Day 111: Rosedale to Portage Lock, Ontario
Day 111: Thursday, August 4th: We left the lock wall at Portage in company with Marjo and headed across Balsam Lake. It was a pretty morning but Bill was glum. We had to go down the liftlock at Kirkfield. It was a pretty trip across Balsam in a strong southwest wind. On the other side, we entered the narrow Trent Canal. It is about 60 feet across, but very pretty:
To give it some perspective, here is Integrity's bow in the canal. We had to be constantly alert:
When the banks weren't lined with Canadian Hemlock, they were lined with rocks. We had apparently left the granite Canadian Shield and were back into sedimentary rock:
The rocks were only a few feet from the boat and, while the bank dropped sharply, the channel was barely five feet deep (Integrity needs 4 feet 3 inches in fresh water):
A little further along Ruth spotted some lazy cows lying in the shade:
One bridge before the liftlock:
Then came the liftlock. Let us explain: If you have been following us, you saw the Peterborough Liftlock, a 65 foot hydraulic lift. Bill hates heights. At that lock, we entered from the bottom (going up in our direction). At this lock, we are going back down, albeit only 49 feet. We enter at the top; that is, we drive the boat out over nothingness into a large tub of water. We were assigned the left tub. Marjo had agreed to go first; she is on the right side of the tub. It looks like you are floating off the end of the world (to Bill):
That's Sandy on Marjo chatting with some kids in the other boat. "Hey! You guys! Don't you know you're about to fall off the edge of the Earth!?!?!"
This guy is watching Bill go through a fear fit. Seriously, note the highway behind him. This canal passed over it on an aqueduct. Double greepy!
On the way down Ruth snapped the obligatory lock sign. Bill was still hiding below:
This picture is looking back as we left the liftlock. You get a little better perspective here. We just left the now-submerged tub on the right. This is the second highest liftlock in the world (second only to the Peterborough liftlock on this same system). All the others are in Europe:
We are now going down the Trent-Severn Waterway to Georgian Bay. Once again the navigational markers change sides. This unusual bridge separates two sections of Canal Lake:
Ruth really loved this greenhouse; she had to have a picture:
There were two independent swing bridges in this section. They are staffed by Parks Canada and open on demand:
They are one-lane bridges; this is a view of the end of it:
Soon, we came to Bolsover Lock. Typical, and nice:
Then Talbot. That's the hardworking lockmaster:
We decided to stop at Portage Lock. It is totally isolated and inaccessible by road (the staff has a gate key). Very peaceful and, although we had only traveled about 20 miles and it was 2:00pm, we stopped:
We were now with old friends we met in Cape May, NJ, Larry and Polly aboard Pollyanna. That's Pollyanna in front of Integrity. Bill is chatting with Larry and Polly:
The lockmaster here loves flowers and has a unique display of them on local driftwood:
Position tonight: N44 29.944 W079 07.939
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