June 30, 2025
We have left Buckhorn. We had such a great time there with our newly made friends. Unfortunately they needed to head home which put us moving in different directions. We wished them all safe travels until we meet again.
 |
| Purchases in Buckhorn |
 |
| Bob at the Buckhorn Damn spillway |
 |
| In the Buckhorn Lock, going down |
We have been working our way down toward Lake Ontario since the Kirkfield Lift Lock. This means we float in high in the lock and then descend to the lower level of the river/canal/lake beyond. The waterway connects 60 lakes and spans 386 kilometers from Georgian Bay(Lake Huron) to Lake Ontario.
Our next stop would be in Stony Lake. Scotty Mc Kee had told us about Juniper Island while we were in Bobcaygeon and we decided we’d like a few days away from the maddening crowd. To get to stony Lake we had to lock down through Buckhorn, Lovesick Lake and Burleigh Locks. Buckhorn was a breeze. Between Buckhorn and Lovesick Lake the wind seemed to arrive in full force. Lovesick,#30, is the smallest drop (or lift depending on direction) setting us down only 3.5 feet. It was built in 1882-1887 on an isolated island and is still only accessible by water. It was very windy at the lock and luckily for us, Amy was great at tying and holding boats while we waited for our green light. The lockmaster said it’s always windy at Lovesick so they’re very good at controlling wind-blown boats. Every lockmaster we have met has been welcoming, helpful, and positive.
Next was Burleigh Falls Lock#28. We were lowered 24 ft. here . Burleigh was built around the same time as Lovesick. It was originally a flight lock but that caused flooding of islands upstream so it was replaced with a single lock-in 1967. That eliminated lock #29. I didn’t miss one, it just wasn’t there no matter how hard we looked! 🤣 Burleigh Falls Lock lowers us into Stony Lake. The name suits it perfectly. Everywhere you look there are the tops of large rocks just peeking above the water. Our charts were very important in helping us to safely traverse the lake to Juniper Island. This lake is in “Cottage Country”. This is a portion of the shield that is dotted with lakes and rivers outlined with small, modest, to overly large and elegant “cottages”. Our Canadian friends tell us if its on a body of water- it’s a cottage, if it’s on a ski slope it’s a chalet and if it’s in the woods it’s a cabin or a camp. Always leaning new nomenclature.
 |
| Exiting the Burleigh Lock |
 |
| Spillway from damn |
We arrived and dropped our anchor in 20 feet of water. It was a pretty spot but this is a holiday weekend. We were joined by many day boaters who came to swim. We watched boats on the main lake pulling skiers, and tubers. And then there are the fishermen. It’s a very busy lake but come 6:30pm everyone leaves and it’s very quiet. We spent two restful nights here. I managed to clean floors and dust, Bob worked on some small projects and we just relaxed.
 |
| Bob and I in Scotty’s Cove on Stony Lake |
On Monday, June 30th, we pulled our anchor up and headed for Lakefield Lock. We had it on good authority that they had power and SHOWERS! Yes we have been showering but on the boat using our water. We’re getting low so we’re trying to conserve. No potable water at this stop but they will take our trash and we can walk to the grocery.
We’ll Lakefield was a nice stop. Friendly lock keeper and eventually friendly neighbors. When we arrived there was one power pedestal available. We docked beside it and plugged in. We use a combiner to plug our 50amp cord into two 30 amp outlets. The two boats in front of us had done the same. When the forth boat came and docked they were a bit put out that all the power was taken. We suffered dirty looks from them that evening. It was a hot day but it did cool off nicely in the evening. They fled early the next day looking for power, I’m sure. Our new neighbors were much nicer and informative. Frank, on the Le Boat, was wonderful. He hails from Montreal and has cruised this section of the TSW and the Rideau Canal numerous times. He gave us lots of advice and listed must see places for us. We spent our two days at Lakefield Lock then headed toward the Peterborough Lift Lock. To get toPeterborough we had to pass through a flight of five locks. Each lock is unique and it’s always fun to talk with the young people who work the locks in the summer.
