Days 97 - Locks 1 - 6

What a wonderful start to our canal journey in Canada.  The weather was perfect, the company awesome and the scenery spectacular.  We started the day by giving our boat a bath - she needed it!!! We then went into town with our neighbors Randy and Toni on Magic, to get Canadian cash.  We got back to the boats and left the marina at 10:30.  The first 6 locks are very close together - 6 locks in 6 miles.  We quickly caught up with another Looper we had met way back in Virginia, Bill and Kathy on Mz Fullcharge, and followed them to the first lock. By this time there were 4 boats ready to lock through.  Canadian Locks are much smaller than American Locks and we had to "raft" up in order to fit us all in.  Magic is a catamaran and 18 feet wide to our 14' 4" and too wide to raft so Mz Fullcharge rafted to us.  Neither of us had rafted before but I was well read on the subject and it went very smoothly.  We tied up to the wall first then Bill and Kathy came in beside us.  We gave them our "mid" line which they tied to their "mid" cleat.  Then we tied our sterns together.  We have lots of fenders between us to keep our boats from damaging each other.

This is what we look like "rafted"

This is Magic in back of us with Bob handling our stern line.

Then we go back to the side tied to the wall and make sure we don't stray too far or too close to the lock wall.  The beauty of Canadian locks is their cables that we tie to are much nicer than the American locks.  When we get to the top we reverse everything - secure our lines to the lock - undo our lines with the rafted boat - they leave first, then we undo our lines and cast off.  It is a lot of work and by Lock 2 I was very tired and hungry.  It was lunch time by now and I knew I wouldn't have time to fix lunch let alone eat it before the next lock, so we opted to let everyone else go on and we tied up to the wall past the lock and ate.

Such pretty parks at each of the locks 

The canals here can be very narrow but are well maintained.  Notice the fenders set up on the side of the boat - these are to protect the boat while in the locks.  Most boats are set up on both sides as you never know what side you may tie up to in the lock or if you may be required to raft up.

 

River side life is apparent here as many homes have chairs, fire-pits, and toys ready to enjoy a beautiful day.

We've seen a few swans along our journey but this is the first time I've successfully captured one on camera!

By the time we finished lunch, another boat was coming up the lock so we continued on with them. With only two of us in a lock it was much easier and faster and we made it to Lock 6 by 3:00.  The Trent Severn Locks are only open from 10-4 this time of year so we called it a day and squeezed on to the wall at the top of Lock 6.  Mz Fullcharge and Magic were waiting for us there!

We had a fun evening teaching Randy and Toni to play Chicken Foot.  Bill and Kathy were ensconced in a sporting event on TV.

Docked at Lock 6 upper wall - with electricity or "hydro" as they call it here!  6/19/17

Stay tuned for nail biting adventures tomorrow!