Kingston to Peterborough Ontario

Saturday, 29 June – Monday , 1 July – Kingston, ON

We spent the weekend in Kingston. Our dear friend Peter Terpis came to visit with his lovely daughter, Adria. Haven’t seen him for a while. Peter lives in Rochester very near the Erie Canal, but, since we headed north through the Champlain Canal, he came to see us at the point where we would be closest to his home.

We took a boat ride, walked through the art festival at City Park, and
explored Kingston’s waterfront. It was great to see Peter and Adria. Hope to see them again soon, maybe in Florida. We discovered Dawn Treader had pulled into the marina. On Sunday. Peter gave us a ride to West Marine for supplies, then took off for home. We joined in the Canada Day celebrations, including Monday night’s           fireworks.

Tuesday, 2 July – Kingston to Picton, ON – 36 mi., 2486 cum mi.

Coudy, windy, 61 degrees. We followed Dawn Treader to Picton. Found Osprey (Jeff and Trish) on the way.  Picton is the largest town in Prince Edward County. It’s a popular stopover, with lots of artist shops and a choice of marinas. We docked at the Picton Harbor Marina. They had to fix the electric receptacles at our dock, even had to call in the "hydro" truck, but we got full

power in a couple of hours. Our slip was along the wall in a park-like setting, very close to the restrooms/showers. I rode my bike to the grocery and liquor store. Dawn Treader found a mooring ball at the Picton Yacht Club, Osprey chose to anchor in Hallowell Mills Cove, but they rode their dinghies to our dock for happy hour, then we walked into town for dinner. It turns out that Trish and Al both grew up in Whitehall (south Pittsburgh) and they went to the same elementary school and high school. Small world.

Wednesday, 3 July – Picton to Trenton, ON – 31 mi., 2517 cum mi.

Beautiful sunny day, 69 degrees, but a bit hazy. Followed Dawn Treader on the easy, calm ride all the way. The Harbormaster at the Fraser Park Marina said someone named Peggy was looking for us and gave us her phone number. Turns out, we met Peggy and her husband, Bob, as we went through the Chaffy lock together. They had converted their sailboat to a power boat, and they used to live in St Petersburg, but now live in Frankford, ON. Peggy said she took some pictures of us and wanted to give them to us. We arranged to meet at the next lock when it opened. Trenton is “the Gateway to the Trent-Severn Waterway,” where the Trent River runs into the Bay of Quinte.  It’s actually one of four wards of the City of Quinte West. This was a good place to stock up on provisions, get a haircut, and dine out. We had dinner at Tomaso’s, which had a reputation for being one of the best restaurants in town.

Thursday, 4 July – Trenton to Campbellford, ON – 20 mi., 2537 cum mi.

Cloudy, intermittent rain, 71 degrees. We got an early start, so we could be first through the locks. Sure enough, Peggy was waiting for us at the lock wall. What a

sweetheart! She brought homemade banana bread and pastries, photos of us going through the locks, and CDs of her adventures on the canals. And, being quite the amateur photographer, her photos were featured in the canal brochure. We love you, Peggy! All told, we went through 10 locks. This time Charli and I had to handle the lines ourselves (no Eli or Sam or Chloe to help us). We worked out a system: As I pulled into the lock and got close to the wall, Charli would reach for the cable at the bow, loop her line around it, then make fast on the bow cleat. That allowed me to move the stern toward the wall while she ran back to the stern, grab the cable, loop he line around it, then hand it to me as I turned off the engines, came down from the bridge, and grabbed the stern line from her. It worked out well. The lock tenders were in no hurry. In fact they seemed to move a little slower than usual. They were upset at recent staff reductions. They now needed

to tend 2-3 neighboring locks, driving from one to the other. This took some additional time, so we did not make the last pair of locks (11 and 12) before they closed. We had to spend the night at the bottom of lock eleven at the blue line (where you wait until the doors open). No power, no water, just a wall. They did leave us a key to the restrooms at the top of four flights of steps. Rather than trek the added distance into town above the locks, we decided to prepare our own dinners and eat on our fly bridge. Nice night.  We turned on the generator and went to sleep. In the middle of the night, the generator stopped. I restarted it, but it died in a minute or so. Now what? Here’s hoping the batteries will stay charged enough to start the engines in the morning.

Friday, 5 July – Campbellford to Hastings, ON – 18 mi., 2555 cum mi.

Nice day, 71 degrees, turning cloudy with rain later in the day. With fingers crossed, we started the

engines. They did start. We proceeded through the lock. While fueling in Campbellford, I called the Hastings Village Marina and found someone who was willing to look at my generator. We went through seven more locks by days end. It rained as we were leavinglock 18 and heading toward the Hastings Village Marina for the night. Dave, from Stevenson’s Marina, came over to check out the generator. He found a loose fuel filter, evidently letting some air into the line. Righty tighty and it was fixed. Relieved that it was nothing major, we went to dinner, then over to the Down Treader for dessert – apple pie ala mode – my favorite.

Saturday, 6 July – Hastings to Peterborough, ON – 38 mi., 2593 cum mi.

Cloudy, hazy, 70 degrees, then turning blue sky and nice. Dawn Treader followed us this time up the

Trent River. Lots of folks were enjoying themselves on the water.


Many of the waterfront homes had cool docks, boats, sliding boards, and creative ways to enjoy the water, and always some lawn chairs. Since it gets busy on the weekend, we went through lock 19 squeezed in with 5 other boats. Tight fit, but we all made it without waiting. We docked at the Peterborough Marina. It’s at the end of Little Lake, with a fountain in the center. The office in in a lighthouse with a deck restaurant/bar with live music all afternoon, and festive docktail parties going on – after all it is the weekend.  We met Freya and Don, our AGLCA harbor
hosts for Peterborough. Very nice people, very helpful with information, and they gave us a goodie bag full of maps, pamphlets, and homemade jelly. Peterborough’s stores and restaurants are a short walk from the waterfront. Al was happy to find Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale, a beer not available in the states that he really enjoyed in Banff on a ski trip. There was a free summer concert in the neighboring Del Crary Park. – did not recognize the groups or the music, but it added to the festivities. We stayed two nights, taking a break from the locks.  Dawn Treader pressed on, tight schedule to get home.