Trenton to Campbellford, Hastings and Peterbourgh, Ontario

July 10 - 12, 2002 - Trenton to Campbellford, Hastings and Peterbourgh, Ontario

We left Trenton and the Fraser Park Marina, after having breakfast in town and getting some more Canadian money, for the first locks about 10:30. A whole group of big boats left the marina early, so we thought we'd be better off if we left later, so maybe we wouldn't have to lock up with so many boats in the lock with us. This waterway winds through many more lakes and looks a lot more like the upper part of Michigan than the Rideau Canal. The first lock was only 2 miles from Trenton and we went up 20 feet. When we arrived at the lock there was only 1 boat waiting to go in, so we were pleased because that meant that we would probably be with them through all the locks that day.

From there we had 6 locks within the next 8 miles - all taking us up between 17 and 28 feet. It was a beautiful sunny crisp day - just perfect. We make our way along the canal through 12 locks and were very tired when we arrived in Campbellford for the night. This trip today was only 30 miles, but 12 locks and took 8 ½ hours. We tied up to a wall right in front of the Chamber of Commerce called the Old Mill Park. We only had 15 amp electric, but we did have water, so what do we expect for $1.00 a foot. A man who saw us go by his house came down to show us pictures of an old Chris Craft that he used to have and talked and talked and talked. He talked so long that we have dinner about ten o'clock and went directly to bed. Oh, well, maybe he'll buy Rendezvous someday.

Thursday, July 11th we left Campbellford at 10:30 for Hastings about 20 miles away, with 6 locks to pass through. We got more diesel at the Turner fuel dock for 58.9 a gallon, which is the cheapest we've ever managed to find. Gas was 64.9. It was another perfectly beautiful day with blue sky and lots of sunshine. Because we started late again today, we missed the early troops and arrived at the locks and locked through all alone all day. This part of the Trent is just lovely, with cottages and boathouses on both sides of the winding waterway. It would be a great spot for a family summer get away. The locks were easy and we arrived at 3:00 and stayed all night at the dock just above lock 18. We didn't have electricity or water but that's o.k. once in awhile, as we can run our generator part of the time. Tomorrow we will go to Peterborough 40 miles from here. I think we will try to get an earlier start, so we can get there and settle in for the weekend. We'll let the weekend warriors have the waters to themselves.

Friday July 12, we left Hastings for Peterbourgh 40 miles away. It was sunny and pretty again - how nice. We went through Rice Lake, which was pretty big, and 20 miles long to the Otonabee River and the Trent River through farmland and cute summer cottages and gaggles of Canadian geese. It was an easy day, but slow. We've now done 90 of the 240 miles and 19 of the 44 locks so far. We only had 1 lock today, but when we got to the lock we had to wait while they locked up a couple of house boats, and by the time we were ready to go in we had collected 5 more boats to go in with us. Luckily, we were the first big boat there, so we went in first, which made it easier. We are staying in Peterbourgh for a couple of days to regroup before we set out again for more adventure.

Several thousand people showed up on Saturday night for a rock concert and fireworks right here next to the marina in a park. You know how Bill likes fireworks, and we had a front row seat. I guess these events go on all summer on every Wednesday and Saturday nights. Oh, I forgot, we walked up town and over to the Lift Lock Museum which was about a mile and a half, much farther than we thought AND up a huge hill, only to find out that they are closed on the weekends. We couldn't believe it, as it is the peak of the tourist season. We got our exercise but that wasn't what we were planning on and it was so HOT. Fortunately we were able to catch the city bus back to town. Now we'll try to stop after we go through the lock tomorrow and see if we can see it.