Day #353 - Campbellford, ON
July 19th, 2009We officially entered the Trent-Severn this morning about 8:15.
The locks along here don’t open up until 8:30 so there was no need to get an early start. Lock #1 is 1.8 miles from Trenton.
We got there at 8:30 as instructed, but had to wait as they couldn’t fit two 48 foot boats in with the other boat that was ahead of us. So we pulled off and waited for them to lock one boat through in each direction. While in Lock#1 we got out and went into their office as we had to buy our pass to be able to travel through.
At 10:00 we were locked through the first lock of the day and on our way.
These locks all have manually operated gates. When you have reached your bottom height, they revolve the levers and the gates open up. Quite unique!
The channels are really tight in this section and there is no room for error.
They are quite serious about the speed limits and no wake zones.
Each lock has beautiful blooming flowers and different configurations as to their gate houses. Most are quite charming and the people are very friendly and helpful.
Lots and lots of cottages line the shore and people are out enjoying the water although it is still only 70 degrees today.
We got a little rain through Lock #9. Locks 11 and 12 are connected and life you up over 50 feet.
It was a long, but productive day as we traveled 32 miles and locked through 12 locks. Total we lifted about 150 feet today. That was only averaging about 3.6 miles per hour. Glad to be tied up for the night.
