Peterborough to Buckhorn

Monday, 8 July – Peterborough to Lakefield, ON – 10 mi., 2603 cum mi.

Warm, humid, 75 degrees, early sunshine turned cloudy. Today’s cruise was a short, but interesting one. We were first in line at lock 20, early enough to see the lock tenders raise the Canadian flag and

prepare the lock for traffic. We went through six locks. One of them – the Peterborough Lift Lock – was quite unusual. Imagine two huge bathtubs counterbalanced going up and down, filled with water and floating boats. This was an engineering marvel in its day. People from all over the world take the LiftLock Cruise from Peterborough to view and photograph the lock. There was an awesome view of the town from the top. At this point we completed half of the 42 locks on the Trent-Severn Waterway. These old locks need lots of maintenance and we watched a man fixing something even as the lock was filling and emptying.  This section of the waterway seems to be quite

popular with houseboats as well. The lock walls are always busy and interesting.  We see people docked overnight partying, and even camping.  We passed Trent University where many of the concrete buildings looked like they were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
We docked at the Lakefield Marina, after hearing that it was a nice marina (with the best ice cream) next to a nice town. And it was. We biked around town, stopped at some gift shops, discovered the post office, and found a wonderful restaurant (Cassis Bistro) where Al enjoyed the best gazpacho and rack of lamb he ever tasted.

Tuesday, 9 July – Thursday, 11 July -  Lakefield to Buckhorn, ON – 20 mi., 2623 cum mi.

Cloudy, 71 degrees. We went through four locks, taking us 46 ft up, and we passed the half-way point (by distance) on the Trent-Severn Waterway.

The waterway connects one lake to another. And the lakes here are beautiful, especially Clear Lake. Gorgeous homes along the water
and on rock islands in the water. We even saw a church on a rock. And lawn chairs everywhere. It‘s easy to see why people would fly up here in the summer, rent a houseboat, and explore the towns,
coves, and waterfalls on the lakes,
especially a houseboat with a sliding board for refreshing dips in the clear water. Lock 30,  Lovesick lock had the shortest rise – 4 ft, its very pretty and said to be the most photographed lock.  There are
myths concerning the name of Lovesick Lake, the most common concerns a Native American youth who was in love with a redheaded Irish girl who would have nothing to do with him, so he drowned himself in the lake.

We entered Buckhorn Lake - another beautiful lake and the home of the folks who run the Buckhorn Yacht Harbor. We stopped here, because they have the best prop shop in the area, and we were not satisfied with the vibration we were still experiencing on the starboard side. This marina is unusual for a
number of reasons: all the slips are covered, even those available to transients; this is a family business,
run by the family who live on the compound (in very nice homes),
and they offer full services. The founder and patriarch, Fred, who is now retired, sold the business to his two sons, Peter who is the service manager, and John who runs the prop shop. Their sons also work and live there. Peter’s wife, Cindy, runs the canvas shop. They

hauled us out on a  huge trailer. While rebuilding the props, they gave us a company truck to use for provisions and exploring the
area’s gift shops and restaurants. We discovered the Cody Inn that serves “the best Chinese food on the waterway.” And it was delicious.