Bobcaygeon to Orillia

We've had a pleasant, eventful week since I last posted. Our friends, Rob and Carol Harris from Miami, joined us in Bobcaygeon and rode with us through the canal to Orillia. It was a great section of the canal for guests because we had a little bit of everything, from quiet, rural locks to busy waterfront towns. Rob and Carol arrived June 30 and the next day was Canada Day, Canada's Independence Day. We were a little concerned about finding a place to tie up because it was such a busy boating day, but we got lucky and arrived at the lock wall in the town of Fenelon Falls right after our friends on Viking Star, a 46 foot Nordhaven, pulled out. Since they are ten feet longer than we are, they left us a nice spot.

Fenelon Falls was a happening place. We were tied up below the lock. Above the lock is the preferred  place to tie up because you have access to power and water, but above the lock was crowded with both boats and people. Strolling along the upper lock wall, staring at the boats and boaters was a major tourist attraction all afternoon. It was much quieter where we were. The town put on a very nice fireworks display to celebrate Canada Day, although this far north when they say the show "starts at dusk" they mean around 10:20 PM.

From Fenelon Falls we went to Rosedale, a rural lock with no town nearby. But it did have a nice walking path in the woods which Rob and Carol and I enjoyed exploring. Other boaters staying at the lock warned us about the bear who came each morning to check out what goodies might have been deposited in the trash cans. We never saw the bear, but we did see these scratches on the trash can liner. They were probably put there by a raccoon, but we're saying it was the bear.

Bear damage?

The next day was full of adventure. We started by going through the narrowest passage on the Trent Severn Canal. I'm not sure this picture does it justice, this section is so narrow I think we could have touched the trees on both sides from the boat. Fortunately the cruising guides warn you about this and we planned to go through this section the day before the Karwartha Voyageur came through. Remember the Karwartha Voyageur from a previous post? If you ran into her here, you'd have to back up, there would be no way to get around her. Actually, she broadcasts a warning on the radio when she enters this section, so you know not to enter until you see her come out.

Narrow passage

Can you see the problem?

After you get through the narrows you arrive at the Kirkfield Lock, another pan lock just like the Peterborough Lock we wrote about earlier. The difference is that in Kirkfield we were going down. In Peterborough when we pulled into the lock we were actually facing the lock structure and when the pan arrived at the top we were pulling out into the river. In Kirkfield we were pulling into the pan which was suspended 65 feet in the air. My job in the locks is to tie the lines around the lock cables while Jim drives the boat, so I was the one standing on the bow of the boat as we pulled up to the edge of the world. It was a little spooky. After we got tied up, Carol and Rob came up the bow to see the sights and Carol agreed that the experience was very different from the bow than it was from the cockpit.

Looking 65 feet down from the bow of the boat

After Kirkfield we went through another Trent Severn feature, the Hole in the Wall bridge. This bridge was constructed across Canal Lake in 1905 and their solution to leaving access for boats was this strange little 28 foot arch.

We ended the day at the Bolsover Lock where we were treated to a show by a local wild mink. There was a line of logs in the water, tethered together with a wire that provided the visual warning of the dam near the lock. The mink was fishing in the water in front of our boat and when he caught his fish, he carried it home by running across the logs and jumping from log to log when there was a break between them. After he got his first fish home, he came back for more fishing, but we never saw him catch another fish. He was amazingly fast, too fast for pictures I'm sorry to say.

The other thing we found at Bolsover was the art of a local carver. We walked to a local cafe for breakfast and found these fabulous carvings in the yards between the lock and the cafe. The cafe owner told us they were done by a man who lives near the lock who just started carving ten years ago when he moved to Bolsover. These are just some of the pieces we saw.

Bear in overalls

Three bears in a yard

Carved otters at the dock

Not all the local art was quite as high-brow. We also saw this creative example of beer can art.

Leaving Bolsover the next morning, we went through five locks in three miles, then crossed the biggest lake in the canal, Lake Simcoe. Apparently Simcoe can act up with weather rather quickly, with the winds creating waves in excess of 8 feet. We had a nice calm crossing, with just a little bit of wind at the end as we pulled into the city marina at Orillia. From here, the Harrises left us to return to Miami and our next guest, Ron Westbrook, arrives later today. Only four more locks to go, then we're in the Georgian Bay, which everyone tells us it the most beautiful cruising ground in North America.