Today we played the get up early to get to the first lock as three other boats from the Peterborough Marina were planning to do the same.
Another lovely sunny and another expected hot temps day greeted us this morning. At 8.45 am we un tied the lines and headed to a very picturesque small lock about 5 mins away. Had breakfast while tied up outside the lock and got to meet some of the local people .This is one of the fun things about locking!
One family were from HongKong and were out for a days fishing off the wall.They had already caught a bass fish which they showed us.Graeme dazzled them with a bit of his Cantonese!Mark started up a conversation with a young Irish/ Canadian guy walking his Great Dane dog. We all got to pet and meet Louie , who is as Mark described ,is more like a small horse!They normally live about 8 years , although Louie's parents had lived to 10/11 years! Here's hoping for Louie ,that he has a good long life.
At 9.15am the Lockmaster opened the gates and directed all four boats from the Marina to enter.
It was a tight squeeze as we were all at least 48 feet long with varying widths ! A very tight squeeze indeed.
As we were first, we were put inches from the front of the lock .
One guy came in behind us behind us (he had no bow or stern thrusters , a means to bring the boat in side ways very easily) The front part of his boat was hanging over our dingy .
The ghetto other boats slowly entered beside both of us .The boat coming in beside us , was about 6 inches off us.Hope that gives you a clear picture.
It was somewhat hairy!!
The next 5 locks were in close succession about 1 or 1 1/2 miles apart so we proceeded through
them as a group with our four boats in the same order.. By the end we all got to get a hang of it , but my choice would have been to wait behind and let the others go first and take our time with less stress.Ironically there were no their boats behind us.
The lesson I have learned from all this is , you don't have to be first, wait a while and you can have a less stressful experience! Remember when we did the Niagra Falls boat ride .
Everyone was clamoring to get on the first 9 am boat and we were all squashed in?
Well , the next boat at 9.15am had half the number of people on board, so you would have been free to walk around the boat and see everything.Enough said !!!
Just after Sawer Lock we saw our first Loon bird nesting on the side of the canal.
They are a black and white bird , carry their young on their backs, and have a distinctive bird call.May soon become Canada's national bird .
The going was slow , but finally the last lock was finished at 3.30pm.
All the boaters were hot and exhausted but we decided to plough on and head for the anchorage in Stony Lake..
We indeed anchored in a beautiful spot , a little cove off Juniper Island.
First thing on the agenda for us was to get into those cool calm waters .A family anchored nearby for a swim were very welcoming and friendly.
The Mom explained this water was good for hair and nails! In fact once in the water your bare arms and legs look yellow!A jaundice effect! Although it was hard to see the stony and mud bottom , the water was fairly clear and we even sampled some in a glass and it tasted good!
A recommendation was to dingy over for dinner at the Lantern Restaurant nearby, but Graeme and Mark came back saying it was fully booked , being Fathers Day.
So plan B, we had our PinaColadas followed by a lovely dinner on board with meat sauce and spaghetti and our now famous Dole salads in a bag.This one was called Chop Chop Italian salad.
Dessert was the Russian apple dumplings and icecream.
We sat outside talking,and watched the full moon rising up over the water.
Just perfect.
Over and Out
Crew Lady Erica.
waters
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