CAMERON LAKE

I thought we’d make an early start today, leaving Orillia and getting, maybe, to Bobcaygeon. However, little did I realize that Elaine had her sites on the Orillia Farmer’s Market which takes place each Saturday morning, so by the time she returned from the market, it was almost 10 AM. We left under sunny, clear skies and had a nice crossing of Lake Simcoe which, for about half the time, had a surface like glass.

The rest of the day is a sort of blur consisting of lock after lock and narrow canal after narrow canal. Luckily, we did not have to wait much - once you’re moving on through the system the lock attendants let the other locks, and the bridge tenders, know that you are coming through, so most of the time the lock and/or bridge is just opening as you arrive.

A countryside that reminded me of the canals in France

Much of the narrow canal we went through today is also very shallow and, now that summer is fully here, very weedy. The water is actually fairly clear, so one can readily see weeds in the water, but there’s nothing you can do but go right over them. There are a couple of issues with this maneuver, however. One is that there are fresh water pick-ups on the bottom of the boat to bring water into the engine to cool it. Once the water is sucked in, it goes through a strainer which is checked daily and emptied out when needed, but the potential big problem is if the pick-up itself gets clogged with weed or grass so no water gets to the engine and it overheats. The other problem is getting the weeds and grass caught up in the propellor as you go through all this muck. The occasional weed just gets chopped up either by the propellor itself or a blade that I have installed on the propellor shaft. But when you have to go slowly most of the day through all these weeds (there is a 10 km/hr speed limit in these canals), some can accumulate on the prop and decrease its efficiency.

Through these canals, I had to go to a higher and higher RPM to maintain the same speed, so this meant a detour off of the channel when we got to a lake, and a quick dive with a knife to clean off all of the weeds. Luckily it was a warm sunny day, and the water wasn’t too cold.

At anchor on Cameron Lake

It looked like Fenelon Falls was going to be our overnight, but we got there a bit late in the afternoon and the Saturday crowd had already taken all of the spots on the lock wall. We headed back out on to nearby Cameron Lake and anchored. Nice time for a beer, a swim and a tasty pasta dinner with fresh salad from the Farmer’s Market this morning before watching another gorgeous sunset…