The run from Campbellford to Hastings was short but with the delays at the locks it took us from 10 am to 4 pm to get from the bottom of Lock 13 to the bottom of Lock 18. We had hoped to get through 18 and then get an early start to Peterborough. But we arrived at 3:45 pm and it was a no go. That set things to motion for a little episode the next day.
In the meantime we had a lovely visit from friends, Hilda
and Hector Cowan, who live about an hour and a half away, catching up on our
lives and reminiscing about our times while serving in overseas posts. We saw them last two years ago while
transiting the Rideau Canal. Both have
developed hobbies that are so interesting and useful that if ever we had to
live off the land, we would want them as close neighbors!
The next morning, while waiting for the 10 am lock opening,
I went to the local coffee shop to use their wifi again. If we had been able to leave right away, I
would not have been at the coffee shop, and I would not have left my purse
there. I discovered it missing when we
arrived at Lock 19 in Peterborough at 4 pm.
Then a really remarkable thing happened. I called the Remax realtor in Hastings who
runs a laundromat near the coffee shop.
The number was in an advertisement in the Trent Severn guide. He checked and confirmed the purse was there,
and offered his wife to bring it to us on her way to work in Peterborough. Talk about dialing the right number! Thank you Dennis and Sandy!
We spent two nights in Peterborough walking along the
waterfront from Lock 19 to downtown one day and over to Lock 20 and 21 (the big
hydraulic lift lock) the next day. Franz
the butcher shop and the Saturday morning Lansdowne farmers market helped
reprovision. We also bought some herbs for our planter
box.
We had noticed some dripping of steering fluid at the
flybridge helm. Cleaned it up and read
the manual and we think the seal might need replacing and that involves finding
a boatyard with a wheel puller.
By Saturday evening we were at the Young’s Point Lock 27. One of the cottagers offered water and so we
were able to top up our tanks. YEAH!
Even Gigi got a bath.
Sunday’s run to Bobcaygeon included a stop at Lock 31 in
Buckhorn to buy some incredible butter and breakfast tarts, sticky buns, and
one of their frozen homemade shepherd’s pie (for emergencies!)
I wish I could be more enthusiastic about Bobcaygeon but by
the time we arrived we discovered that the butcher shop was closed and wouldn’t
be reopening until Wednesday and the bakery until Thursday. There is a huge shoe store, Bigley, in
town. And I saw just the pairs of shoes
I was looking for.
That evening we took a walk and were approached by group of
four children (imagine Charles Dickens era ragamuffins). “Do you have children?” “No” “If
you did we are having a children to children garage sale”. They showed us their toys lying on the
sidewalk. $2.50 each. $5 got us three toys which we returned to
them to give to someone. As we left,
their cry became, “$2.50 per toy, some are free”
We are now in Fenelon Falls.
On the way we noticed our Garmin depth finder was not reading at
all. One of the tabs on the top of the
transducer has broken off earlier and we decided we had better tape the thing
together. So we did. It required both of
us to be down in the “holy place”. One
to hold the top down and the other to fix the tape.
Yesterday, June 3rd, we rebuilt one of the toilets. By the time we were finished, we had removed
the entire thing from the base to replace gaskets, etc. etc. The instructions were limited and we had to
rely heavily on the exploded parts diagram, studying it for about an hour,
labelling the parts, and then delving in.
It went better than expected. Rusty and I disagreed on one aspect of the refit.
So now we have an uninstalled piston gasket.
Yes, I won the argument but Rusty was correct. The seal needs to be
replaced after the piston gasket is installed not before. Other lesson:
do this sort of job if there is access to a Laundromat. Thankfully there was a great one just two
blocks away.
We also have two more window box planters and planted
geraniums. Rusty’s idea. It sounds very much like a nesting activity
and if I wasn’t sure our boating trip would end in September I would be
worried.
To congratulate ourselves for all the things we got done, we decided to go out for dinner only to
discover that the two highly recommended restaurants were closed. So off to Sobeys, and we ended up with a
delicious salmon dinner on the boat.
Wednesday, June 4th, we are headed to Barrie and
will arrive late Thursday. No internet
until then.
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