Beginning Trent Severn Canal July 19 - 22

After Kingston we went out the Lake Ontario for a little ways before getting to the Bay of Quinte. We went into Picton but decided it was too narrow to anchor and didn't feel like another town right away so we backtracked a few miles to a pretty anchorage at Holloway Mills Cove off Picton Bay. The next day we went up several more bodies of water to the Trenton River and Trenton.

This picture shows the Trenton bridge that marks the beginning of the Trent Severn Waterway. We motored thru Trenton and pressed on.

While waiting for the first lock we were joined by two boats from Montreal Quebec. The larger boat claimed they had recently bought the boat in Florida and had made it to Montreal in about 12 days. They were now cruising and having great fun playing loud beach music and serving Caribbean drinks while soaking up the sun in their bathing suits. We decided to stop at the third lock to see the Bleasdell Boulder and let them go on.




The third lock at Glen Miller was fairly isolated but nice. For exercise I jogged up a highway, across a bridge and out a sandy trail to the Bleasdell Boulder. It is a remnant dropped during the times that ice sheets covered this part of Canada. It is claimed to be the largest boulder in Ontario deposited by a glacier.

There was docking on both sides of the Canal/River in Campbellford at mile 31. Campbellford was the first large city on the Trent Severn. We stayed on the East side where there was 50 amp service. This was close to the downtown and several good restaurants. Kaye went swimming in the town pool one afternoon. Campbellford has two claims to fame. both of which we sampled. The first was the Dooher Bakery which had great muffins and pies. The other was the World Famous Chocolate factory outlet. The World Famous Chocolate is familiar to many as the bars sold by school groups for fund raising. They used to have a factory in Campbellford that we understand has closed down but the factory outlet is still there. We filled my back pack with chocolate covered almonds and broken pieces of chocolate. Yum, yum!

Across from our boat was a nice park and a statue to the Canadian $2 coin which replaced a paper $2 bill in 1996. The Loon depiction on the back of the coin was designed by Campbellford Artist, Brent Townsend. The $1 coin is called a "Loonie" for the Loon bird on the coin. The $2 coin carries a depiction of a Polar Bear but is called a "Toonie", probably a combination of loonie and two.

Each Wednesday night in the summer there is free entertainment in the gazebo stage in the park. We listened to a local Blue Grass band that did a nice job. It wasn't quite up to Merlefest standards but very enjoyable and a nice way to spend an evening.

I have learned to really like the cleats that are used widely on the Trent-Severn at moorings. This is an example although most are not made of stainless steel like these in Campbellford. It is strong enough that when Kaye loops a line around it while we are still moving it will stop the boat. The other advantage is that it is easy to throw and loop a line around the cleat while standing on the bow of our boat some 6 feet above the side of the canal. One can then tie the bitter end back on a cleat on our boat. The large round post makes it easy to pull the line around to remove the line and shove off without stepping on the shore.