Banjo”s tonight…. Breaded chicken with a mountain of spaghetti and the BEST
fresh salad I have had since starting the loop!
Just
checked the weather for tomorrow (after it rained outside for the last hour)
and the first 4/5 hours in the morning will be fine but about 2pm 75% chance of
rain. I’m planning to leave at 7 the latest and be in Peterborough by noon.
It’s the biggest city on the TSW so things should be more normal there. So long
Hastings!
We’ll see!
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