More Beautiful Scenery - Peterborough to Fenelon Falls

Peterborough proved to by a lovely moderate sized city of 80,000, which motivated us to stay an extra day.  We also wanted to check out their health food store to see if they sold the raw seeds I need to make my protein shakes.  Unfortunately, I forgot to include enough seeds in our provisioning.   Note: I have been drinking protein shakes religiously since November 15, 1997, when I discovered them as a byproduct of writing a training program for a client on nutrition, exercise and supplementation.

Guided Discovery at the Peterborough Muni Marina

So, on Monday morning we walked about 2 ½ miles north through downtown on a hot summer day to reach the store.  As we walked along in the heat, Diana asked me why I hadn’t called to see if they had what we needed as, if they did not, this would turn out to be a fool’s errand.  As we approached the store her concern about a fool’s errand appeared to be a coming true as it clearly looked like it was closed (notice no cars and dark windows).  Fortunately, looks are deceiving (cars were on the far side and the dark windows kept out the sun).  Jo Anne’s Place was thriving AND had all four types (flax, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin).  Mission accomplished.

Looks like we walked 2 1/2 miles for nothing

On Tuesday morning at 8:43 AM, we departed Peterborough for the next segment of our journey, which included a “flight” of 7 locks all within 9 miles that lifted us 141 feet.  The most spectacular of these is the Peterborough Lift Lock, the WORLD’s HIGHEST HYDRAULIC LIFT LOCK, which is located at the north east corner on the city.  The lock provides a lift of 65 feet.  It was completed in 1907.  As you will note in the photo, one “pan” goes up while the other comes down.  This lock allows boats traveling north and south to lock through simultaneously.  This lock also required the least amount of effort as the boat remains stationary in the “an.”

The Peterborough Liftlock

Approaching the highest lift lock in the world

Departing the Peterborough Lift Lock

For $20 CN you can cruise from Peterborough to the liftlock

At noon we stopped at the Lakeview Marina, tying up on their wall, and walked into town for lunch. Then we continued for another 5 hours, completing 4 more locks (51 foot lift).  We spent the night at the Buckhorn Yacht Harbor gas dock as they had no slips available.  Noteworthy is that they also did not have two 30 AMP outlets, which we need to power our AC units.  Hence, we had to run the generator – no big deal.  Tuesday, we covered 32.5 miles and traversed 11 locks in 8 hours.

But the view was spectacular

Looks are deceiving.  There was a big marina behind the gas dock

Wednesday’s run covered almost the same distance (31.1) in literally half the time as there were only  two locks (32 & 34) on this segment.  At lock 32, Bobcageon, we tied up on the blue line while we waited for the lock to open – a minor delay that allowed us to get our photo taken.

Guided Discovery on the wall awaiting lockage

We spent the evening in Fenelon Falls (Lock 34) on the lock wall, which proved to be a charming small town.  This was our second overnight on a lock wall.  The charge was $43.00 CN with no electricity or "hydro" as they call it. 



Guided Discovery on the Fenelon Falls wall



Fenelon Falls Museum where we stopped for a British Tea

The weather was perfect on this two day segment and the scenery continued to be nothing short of spectacular.

Photo 0867 Pending

Written by Les.