On May 26th, Samantha, Sarah, and I drove to Peterborough to meet Jeff and Escapade at one of the locks nearby. Samantha and Sarah left the next morning, and Jeff and I spent the next five days together on Escapade, heading south through the Trent Severn waterway, en route to Toronto.
I don’t know why but I’ve thought locks were cool for a number of years, maybe because my big brother talked about them. A few years ago, on a cruise down the Yangtze River, I was surprised to be the only person on the back deck when my ship entered into the first part of the Three Gorges Dam lock. I’m not sure if that was the first lock I ever went through, but it’s the first one that I remember. Of course, since then I’ve traveled through a few locks on the Tennessee river with Jeff.
There are two things that I particularly cherish on these boat trips with Jeff. The first is seeing parts of North America that I haven’t seen before, at a slow pace. On this trip, it was fascinating to go through a large variety of locks, many of which were manually opened and closed, and some of which involved seemingly high elevation drops. At virtually every lock, the lockmaster remembered Jeff and there was a brief chat about his travels. Occasionally there would be offers to help, which Jeff would kindly decline, with a smile and a comment that he had a system in place.
We had spectacular weather with beautiful sunrises and sunsets, with a memorable stop near a bird sanctuary in Presqu’ile provincial park. Other than some drama involving a pharmacy or two, it was a very enjoyable low-key trip.
The other highlight for me is seeing Jeff completely in his element. The first time I was on his previous boat, Mazurka, I had some anxiety issues as we would approach shallow waters or narrow channels. However, it wasn’t long before I realized that these situations were easy peasy for Jeff. That was again the case on this trip as he moved Escapade from one space to another, skillfully maneuvering in and out of the locks. It was fun to see. Needless to say, I took lots of pictures, as usual. Here is a sampling of some of my favourites.
Boating Adventures 