Although it is lovely to have a second long holiday weekend in the summer as they do in Canada. Monday August 6 is Civic Holiday (named Simcoe Day in Toronto and named after a number of local heroes in other cities and provinces). Great day for the locals – very difficult for the transient.
We left the Gannon Narrows anchorage mid-morning wondering where we would end up. We did end up with a substantial weed "beard" but there was plenty of mud on the anchor – indicating at least we had had a better anchorage than the first one we had picked out. For the next 20-25 miles there were no marinas that could accommodate or had a slip available for a boat our size, so we resolved that if we could not per chance get a spot on a lock wall, we would anchor again, this time in Cameron Lake.
Going under the Gannon Narrows Bridge – the lowest vertical clearance in the Trent-Severn Waterway at 21.5 feet. With our radar post levered down we have 18.5 feet in vertical clearance with the radar post up – it is about 21 feet – too close for comfort – so we have left the post down for the canal voyages.
We entered Pidgeon Lake and after crossing the lake entered the Big Bob Channel – just after seeing the waterfalls of the Little Bob Channel. The Big Bob Channel goes right through Bobcaygeon (the so-called “Hub of the Kawarthas”) and the Bobcaygeon Lock 32 (up 6 feet). Because of the holiday, the banks of the canal, the lock walls – above and below – were teaming with tourists, small and big boats and nary a corner for Salty to rest. Some boaters were even tying up to the blue line on the lock wall (a no-no unless you are intending to immediately lock through). After a lengthy wait because of all the lock traffic, we were able to pass through, but not after taking a few snapshots of the very attractive town – heavily decorated with banners and Canadian maple leaf flags – seething with tourist traffic.
Oh well – timing is everything. We passed onto Sturgeon Lake – a very attractive body of water, but a clear misnomer as there are no, and never were any, sturgeon in this lake. Maybe the shape of the lake resembles a sturgeon in a Rohrshach test, but otherwise we saw no caviar-bearing beings here.
After traversing the length of Sturgeon Lake, we entered the Fenelon River – named we are told for the priest who fell over the falls in the 17th century. The town of Fenelon Falls is built along the river and is as equally popular with the local tourist crowd as Bobcaygeon. Fenelon Falls Lock 34 (up 24 feet) is in the center of town and is a modernized lock that replaced the old Locks 33 and 34. The lower walls were all occupied as were the upper walls – and there was considerable wait time to get through the locks because of the heavy traffic in boats and rental houseboats.
At the time we were passing through, Fenelon Falls was staging a reenactment of a battle where the Americans were fended off in one of their never-ever-forgotten attacks on Canada in the early 19thcentury. Acres of military tents, soldiers in 1800’s uniform and cannon fire greeted us as we locked up. Was this all for us? Or a coincidence?!
With no room at the Fenelon Falls inn, we pushed further to Cameron Lake, which a locktender told me was the best lake, far better than Sturgeon Lake. We turned left after exiting the canal and made for an anchorage at Sacketts Bay in the south of the lake. We were determined not to make the same mistakes as yesterday with weeds and depth – and found a 20 foot anchorage (requiring 190 feet of rode). We got a firm hold right away with the anchor and spent an extraordinarily relaxing sunny afternoon as an isolated island in the middle of calm lake, listening to music, swimming in the refreshing clear water and washing the boat above and below. Paradise on the lake deserved a cheese and cracker dinner with an 18-year old Bordeaux.
