Peterborough Ashburnham Lock 20 to Young's Point Lock 27.

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

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 102 - July 11, 2017

Some days progress is not measured in miles but in locks transited! Today was such a day. We began at the Lower Lock Wall at Ashburnham, Lock 20 at Peterborough, at mile 89.5. We ended up at Young's Point, Lock 27, on the Upper Wall, at Mile 104,5, a whopping 15 miles away. To do this, we had to transit Lock 20, Lock 21 (the Peterborough Lift Lock), Lock 22, Nassau Mills, Lock 23, Otonobee, Lock 24, Douro, Lock 25, Sawer Creek, Lock 26, Lakefield, and Lock 27, Young's Point. It took us six and a half hours to travel these 15 miles!

We had hoped to go to Lock 31, Buckhorn, at Mile 120. That would only have been 31 miles, but by the time we passed Lakefield, where two of the boats we were traveling with decided to stay, we realized Buckhorn was probably out of reach if we wanted to have a spot to tie up on a lock wall (lock walls tend to fill up in the early afternoon), so we decided on Young's Point as our destination!

Romso at Lock 20

Desperado at Lock 20

Our group started out with George and Aida on Gone Commi$$ion III, Lynne and Andre on Charb III, and us on Daydream,  who had all spent the night on the lock wall at Lock 20, but just before 9 a.m., Desperado, Romso, and another boat that was traveling with Romso joined us, so there were six boats departing together at Lock 20. Desperado is a large yacht that we had spent a day or two locking through many locks with a few days ago, and was the boat we usually ended up rafted to.

Lock 21, the Peterborough Lift Lock, is only half a mile above Lock 20, and we soon found ourselves on the "blue line" with the other boats waiting to enter. 

Peterborough Lift Lock, This photo of Peterborough Lift Lock is courtesy of TripAdvisor.

This lock has two "pans," one on the left and one on the right. When one is up, the other is down. We drove our boat into the pan on the right and tied to a horizontal bar. We were the last boat to enter on the right side. Then a gate closed behind us, the top pan was filled with water so that it was heavier than the lower pan with the boats, and the pan with the boats went up, up, up, and the pan with the water went down! I thought I would get a great shot looking back down over the rear gate, but no such luck - our boat was not high enough that we could see over the gate!  It was interesting but not terrifying, like I was afraid it might be!

We encountered another lock every mile or two all the way to Lakefield. Romso and their friend decided Lakefield was as far as they wanted to go, but we pressed on to Young's Point. Desperado decided they wanted to go farther. I'm not sure where they stopped, but they continued past Young's Point. At Lakefield, the Trent-Severn leaves the Otonabee River and enters the Kawartha Lakes District, a chain of lakes that form the upper watershed of the Trent River. At least the current on the lakes is minimal compared to the rivers!

We had a pleasant evening at Young's Point. I didn't take any pictures, but if I had, it would have been of the one and only store, which was a combination grocery, bakery, LCBO liquor store and Beer Store - minimal selection in all departments! There was also a place called Lockside Trading Post, where we were hoping for some ice cream (getting to be a thing!), but it was closed when we were finished with our supper.

Our goal for tomorrow is Bobcaygeon, Lock 32, at Mile 138, which is another 34 miles, but many fewer locks, and we will be traveling in lakes instead of a river, so we should make much better time!