The Peterborough Lift lock is a National Historic Site. It was originally built between 1896 and 1904. (I sure as hell hope they’ve refurbished it since then!) It is a hydraulic lift lock that lowers or raises you and your boat 65ft. There are two”tubs” of water 120’x32’ perched on top of hydraulic steel rams. Not unlike the Kirkfield Lift Lock but bigger.
 |
| Carolina waiting to be lowered in the Peterborough Lift Lock |
 |
| Below the lock- you can see the tub above us |
 |
| We spent the night at the top of the lock on the wall |
We arrived at Peterborough mid afternoon and tied up to the upper wall. Kind of a spooky spot. You’re looking over the tub full of water into the drop of 65ft. Something nightmares are made from. We were the only boat and had a very quiet night. The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast and got underway around 10am. We were only going through the Peterborough and the the Ashburnham locks today. Next stop the PeterboroughMarina to pickup water, do laundry and have power.
We are having good luck. The marina laundry is free and no one else was using it! We did three loads of laundry and ate lunch during the wash/dry cycles at the on site restaurant. We filled our water tanks and still had time to wander around the park and find the LCBO.
The following day we decided to head toward Hastings Lock #18 and stay a night on their wall. Hastings is a small town of 1200 right along the edge of the lock. We walked around this cute little town, visited the grocery, and got ice cream for our lunch. The Kawartha Dairy ice cream is quite a thing here in Ontario. The actual dairy is in Bobcaygeon but we didn’t visit while we were there. Kawartha is the lake district of Ontario - also called cottage country. Within this region there are 14 connected lakes - part of the Trent Severn- but beyond them, they estimate there are 130 more lakes.
After Hastings we traveled down a flight of three locks at Healy Falls. These locks will take us down 72 ft. Locks 16 and 17 will each drop us down 25ft. Lock 15 will take us the remaining 22ft. to the Trent River. Crowe Bay will be our final lock for the day before stopping at Campbellford for the night.
 |
| Huge Toony in park at Campbellford |
 |
| Carolina docked across from the park |
We arrived in Campbellford around 2pm. That had a sign posted with “Carolina” where we were to dock. Nancy the dock manager was there to greet us. She was training Olivia and helped us tie up. Unfortunately because we are a big boat they put us on the opposite side of the river from the facilities. We had between 1/4-1/2 mile to walk or ride our bikes to the restrooms and showers. Not ideal. We stayed our first night there on the far side of the “marina”. The next morning we moved to the other side so we’d be nearer the showers and restrooms. As we pulled in the dockhand who had okayed the move over ran up and asked if we could tuck in real close to the boat in front because 5 boats had called and wanted on our side but all together. We got up close to the boat in front of us and tied off. We then walked to”Be My Guest Family Restaurant” for breakfast. We had a fantastic meal. Bob had French toast and I had a gyro omelette. We shared and it was delicious. Our waitress was outstanding and the place was packed by the time we left. We took a short walkabout and stopped in at the Campbellford Hardware and Mercantile. This was a real treat. The Indian owner has packed more products into limited space then I have ever seen AND there was a downstairs too! We spent a half hour just marveling at all the things we have searched for that he had right there on his shelves. He wanted to discuss the U.S. and wether he should move there to improve his earnings. We told him to wait 3.5 years. Before we finished making our purchases we were gifted bottles of water and each blessed by our new Indian friend.
 |
| Bob in the hardware mercantile store |
We walked back to Carolina just in time to be asked to move up again. This time it was a problem. Our power cord would not reach from the front receptacle to the pedestal. We’d have to switch to the rear receptacle. That’s kind of a pain bot doable. We moved up again and retired and repowered Carolina. We were waiting for a 32ft boat to come in behind us. Well a less than honorable boat pulled up- 32foot with and additional 4 ft. swim platform and a dinghy lift adding an additional 4 ft. Then he has to nerve to tell us we’re taking up too much room and we should move up some more. It was not a pretty scene. A true Ugly American. Needless to say, we did not move. It kind of spoiled Campbellford for us though.
