PETERBOROUGH

Thursday, July 2

Left Hastings on a sunny morning, getting through the lock just after it opened at 9 AM.

Geese on the Trent River

We kept at our slow “trawler” pace all day since it was only about a 35 mile cruise to our next destination, Peterborough, one of the larger towns in the area, with a population of around 75,000. We crossed Rice Lake, which was very pretty, then up the Otonabee River which was not quite as pretty, but still interesting. The high water and high flows in the river made for interesting currents requiring good reflexes, especially through some of the narrow channels around bridges.

Challenging bridge channel with strong currents

Rice Lake

Only one other lock today, lock #19, just before Little Lake & Peterborough. The lock itself was not bad, only about a 2 meter lift, but getting into it was a bit challenging with whitewater flowing across the river from the dam at the lock. There has been so much rain up here lately that the rivers and lakes are very high, and considerable flow going over all of the dams. I received notice yesterday that the Oswego and Erie Canals are again closed for several days due to high water.

As we went through lock #19, the lock attendant called ahead for us to the Peterborough Marina to get us a slip so the dock master was waiting for us as we entered the marina, with a strong cross wind and a river crossing the entrance causing a current across the slips. The only slip they had available was a double slip (two boats) which had about 18 feet of width left for me. Our boat is 16’10” wide, so that left a good 7” on either side to play with in the crosswind and cross current. The dock crew was very good and gave excellent advice and assistance, so we made it into the slip nice and smoothly. Good thing, too, since there was an audience of about 10 other boat owners sitting on the dock watching.

Lift lock

Lock going up

We got the bikes down and rode over to the infamous Peterborough Lift Lock, the highest of its kind in the world. We watched a cruise boat lock through and toured the visitor center/museum associated with the lock in anticipation of locking through ourselves in a day or two.

After cleaning up at the marina, we walked into downtown and at dinner at a “Cajun” restaurant/brew pub, then back to the boat where the same 10 people were still drinking and talking on the dock. This they kept up until the wee hours of the morning. Thank goodness I had my ear plugs on board…