The Trent Severn Waterway is 240 miles long and made up of 44 locks. For the first part of the waterway you are locking up starting at Trenton @ 243 ft above sea level to the high point in Lake Balsam @ 840 ft above sea level after which you obviously lock down from here to Port Severn @ 576 ft above sea level. Lake Balsam is the highest point in the world where a boat can get to under its own steam.There are 3 unique locks; the Big Chute ( marine railway which we come to in the next few days) which carries you across a road downhill, the Peterborough lift lock which is like two opposing bathtubs one going up & one going down, & Kirkfield lift lock nearly 5 stories high. Some days the going is slow as lockmasters wait to fill the locks &/or we wait for locks to empty before we can proceed. Going up & down in the locks can take a couple of minutes to 10 or 15 mins. so you usually strike up conversations with lockmasters or fellow boaters on the way.
You learn never to have a set plan or timetable for the day because the locking in & out are the controlling factors. There are many bridges to clear as well and you need to be under 20ft to clear them so we had to lower our mast.
Our trip to Campbellford covered 5 locks and 18 miles. Here we stopped & visited a chocolate factory & a good bakery where we sampled a regional favourite - Butter tarts. This part of the Trent river was very attractive with no "over the top" holiday homes but tidy summer cottages and lovely gardens - a place we call "I could live here" area.
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