Later that afternoon we decided to ride to the previous lock then up to the next lock. We wanted to see Healy and Ranney Falls. The ride to Ranney Falls was nice and we had a coolish breeze on a very hot (94) day. We explored the Ranney Falls suspension bridge and rode out to the damn. From Ranney onto Healy was a different ball of wax. We had a map but it didn’t actually take us to the falls . There were many, many hills, some of which I walked up. We finally put the falls into our phone gps and we were well past them on our way back to Campbellford. We kept going and missed out on Healy Falls. By the time we got home it was going on 7pm. We figured we rode about 15 miles.
 |
| Off in the brush near Ranney Falls |
 |
| Ranney Falls |
 |
| Suspension Bridge by Ranney Falls |
We planned on leaving and going to Percy #8 but soon realized it would take us all of an hour to get there. The plan was changed and we struck out for Frankford. The first locks of the day were the Ranney Falls flight - each lock drops us 24ft., a total of 48ft. down. These locks were built between 1910 and 1915 to enable passage around the falls.
Next we had 3 locks in quick succession and then a long leg to lock 7 Glen Ross and finally on to Frankford. Glen Ross called on to Frankford and informed us that they had no room at the pedestals but we could stay on the lower wall for the night. We agreed and locked down to the lower wall. Nathen, the lock operator, helped us tie up and was a wealth of information. We decided we’d walk to town and have dinner out. After reading numerous reviews, we chose Dimitri’s Pizzeria and Restaurant. It was an excellent choice. The food was delicious and the service outstanding.
We spent 2 days in Frankford, one night on the lower wall and one night on the upper wall. We left on Thursday for Trenton - civilization of sorts. Trenton is a city of about 22,000 people. There is a RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) base here and also the National Air Force Museum of Canada. We planned on staying 3 days but extended our stay to 6 days due to the weather and lack of space at the Kingston Marina. Since we were there it only seemed natural for us to visit the Air Force Museum. It was a short bike ride but the weather was very hot.
 |
| Inside the C130e |
 |
| Field of planes |
We spent a couple of hours touring the C130e, and other static displays of a variety of different planes. Unfortunately the museum had no snack bar to get lunch or a cold drink . We opted to leave and find somewhere to get some water. We ended up riding back to the boat and showering. We spent some of this time washing the bugs off our boat, cleaning the stratoglass , changing out the water pump and doing a major provisioning. There was a Metro grocery about 1/4 mile away. We ate out one night at a lovely Thai restaurant called Thai Sushi. The food was excellent as was the service. The laundry at the marina was free so I did three loads. It was a very productive 6 days.
On our last day here we rode our bikes down to Carrying Place and the Murray Canal. This canal is a quick way out to Lake Ontario from Trenton (Quinte West). We will not be going this way preferring to stay in the protected waters of Quinte Bay.
 |
| Bob with his antique bike |
 |
| Clare with her trusty bike |
 |
| On the shores of Quinte Bay |
 |
| Trenton Clock Tower built in 1888 |
On July 16th we left Trenton early (7:20) and headed east on the bay towards Kingston. This was a 55plus nautical mile trip and would take us about 6.5 hours. The scenery was beautiful and the weather, though hot, was great for this trip. We got to the Conferderation Basin Marina about 2:30. There were to very able dockhands waiting for us at our slip. This is the first time I didn’t have to retire the lines - they were that good! The marina is a labyrinth of docks going this way and that. We probably walk about 1/4-1/2 mile on the docks before we get to land. I truly fear getting lost and not being able to find Carolina. This is another expensive marina but the high temps demand power for AC. They keep promising a cold front and finally last night(Thursday, July17) it arrived. Today we’re wearing long sleeved shirts and still feeling a bit chilly. We’ll stay here till the 20th when we will leave for Clayton, NY and check in back in the USA. We hope that there are no problems with coming home but we’ll wait and see.
 |
|
 |
| Confederation Arch |
 |
| CPR train in Confederation Park |
While in Kingston we managed to take a hop-on, hop-off tour of the city. This gave us an opportunity to decide which of the sight we wanted to visit more extensively. What an interesting city this turned out to be. Now we’re sorry that we have so little time here. After the tour, we walked back to two of the nearby sights. Our first stop was the Kingston Historic Pumphouse. It was erected in 1851. In 1834 Kingston had a cholera outbreak . Cholera is most frequently caused by polluted water. Then in 1840 there was a Great Fire consuming over 40 buildings in the downtown area. In 1842 the town decided to form a Water Works to address the water needs of the growing community and respond to health concerns and the need for water to fight fires. They used a walking beam steam engine to pump water from Lake Ontario to the city. It was a very interesting museum that also included a traveling exhibit on dinosaurs.
