Lakefield to Burleigh Falls, Canada

Day 20

Travel Time: ~3 hours

NM today: 12

NM total: 520

Locks today: 2

Locks total: 56

Well I tried to make today an early day by getting up earlier than we have been doing, but by the time we finished all our errands and tasks, it was almost 11:00 before we untied from the lock wall to start today’s travels.  We started the day with a quick bike ride to the local hardware store which was more like a general store that sold hardware.  We found the bug zapper we decided we wanted to get as well as a new fan.  The fan runs on AC not DC and it is clearly not marine grade, so we’ll see how long it lasts.  At least it’s not currently exposed to salt water / air.  It took a while to explore the store, decide which model fan to buy based on how much current / amps used, find the bug zapper which the store clerk said they did not sell, that kind of thing.  I loaded up the backpack and an extra bag with our goodies and gave it all to Clark to carry back to the boat. 

Rock seen on bike ride - looks like a wild boar or bear cub

Sea Moss hiding in the "jungle" of trees along the lock wall in Lakefield

When we got back to the boat, I started putting things away and thought we would be shoving off shortly.  Clark then told me that he wanted to go play guitar with the lock attendant, so off he went with guitar in hand happy as anything.  When he came back a while later, I asked him how it went and he told me that the lock hand did not know B7 chord, but now he does.  

As I said before, we finally pulled away from the lock wall just before 11:00 and headed across the lake to the next lock about 30 minutes away.  I stayed below and organized the salon with my new fan and some other general cleanup.  When I came up top, I asked Clark if I had missed anything.  He said, “we passed Second Island and Third Island right after we passed an island with no name”, so I guess I didn’t miss much.  A lot of the islands here are small, and what I find amazing is that people have built houses on some of these islands that is just about the size of the island.  The only apparent means of getting to the house is by boat.  Talk about secluded?  Wouldn’t it be cool to say you own your own island?  Of course folks would always think you mean somewhere in the Caribbean. 

Remote church on the canal

Tons of little islands

Some portions of this home are definitely only accessible by boat

 After we entered Lock 27 and were waiting for other boats to tie up, we saw Harmony which had docked behind us in Peterborough.  Clark was fascinated by Harmony’s solar panel system and wanted to see the controller on Harmony.  The two captains chatted while waiting for the lock to fill.  By the time we came out of the lock, Clark had agreed that we would follow Harmony to an anchorage, so he could board their boat and take a look.  We followed them a ways until Harmony dropped anchor in Clear Lake.  We then tied up to their boat and went aboard to see the solar panel system. 

As we talked to John and Eunice from Harmony, we found out that they were planning on going into the water to take a look under the boat.  Apparently a momentary distraction was sufficient time for Harmony to hit the rocky bottom, so they wanted to see what the boat bottom looked like and also check their zincs to see if they needed to be replaced.  This gave Clark the wonderful idea that we should go swimming too.  The water temperature is about 74 degrees – brisk but pleasant on a hot day, so over we went. 

The first thing I realized was that the current was taking me away from the boat quickly, so I had Clark tie a line to a float so I could drift away from the boat to play but had something I could be attached to so I wouldn’t drift too far away.  Meanwhile, Clark had his scraper and dive mask and was ‘free diving’ i.e. no tank of air, under the boat to look for fishing line around props and barnacles from NJ still attached to the propeller shaft.  Starboard side looked pretty good but the port side needed extra work.  The port side got less barnacle attention last time because it took so long to get the fishing line off the prop shaft that Clark had no air capacity left to do a complete job on the barnacles.

Clark was so enthused by Harmony’s solar panel arrangement that before we left the anchorage, he pulled out our roll-up, flexible solar panel that has been sitting in the second state room since we left NJ.  He tied it to the top of the Bimini top over the fly bridge, plugged it in by the batteries, and voila we saw that the panel was indeed feeding “juice” to the batteries.  It’s a trivial amount compared to what Harmony gets with his arrangement, but every little bit helps.

After our swim, barnacle scrape, and solar panel install, we pulled up anchor and continued on our way after saying farewell to Harmony.  By then we had been at the anchorage for almost 2 hours, it was just about 3:30.  Locks stop operating at 6:00 on weekdays, so we were running out of time to get to Buckhorn where we had planned on stopping for the night.  A quick change of plans led us to Burleigh Falls to stay on their lock wall for tonight. 

Again we are at a place with no amenities except what the Canadians call a ‘washroom’, and we in the U.S. call a restroom.  During the late afternoon four guys were in the park-type area around the lock.  They swam, cooked and ate dinner, and lounged in the sun, but they left around 8:00 and then we had the place completely to ourselves.  This is the first time we’ve stayed at a lock wall and there is no one else here with us.  It’s nice and weird at the same time.

Before dinner we walked up the hill and across the street to the local market where we found ice cream yet again and fresh vegetables.  Of course I had to check out the vegetables in search of zucchini.  I thought they had none but Clark found one (only one) hiding behind some Brussel Sprouts.  I snatched it and a couple of yellow squash up in a hurry.  I also saw delicious looking corn on the cob which I just could not resist for myself (Clark doesn’t eat corn).  A tomato here and a box of blueberries there, and all of a sudden I have a very nice selection of tasty treats for us to take home to the boat.

For dinner I heated up my leftover Cornish Pasties and cooked corn in the microwave and used my electric wok to stir fry the zucchini and yellow squash, so we had a little feast.  Clark was concerned that our travels today had not charged up the batteries sufficiently for a night stay without electric, so I was able to go crazy with electricity usage while he ran the generator to charge the batteries for the night ahead.  After dinner, we hurried back up the hill and across the street to The Market for ice cream.  It was 6:50 and they said they close at 7:00. 

When we got there, no one was in the ice cream hut so we went up the The Market and found the door locked.  I guess they saw Clark’s sad face looking in the window because they opened the door and told us we could have ice cream.  We followed them back to the hut, got our ice cream, and then followed them back to the store so we could pay.  Boy, what a close call that was!  Very few establishments here seem to post their hours of operation and it would appear that closing hour even when posted is only an approximation.

We strolled around the area after our treat and saw some pretty rapid water from some pretty scary places.  I'm sure Clark was find with our walk but my heart rate went up considerably as we walked across a narrow sidewalk several feet up and over the dam / spillway.  One false step or attack of vertigo and it's a long way down!  Chasing Clark around can be pretty "hair raising" but I guess it keeps me young.

View from above walking over the dam