MONDAY JUNE 6TH

A  wonderful early summer morning. Pleasant temp, bright blue sky and faint breeze.

Our plan for today is to start our trip up the Trent-Severn Canal. This canal runs 240 miles west from Trenton to Port Severn on the Georgian Bay. The locks only operate from 9 a.m. till 4 p.m. so it will make for short travel days. We had some time before leaving so road the bikes to the grocery store for some bananas and eggs. I spotted these strange looking things while in the produce department. Fiddlehead Ferns. I wanted to buy a couple to try, in the interest of the blog. But the captain was in what my Looper friend, Cindy Shue, would call the “chop, chop, lets roll mood.” So I can’t report on what they taste like. I did some checking on the Internet and they are a powerhouse of nutrients. They are the curly part of the Ostrich Fern just as it emerges from the ground. Who knew?








 






















The locks are very narrow on the Trent Severn. They are 23 feet wide and our boat is 15 feet wide. We need to purchase another pass to travel through this series of locks. So once the boat is raised in the first lock Ross hopped off the boat and walked across the walkway of the lock to the other side and purchased our pass.





Most canal lock gates are operated by hydraulics and the push of a button. These gates are maple syrup powered! The lock tenders rotate these “sweep arms” around, which in turn cranks open the lock gates.






We traveled 30 miles today and 12 locks. Here’s a map of where we were. Trenton is in the lower right corner and Campbellford is in the upper left corner. you can click on the photo to enlarge the photo.


















I got really excited when I noticed these 3 swans in along the shore. I waited to take another picture and it seemed like the one had been feeding underwater quite a while. And hey, the other two hadn’t moved either. I’d been hoodwinked! They were decoys.




But shortly afterwards I saw this family of swans. It must be a nesting area for these beautiful birds because we saw many, many swans all day long.

This was our last lock of the day. It is called a fleet of locks in that after we went in this lock and the water filled to raise us, then the gates opened and we moved in to another lock and again were raised to a total of 48 feet total.
















Shortly before getting to Campbellford we saw these young guys enjoying the warm weather. There was a rope ladder so they could climb up this tower. I wonder if their moms knew they were out there?

I asked them if the water was cold. Two said no, but one shouted yes!












We tied up for the night along the wall at Old Mill Park in Cambellford.












On the suggestion of one of the lock tenders when he heard we were staying in Campbellford, we walked up to have ribs at Rubbs. We had planned to eat dinner on board, but after a long day in the sun I was glad not to have to make a meal and clean up. And the ribs were nummy.




Walking back to the boat we came across Canada’s largest two-dollar coin. (try to contain your excitement) The artist of the coin is from Campbellford. Notice the cup and spoon in Ross’ hand. He has now expanded his ice cream taste testing internationally.