Hastings to Peterborough - (Almost) No Locks Today!

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 101 - July 10, 2017

Bikes on bow rail on Rice Lake

Since we were on the Upper Lock Wall at Hastings, we were able to leave around 8 a.m., before the lock was open for other boats. Almost as soon as we left Hastings, we were on Rice Lake, which is 20 miles long and 2 miles wide. We had put the bikes on the bow rails at Campbellford, one on each side, which didn't bother Patty when she was driving, but I couldn't see with a bike on the rail in front of the helm side, so we stopped, and I moved the bike so both were on the passenger side! We have been traveling upstream against the current ever since we left Trenton, and there was still a bit of current against us in Rice Lake. It will be great when we hit the divide and we are finally going downstream!

Screenshot - where Trent-Severn
leaves Rice Lake for Otonabee River

We knew that the Trent-Severn left Rice Lake at some point but we were not really tuned into exactly where that was. We should have put a waypoint there, but we didn't. We run with the Garmin Blue Chart Mobile app zoomed in on the iPad, and I was following the magenta line, which runs PAST the point where the Trent-Severn turns north, so we were not seeing where we needed to turn.

Fortunately, as I was driving I decided to look at Garmin Blue Chart Mobile on my iPhone zoomed out to see if  I could find where we needed to leave Rice Lake, and realized we were there! This was literally 30 seconds before we were at the point where we needed to turn north to the Otonabee River, which is the red day mark in the screenshot! 

According to Skipper Bob, there is a flashing red marker where you are supposed to turn, but we are here to tell you, there was NO flashing marker! I zoomed the iPad out, and there it was, I made the turn and we were in the Otonabee River headed for Peterborough! We talked to one other boater, who said he had missed the turn and gone about 5 miles farther in Rice Lake and had to turn around and come back!

Pat and Baxter and big Adirondack chairs!

The only lock we had to transit was Lock 19, Scotts Mills at Peterborough, and we tied up on the Lower Lock Wall at Lock 20, Ashburnham at Peterborough. Baxter naturally wanted to get out as soon as we got there, so we did. There were a couple of big Adirondack chairs, and I plopped down in one, with Baxter on his leash, posing nicely! 

Commi$$ion, Charb II, Daydream and Aquavilla
on Lower Wall at Lock 20

There was one other couple we had met earlier at Campbellford, George and Aida on Gone Commi$$ion III, a boat named Charb III, and a house boat named Aquavilla. Gone Commi$$ion III got its name because George is a realtor!  Charb III belongs to Lynne and Andre Charbonneau from Ottowa - I asked Andre, before I knew his name, what Charb meant, thinking it was some kind of French word, but it was much simpler - he said "My last name is Charbonneau"!

Marg and Fred on Aquavilla

The folks on the houseboat, Fred and Marg (don't know their last name), from Hamilton, Ontario, told us Aquavilla was 50 years old, and they had owned it the entire time! They graciously invited us in, so we sat and talked quite a while. It looked very comfortable inside! Everyone has what is important to them, and they had a satellite TV setup with two TV sets inside! They also have a couple of good looking cats, one of which was a ringer for our lamented Copycat! They also gave us one piece of information, which we will take to heart - never go into a lock with a rental houseboat! 

We will all depart together tomorrow, except Aquavilla, for Peterborough and the unique Peterborough Lift Lock, just half a mile away!