Day 289, Peterborough, Ontario - TSW

"Noah Genda" On the lock wall at TSW lock 18 Hastings Ontario






Looks like I missed another car show opportunity.







The Trent Severn has had so much rain they are opening the dams to let more water out of the pools.






Diann with Peterborough Marina in background






Form the aft-deck of "Noah Genda" looking over "Pan" at top of 65' verticle lift of the Peterborough Lift Lock. Just Beautiful !!!








Peterborough lift lock









Trent Severn Waterway at 6-MPH posted cruise speed limit.








Diann is not in the mood to address a blog tonight, so I will take a stab at it. As we departed Hastings, (TSW MM 50.1) Ontario Canada it was overcast after an all night rain. Can we buy a dry day? The clouds broke as we approached the Peterborough Lift Lock, MM 90.1, and it is a beautiful site to see. What a remarkable piece of engineering and to think it was constructed in 1904. I think this will be my highlight of the Trent Severn. This 65’ vertical lift is the largest hydraulic lift in the world. The sequence is quite simple, like a balance scale. The (2) pans, mounted on pistons, receive the vessels. The upper opposing parallel pan has one additional foot of water added to the pan (130 tons) and that added weight descends to the lower level, lifting the opposite pan with water driven hydraulic cylinder to the canal level above. Just to cool. Gets my attention real quickly, but I have been called a gear head before.

We chose to capitalize on our Canada Seasonal Mooring Pass and stay the night on the lock wall just above this magnificent lift lock. I am just clicking the camera constantly. With the mooring pass is the use of the nice quiet park, with restroom and city water that is adjacent to all of the Canadian Canal lock walls.

We rode our bicycles about a mile from our boat into Peterborough for an afternoon of exploring and catch lunch and maybe a grocery store. We met some very nice local residents for some conversation and directions. Most are very interested in your journey and sharing information about their communities. We had a lucky find for lunch at Reggie’s Grille on Hunter St about ½ miles from our boat. Great sandwiches sat outdoors and conversed with a couple of ladies at the table next to us. Her nephew is attending the Univ of IL in Champaign. Neat girls plus they assisted us with some directions to the Peterborough Marina. We rode over to the marina, looked for other loopers, (one there, Kids Again, 34’ PDQ), they were not around their boat. We saw the grille/lounge located on the 2nd deck overlooking the Marina. We could not resist the temptation to just relax on the open air deck, enjoy a beverage and the view overlooking this pretty nice landscape. While relaxing we both observed that it appeared it could rain pretty soon. We started back towards home, the boat, stopped for fresh baked pastries for breakfast on board, and lastly a grocery store for a few provisions. Remember we are on bicycles, so moderate purchases are in order since the pack mule has to pedal them back to the boat. Well it was getting darker by the minute, and we had a few sprinkles before arrival back to the boat. We just secured the bicycles on board and the sky let loose. A major shower that lasted about an hour and a half. Skies cleared, temperature and humidity dropped dramatically for a low tonight around 50 degrees.