You can see by the above that we made it out. Thanks to our friends on M/V Sweet Pea for the photo.
About a mile and a half upstream we arrived at Lock 1. They got us in the chamber. Raised us up. And then said come inside. Lock 1 is where you get your transit pass and mooring pass for the waterway. Not a cheap proposition. Over $600.00 for Tourist! Once paid they opened the upper gates and we were on our way.
The chambers aren't very wide so we were glad to be entering by ourselves. You can see above how much room we have on either side of us.
Locks 1 thru 6 are all in a row with only a mile or so between each of them. The fenders stay out and we look like a rental houseboat! Fortunately the lockmasters communicate with each other resulting in the gates being open by the time you arrive at the next lock. Pull in. Tie off. And enjoy the ride.
One of the interesting things at these locks is that the gates are opened by hand. The lockmaster has to manually push a lever around in circles to open the gates!
The weather was hot so by the time we made it though the first 6 locks we decided to call it a day and tie off to the upper lock wall. This decision was made a bit easier by the fact that Lock 6 has power pedestals along the upper wall so we could plug in and turn on the AC. Cost for this. $9.80 to plug in to the Hydro.
Our stopping was meant to happen since we tied up right next to Tourist Park at Frankford, Ont.
Later that day we walked over town and ended up at a place called Dimitri's for dinner. Good food and plenty of it for a reasonable price.
7/13/11 Wednesday We left Lock 6 around 8:20am and continued upstream. By the way Pam likes the hours of operation on the Trent. 8:30am to 7pm! No more dawn departures for a few days.
Along the way we passed this sign that clearly gets it's message across.
We also shared the water with a flock of geese.
When we arrived at lock 9 the gates were closed so we pulled into the blue line to wait where we were joined by another small boat. Not long and the gates opened. Once the chamber was clear the lockmaster gave us a hand signal to enter.
By the time we arrived at Lock 10 the rain clouds were overhead. The lock attendant told us we could not stay in the lock if there was lightning. They raised us up and just as they got the gates opened it hit. High winds and heavy rain. Hind sight being 20/20 I should have stayed put but I didn't. As we pulled away from the wall a big blast of wind pushed our stern into one of the safety ladders in the chamber and knocked an end cap off of our transom moulding. Damn! I'll try to get a picture of the damage and also of how vicious these ladders are. I've not seen anything like them in all the locks we've been through.
Our last two locks 11 & 12 were flight locks. One lock opens into the next. We rose 48' total.
A short distance later we arrived in Campbellford where we tied up to the seawall near the visitors center. They have power here and a wireless connection for a fee. Did I mention it was raining when we pulled in? Another bad hair day!
We strolled around town. Took the obligatory picture of the Tooney in Old Mill Park. And found a supermarket that charges you to use a shopping cart. What?
Canadian Tooney.
Lucky for us we were here on Wednesday because it was music in the park night! Starting at 6 and lasting till 8 the Lions club sponsors this every Wednesday by getting local bands to play for free and then passing the hat with the collection going to a local charity or need. Last year they used the collection money to help buy a CT scanner at the local hospital.
Pam & I sat on the bow of Tourist and enjoyed the music although 8pm is getting on towards my bedtime!
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