Peterborough to Orillia – July 26

Today we’ll cross Lake Simcoe and I hope to get most of this post written as we cruise along. I’ll add photos and publish once we have some decent WiFi again.

This morning we were on the wall at Thorah Lock 40. Nights are awesome here, quiet and rural, just a distant train noise. Daytime though is crazy. The canal is undergoing some major renovation in this stretch of five locks, (lock 36 at Kirkfield through lock 41 at Gamebridge). All day long heavy equipment trudge along the canal bringing in rock, gravel or dirt. Scrappers are smoothing it out sending up clouds of dust. It will be nice to move along.

Since leaving Peterborough, we’ve worked our way through 20 locks. We have 3 more to go before reaching Georgian Bay. Be sure to stay tuned because Lock 44 promises to be spectacular!

Peterborough Lift Lock

“Built between 1896 and 1904 of unreinforced concrete, the Peterborough Hydraulic Lift Lock was one of the world’s largest concrete structures at the time and was considered an engineering wonder. ” – Ports Cruising Guide

You may want to google this lock to learn more about it. It’s really quite amazing.

The tour boat will be joining us.

Size doesn’t matter. Big, medium or small. Any size boat can go.

We move as far forward as we can in the pan.

It’s a tight fit.

Sites Along the Way

We’ve spent the nights at Lock 22 Nassau Mills, Lakefield Marina, Lock 32 Bobcaygeon (2 nights), Lock 35 Rosedale and last night, Lock 40 Thorah. Some days we’ve put in a lot of miles, but mostly we’ve slowed down and enjoyed peaceful lock settings. We have reservations for the next 3 nights at Port of Orillia (pay for 2 get the 3rd one free). This will give us time to get some chores done and to suck up some much needed WiFi.

Kirkfield Lift Lock- 49 foot lift

This lock marks the high point of the waterway. From here on we will be locking down. This lift lock is similar to the Peterborough Lift lock, but it’s is a more open structure allowing boaters to look out and down.

Driving into the top pan of the Kirkfield Lift Lock

Looking down at the boats waiting to come up.

I think whatever hair Tim has left on his round head has either turned white or fallen out more as he has had to grit his teeth and as he puts it “pucker up” these last few days. We have seen some of the skinniest canals and shallowest waters yet. One of the things that makes it even more nerve wracking is that it looks even shallower than it is. When I look over the bow and can identify a Coors beer can versus a Budweiser can, when I see tires, baskets and logs strewn across the bottom of the canal, I know it is shallow. I can only imagine the back breaking work it took to blast through this rock and haul out the tailings by hand and bucket. This canal is a true testament to the workers who dug this waterway.