Brown Eyed Girl: Peterborough and Lakefield, ON

Peterborough, ON
Peterborough Marina
July 4-5, 2012

Happy Independence Day. They don't celebrate July 4th in Canada so it was just another day when we left Hastings and headed for Peterborough. We only had one lock today so we were able to leave at 6:30 and make good time. The ride was pretty easy but it was hot hot hot. We landed about 1:00 and had lunch on the boat. We decided to skip happy hour (I know - hard to believe) and go to dinner at a restaurant we had heard good things about. The restaurant was not that far away but it was so hot we took a cab to Hot Belly Mama's. The food was pretty good and after dinner we went back to the boat to get cool for a while.

During the summer there are concerts in the park next to the marina every Wednesday and Saturday. On this Wednesday the act was Carly Rae Jepsen. Carly Rae has a number one single in Canada so the crowd was huge. Ginny and Beth had put out chairs earlier in the day to reserve our spot. The concert started at 8 but I decided to stay in the A/C while the others went to the concert. Carly did not come on until 9:00 and Ginny only stayed for two songs and then headed back to the boat.

The next day the park was a mess with trash everywhere but they started cleaning up around 8 and were all done by noon. One of the reasons we stayed two nights in Peterborough was because we wanted to visit the famous Peterborough Lift Lock and visitor center. We were going to go through the lock the next day but we wanted to take our time and see it close up. The walk was about a mile and we had to walk over some railroad tracks. There were many people walking on the tracks which we understand is trespassing and you can get a ticket but we didn't get caught. The lock is quite fascinating but the technology is as old as Archimedes. Here is the description from Wikipedea.

The lock has two identical ship caissons (like bathtubs) in which vessels ascend and descend. Both caissons are enclosed at each end by pivoting gates, and there are pivoting gates at the upper and lower reaches of the canal at the junctions with the caissons. The gates on the caissons fit into slots on the gates on the reaches, so that they open in unison.

Each caisson sits on a ram, the shafts for which are sunk into the ground, are filled with water, and are connected with a pipe that has a crossover control valve. The caissons are guided up and down on either side by rails affixed to concrete towers. The caissons with water weigh 1,700 tons and are 140 ft long, 33 ft wide and 7 ft deep.

No external power is needed: the lift lock functions by gravity alone using the counterweight principle. One caisson always ascends and the other always descends during each locking cycle. When one caisson reaches the top position, it stops 30 cm (12 inches) below the water level of the upper reach, and the control valve is closed; ultrasonic sensors are used to help determine the 30 cm differential. The upper reach and top caisson gates open, and water flows into the top caisson until the level equalizes. The weight of the extra 30 cm of water is 144 tons, making the total weight of the upper caisson 1,844 tons. Any vessels that just ascended in the top caisson exit into the upper reach, and any new vessels making a transit of the lock then enter the bottom or top caisson from the lower or upper reach respectively. Once the vessels are secured, all gates are closed and the crossover valve in the connecting pipe between the ram shafts is opened. Since the upper caisson weighs more than the lower caisson (1,844 vs 1,700 tons), it pushes down on its ram, forcing out water from its shaft via the connecting pipe into the shaft of the bottom caisson. The force pushes up on the bottom caisson's ram, raising the caisson up to the top position. When the gate of the newly descended top caisson and lower reach gates open at the bottom, the extra 30 cm of water flows out and equalizes with the water level in the lower reach of the canal, and any descended vessels exit, allowing the cycle to start over again.

We went to the visitors center and watched a couple of videos and talked to some of the staff. We walked back to the boat and had lunch at a local Greek place. Ginny and I went to the store and picked up some groceries. That night Beth and Dean had us over for a wonderful dinner on their boat. We stayed a while after dinner and then retired to our boat for the night.

They love their country

There are many of these tight spots on the TSW

Water feature in the Bay of Peterborough

Coming into the marina

The stage is ready for Carly Rae

Not sure what the meaning is, but it was in the park

Our slip for the two nights

The Carly Rae Concert

Carly Rae Jepsen

Officer, give them a ticket, they are trespassing

The Peterborough Lift Lock

The gate closing behind the boat

A one way bridge

The guard dog

A picture of the marina from the other side of the bay

Priceless

Lakefield, ON
Lakefield Marina
July 6, 2012

Friday morning we left for Lakefield at 8:15 since the first lock was just across the bay and they don't start until 8:30. Other boats had the same idea we did, because the lock was full. We went through the first two locks with all of the other boats and then we tied up after the Peterborough Lock and waited for the others to get ahead. When we got to the next lock there were only three boats but they were all big so it was a little stressful in the remaining locks. We went through 7 locks and finally reached our destination of Lakefield. It was still super hot, so after we tied up we tried to get the boat cooled down but it was difficult and really didn't get cool until well after sundown. We walked to dinner at the Thirsty Loon Pub a couple blocks away but we didn't do any sight seeing. We wanted to stay two nights but the marina said we had to leave on Saturday because they were having a jazz fest, so we are off tomorrow for Bobcaygeon.