Next we walked next door to the Great Lakes Museum. We really just wanted to see the S.S.Keewatin. This is the last remaining Edwardian-era passenger liner in the world. It traveled in the Great Lakes from between Port Arthur/Fort William on Lake Superior and from Port McNicoll on Georgian Bay. We took the engine room tour. We were the only people on the tour so all our questions were answered and then some. She ran on a quadruple extension steam engine powered by four coal-fired scotch boilers. She had a single screw that was 15 feet in diameter. Her top speed was 16 knots.
After all this touristing we were exhausted and headed back to the boat for a quite evening. We still had About 1.5 hours left on our hop-on, hop-off ticket so we made plans to see Fort Henry the following day.
We boarded the bus for a ride out to the fort then stood inline for our tickets. Unfortunately we were quite disappointed in the fort. There were few signs to explain what we were looking at and even less direction on what to see. We spent an hour wandering around the interior then decided to move on to more interesting sights. We caught a bus back to the marina and had lunch.
After lunch we got on our bikes and rode out to the Kingston Penitentiary. We took the brief tour because we we feeling shy of paying for entrance then being disappointed again. We first stopped at the Kingston Pen Museum, which was quite interesting with lots of artifacts to view and read about. We then crossed the road to the actual penitentiary. Our tour guide, Jason, was very good and had lots to tell us in our forty-five minute tour. We really enjoyed the Pen but wouldn’t want to stay there for too long! Again we’d worn ourselves out and we were being kicked out of the marina the next morning. Our slip was reserved by someone else. There’s a story behind this which I will tell you now….
We were having a conversation with our dockmate John. We told we’d be leaving and he said but of course. We asked why this was expected and he began to explain the long and sordid details of the Sunday morning boat comings and goings. It seems that in 2024 contractors were hired to do maintenance on the LaSalle Causeway bascule bridge. They neglected to secure the counter weight properly and the historic bridge was damaged beyond repair. They have since put in a temporary modular bridge which is only opened on Sundays for marine traffic. This bridge leads to the Rideau Canal entrance so all boats entering or exiting the canal must do so on Sunday causing a huge boat traffic jam. We decided it was best to leave. We’d also have to rethink our plans for the Rideau to meet the bridge schedule.
Sunday dawned cool and breezy. We filled our water tanks and dropped our lines headed for Portsmouth Olympic Harbour just 40 minutes south. We pulled in and got a pump out for two lovely young ladies who had been very well trained. They also assisted us dock on their wall and were very helpful We walked up to the facility to checkout where the 1976 Summer Olympics sailing races were held. I’m sure it was a wonderful facility but it has not been repurposed and most of the large building is sitting vacant and collecting spiders. We walked up to a Tim Hortons to purchased a pound of coffee for breakfast and on the way back stopped in a local pub. This is a very sleepy area. Not much available for boaters without transportation but we didn’t need to be entertained.
The following day we left for Clayton, NY - Carolina would be back in the USA for the first time since July of 2024. We were a bit nervous about checking back in. We ate all the veggies and fruit we could hold and threw away the rest. We arrived in Clayton mid-afternoon and used CBP ROAM to check back in. You fill out their forms with all your information then wait for them either to call you for a video conference or approve your entry via the app. We didn’t have long to wait. We were approved for entry within 15 minutes of sending our form in….and no CG inspection!!! This was more than we had hoped.
Why Clayton you ask? Clayton is the US gateway to the Thousand Islands. It is also home to the Antique Boat Museum. We’ve been here before, by car. Last time here it was flooding and some buildings were closed. This time the weather is beautiful and everything is open. We’ll spend a morning perusing these carefully rehabilitated old wooden boats. We also opted for a ride in a Garwood 3 cockpit classic.
