Trenton was a wonderful stop for us as we were able to walk around town, pick up a few provisions and let Kirby have some time in the park right in front of our boat. (Jake, unfortunately, wasn’t able to get off the boat as there was no gradual way for him to exit and he weighs way too much for us to lift on and off.) It was interesting to shop in a grocery store in Trenton. I saw a sign that said, “Lobsters $3.09”. I thought $3.09 a pound? We are eating lobster tonight. But instead, they were really $15.99 a pound. Ahhhh…..That metric system!! I ordered ½ pound of roast beef at the deli counter and they asked me how many kilograms. Oh my! I should have learned that all in Nichols School in Stratford, CT when I was a little kid! Trenton had a farmer’s market close by though, where I shopped before we left on Wednesday morning. There I bought some fruit and vegetables as well as the most delicious loaf of bread we have ever tasted! Potato, rosemary and garlic – trust me – it was amazing! Once back at the boat, we headed out to make the first lock on the Trent-Severn Waterway, about a mile from the entrance in Trenton. When you enter the first lock you must purchase a pass for the Canadian system. This is not an inexpensive permit! To get a season pass along with a mooring permit that allows you to dock at any of the waterway walls along the way cost us almost $900, which is based on the length of your boat. Of course, Canadian money is not the same as ours and $1 Canadian is equal to $ .81 US. Still, the permits cost us about $720 in American money! This is in comparison to the approximately $200 for the New York Canal system. From the top of Lock 1 on the Trent-Severn Waterway Here you can see why we have to go through locks.  The lock is on the right, but the power plant uses the energy produced from the falls on the left.

Here the locks are slightly different from those on the Erie Canal. Hanging from the top and anchored to the bottom about every twelve feet are thick cables that are covered in rubber. John steers close to the wall and I head back to the stern. I grab a cable on the stern, while John grabs the cable near the bow. We have lines ready on our boat, to wrap around the cable and then we simply tie the line off or hold on while the water enters or exits the lock. It all seems very easy, but that could be because we are very used to locking now.

Hand cranking the locks And they slowly open

The most interesting part of the locks on the Trent-Severn is that almost all of them are hand-cranked by the lockmaster. He or she has a v-shaped crank that sits at the end of each wall. To open or close the lock, the person walks in a circle pushing the handles on the v. To me, it is reminiscent of seeing the old equipment that used mules or horses to make a machine work. One lockmaster told me there are two gears to choose from to make the doors open or close. If the easier gear is chosen, it takes twelve trips around the circle, and if the harder one is picked, it takes six trips. At every lock is a house.  They are all so pretty!

We decided to have a short day on Wednesday so we only went seven and one-half miles, but there were six locks in that amount of time. After arriving at our destination, Frankford, at about two o’clock and tying up at the wall along the canal, we were met by Bill and Barbara on High Spirits who had anchored elsewhere the night before. Evening cocktails were shared at a lovely park adjoining the canal and a Canadian boater who was a retired policeman joined us. We all enjoyed hearing some of his stories about his career! Beautiful ride along the waterway canal A tiny plant that clings to the canal wall in a crack.  Sometimes underwater, sometimes not.

Friendly lockmasters

Scenes along the way. In the flight of Lock 11 and 12.  Lock 11 raises you to Lock 12 with no motoring in between. High Spirits in Lock 12 Yesterday morning, Bill and Barbara and we departed Frankford. We traversed seven locks and arrived in Campbellford around 2:30. Campbellford is a nice little city that is right on the canal and that welcomes boaters with open arms. We hadn’t even finished tying up when a local storeowner showed up to give us some of her lettuce fresh from her garden. As always, she wanted to talk and hear about our adventures and tell us about her life. Right in the middle of the town is a dock separate from the waterway system. From here you can walk to restaurants, parks, a chocolate factory, another farmer’s market, and stores, and Wi-Fi is provided. Of course I found the farmer’s market and bought some lamb from a lamb farmer and some hand-made sausage from a hog farm, along with scones for breakfast tomorrow from a local baker. I also found the chocolate factory outlet and bought a large bag of chocolate bars for $3.00.

We have had a couple of traumas onboard this week. One day, after a few people mentioned that Kirby’s claws seemed long, I decided to try my luck at trimming them. All went well for the first 3 feet, but on the last one, he started to bleed profusely. I hardly clipped anything, but there was no stopping the bleeding. We wrapped the paw and waited till morning and all was well. Then, a day later, we saw blood all over on the boat. We checked Kirby, but he was ok., so we moved on to Jake. Somehow, Jake managed to pull a whole claw right out of his foot. We bandaged that one, and I texted Kelly who told me he would be ok, but I should probably trim his claws. I told her how clipping Kirby’s had been a trauma! Anyway, Jake still seems a little lame on that foot, but he is all right and hopefully we will be able to hold off until we have two veterinarians onboard to help us if we trim Jake’s claws and they start to bleed.

Paying for two nights in Campbellford allows boaters to stay for a third free, but we will check the weather and decide if we should stay or move on. There are so many more places to see! Then again it’s Father’s Day tomorrow and we can stay here and take a nice 3.5 mile walk to a suspension bridge. I’ll let you know!!

For those of you keeping track of us, here is our location tonight.