STARTING THE RETURN TRIP

One day at a time. Keep that going for 365 days and you’ll get another birthday. After thinking I would never see another birthday a couple of years ago, each one is just that much sweeter. On this one, we got the boat ready for another stage in our voyage. The day started with a strong rain/windstorm, necessitating a second cup of coffee while the storm blew through. Later, it was time for checking the engines, fuel, water, etc. and replenishing our food stores before a quiet dinner (and another beautiful sunset).

This morning, we were ready to head out early to retrace our route through the Trent-Severn Waterway, even though the wind stayed up all night and the sky still looked a bit threatening. Around 7:30, we left Midland, putting on an extra layer of fleece to be comfortable on the flybridge, and headed out to the lock at Severn which opened at 9 AM. We had to wait a few minutes, but locked through just as the rain started. It only lasted about half an hour, but it did portend a few more showers throughout the day. The forecast was for diminishing winds and clearing skies as the day wore on, but that didn’t happen.

We passed back though the Big Chute - the rail car type lock which lifted us up out of the water and rode a rail over to the next lake - and kept on going, amazed at how different things looked compared to traveling the opposite direction a couple of months ago. We were also surprised at the lack of traffic on the waterway. One would think all the summer vacations would still be in full swing, but maybe the weather dampened (literally) the plans.

A slow train on an even slower bridge

The only hiccup in the day was having to wait for a railway swing bridge for almost 45 minutes. There was no way to communicate with this bridge other than a horn signal, but that seemed a bit superfluous since the railway workers were standing on the bridge looking at us. It appeared that the bridge tenders just had no interest in opening for the boats waiting to go by as we waited half an hour until a train finally showed up and rolled across the bridge, which they then started to open about ten minutes later. By this time it was well into the afternoon, and we were about an hour away from Orillia, so we decided to make that our stop for the night.

Dark skies over Lake Couchiching

The wind finally died down about two hours after we pulled into the slip, but the forecast is for sunny skies tomorrow with light winds. Hopefully we will get adequate rest tonight, but it is the beginning of the weekend, and the partying, both in the marina and the park nearby, has already started…