Trent Severn Waterway, Canada

We left the Rideau Canal and went to the small town of Picton for Canada Day. We had to do some shopping which was a bit of a walk away so Ian brought it back on his bike.

We were now headed to the Trent Severn Waterway which is 386km and first opened in 1922 to connect Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay. There are 37 conventional locks, two sets of flight locks, two of the world’s highest hydraulic lift locks, and a marine railway. The first part of the waterway links Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe.

The locks all had walls that boats could stay on for the night. The areas alongside the locks are really well kept by Canada Parks and most had picnic tables and BBQs. Some of the locks were in very quiet areas and others in the middle of towns.

At Campbellford there was a 27 ft high toonie. What you may ask is a toonie? It’s a Canadian $2 dollar coin. Built in 2001 it is 18ft in diameter and it features a polar bear on ice. There are some interesting sights along the way.

Peterborough is a hydraulic lift lock. The lock has two chambers. It uses water and gravity to raise and lower the boats 65 ft and takes about two minutes. An additional foot of water is added to the top chamber, making it heavier than the bottom chamber. When a central valve is opened the heavier top chamber descends, forcing water through a connecting pipe from its cylinder to the cylinder in the lower chamber. The pressure pushes the lower chamber up.

The other hydraulic lift lock is at Kirkfield, which has a lift of 15 metres (49 ft). The lock is situated at the highest point along the Waterway at 256.20 meters (840.5 ft) above sea level. It’s a long way down

After 41 locks we arrived into Lake Simcoe and headed to the town of Barrie where Ian was staying with the boat for a couple of weeks whilst I went home to meet my grandson. Serafina was heading home too. We took a slight diversion to Toronto airport via Niagara Falls. We agreed that despite the fact we were going to be sitting on a plane for eight hours we would take the boat trip to the bottom of the falls where there is a good chance of getting wet.

We all arrived back and headed back up Lake Simcoe to Orillia where they had a Summer Fayre which included Dog Jumping. It was different but the dogs seemed to enjoy it.

As well as three more locks the next part of the Trent Severn Waterway meant taking a train. Yes, I did say a train. It was one of the most unusual parts of the trip, the Big Chute, a marine railway. It was originally built in 1917 as a temporary fix because of World War I there was a shortage of workers and money needed to build a normal water lock. Planners later decided to keep the marine railway instead of building a water lock to block invasive parasites like the sea lamprey. A water lock would let the fish swim freely into the upper freshwater lakes and harm local fish, but the dry lift of the railway stops them from crossing. The current railway was opened in 1978 and can transport boats up to 100ft in length and 24ft wide. The trip takes approx 10 minutes and covers a distance of 748ft.