We leave Georgian Bay early on Monday, August 14th with benign weather: little wind, and no threat of rain, and we need it so we can tackle Lock 45, which is notorious for its bridge and its currents. When we passed through it on the way up, the torrents from the dam were intimidating, but now, two months later, they have abated somewhat. Still, we want to be there in time for the first lockage, to get it over with, and then move on as far as Lock 43 at Swift Current, tackling the Big Chute Railway in between.
We get close in plenty of time, with no other boat traffic to complicate our progress. Then, under the bridge we go, twisting and turning against the current, then across the surge from the dam, and we tie up – albeit a little clumsily – at the lock wall ready for the 09:00 lock-through, the first of the day, thankfully alone in the smallest lock in the system.
From Port Severn we motor through calm waters to Lock 44, The Big Chute railway lock, are taken up with no problems, and then move onwards.
Lock 43, Swift Current, is next: an impressive lock, and extremely high. We tie up to wait our turn, and intend to stay the night here at the top of the lock after what has already been a testing day.
At the top of the lock, it is very busy, and we decide on the spot to carry on to Lock 42, which is a couple of hours or more further on. While it is a great day to cruise, we still have some considerable “rapids” as they are called to contend with: narrow channels where the water flows fast and strong against us, and where we have to be careful of approaching boats.
Finally, after more than six hours on the engines and seven underway, we tie up at the peaceful and welcoming lake Couchiching Lock 42 (where we stopped on our way up and had Wendy and Bill to visit). We had covered 42 miles, four locks, one swing bridge and 4 or 5 rapids. A long day had turned into a very long one.
Tuesday morning heralds the next big challenge: crossing Lake Simcoe. (We had an uncomfortable crossing on the way up, when the Lake was angry, my friends). We have done our homework, and it would seem that we have the morning to get through the 09:00 swing bridge, down Couchiching lake, and across Lake Simcoe to the safety of the Trent canal and its locks, which itself will take 1 1/2 hours, before the clouds come in from the south west, along with the threat of a thunderstorm, around 12 or 12:30. The morning is beautiful: calm and clear. So off we go, getting the first swing of the railway bridge.
The next short canal section is reminiscent of The Wind in the Willows, and Michel enjoys it from the foredeck.
Lake Couchiching coudn’t be more serene. And it’s still only 09:30.
By the time we get to Lake Simcoe, at 10:35, the clouds are starting to mass, and so we ramp up the revs to clear the engines and give us some extra speed – 11.4 mph at 1900 rpm.
As it turns out, the water stays very calm, and while it gets more grey, it is no problem at all. The threat of a thunderstorm proves to be an empty one.
We enter the canal at 12:10, past the swing bridge, and through Lock 41 and 40 to rest at Lock 39 – Portage – for two nights, as a respite from the travelling. Today we have covered 31 miles – most of which was Lake Simcoe – plus 3 locks and one swing bridge.
Very similar to Lock 40, Thora, which we stayed at on our way up, Lock 39, Portage, is peaceful and well run by pleasant people. The boats come and go while we make it our “hotel” for a couple of days, with walks, reading, logbook, online, and a little maintenance. Weed mats are a constant threat in the canal, and have to be raked away when possible, and we check the generator exhaust cooling water intake every day, clearing the filter of the green stuff.
The light changes slowly and beautifully as time drifts past a misty morning to a golden evening.
After our day of rest, Thursday morning – Day 63 – heralds the next challenges: Canal Lake and the Trent Canal east of Kirkfield Lock – known as “The Ditch”. The lake is extremely shallow and infested with weeds and stumps and deadheads, and The Ditch is also very shallow, but also very narrow, several miles long, also infested with weeds, with rocks looming every side, and very little room for any boat to pass another. We prepare ourselves and leave the serenity of Lock 39 with weather fair.
We are no more than a third of the way into the Ditch when we – us and the boat ahead of us – have to stop and hover in the cramped channel to allow four big boats past us – boats that were not listening to our VHF radio warnings. It was dangerous, and nerve wracking to say the least.
Finally exiting the Trent Canal into Balsam Lake as the weather was turning sour, I put the engines into reverse to try and get rid of any weeds that may be wrapped around the propellers, then into forward and ramped up the revs to get some decent speed over the lake – the engines had been basically turning over at idle speed all the time in The Ditch. Bad idea. Almost immediately, the temperature of the port engine shot up as rapidly as its oil pressure plummeted, and I had to switch off the engine sharpish.
Poodling along on the starboard engine at 5 mph, we phoned around, and spoke to a guy at Rosedale marina – we were headed there anyway, and docked (on one engine, which is not that convenient!) at their fuel dock as he said he would have a look-see. This all happened as the rain started in earnest.
Mark, the technician of Pride Marine, was extremely helpful, and while they only work on small gas engines and ski boats, etc., we saw that there was substantial coolant spillage in the engine room. He suspected a leak from the water pump, but all we could do was wait for the engine to cool – this was about 1:30 or so – for a couple of hours, refill the coolant tank, and see.
So we waited.
In the rain.
Bombarded by disco techno pop pounding out of the water toys showroom.
With visions of engine damage and being marooned and what do we do next and the end of the summer cruise dancing morbidly around us.
This was all at somewhat of a remove from the serenity of Lock 39 that we had left behind us that very morning.
And we waited.
At last, after 4 pm, we filled her up with water and coolant. We started the port engine. It seemed normal. No leaks were apparent. After phone chats with Dave P, my mechanic in Bath, and Mark, we replaced the overflow bottle, and set off again – all of half a mile to the top of the Rosedale lock, where we were planning to stay anyway – in the pouring rain, with the notion of replacing any coolant loss as we proceeded over the next few days and keeping an eagle eye on the temperature and oil pressure gauges.
That afternoon, I had also phoned a fellow Looper member who lives in Fenelon Falls and who had offered dock space to any Loopers who needed it, and he, Norman, showed up at the boat, out of the blue, to see if he could help! A marvellous show of kindness which we will never forget. We shared some wine and a lot of his memories of 20 years of boating as the rain pelted down. And we also discussed the engine problem – and the cause of it. Could it be those evil weeds from Canal Lake and The Ditch?
On Friday, we were up at 07:00 and planned to go a short distance to test the engines, to Fenelon Falls, and go from there. Another chat with Dave P resulted in his concurrence that win all likelihood the problem had been – yes – those evil weeds. The only question now was whether there had been any damage done by overheating.
We set off, and soon the weather wasn’t all that promising – again.
Tentatively, we were figuring the engines were okay – both reached normal temperature by the time we approached Fenelon Falls, so we decided to carry on through the lock, on to Bobcaygeon – another 15 miles – and give the engines a longer test. After all, we could always turn back. So we did.
By noonish we were tied up at the floating dock at Bobcaygeon, Lock 32 – and the engines were still operating as normal. To say we were relieved is the understatement of the whole cruise.
As we thought, the weather was getting very, very windy, with more threats (again, empty as it turned out) of thunderstorms, so we decided to stay two nights and do a few chores and shopping.
Saturday draws to a close, and tomorrow, August 20, will be Day 66, with our aim being to get a space at one of our favourite locks – Lovesick Lake Lock 30, the other side of Buckhorn, for Sunday afternoon and night, hoping that anyone now moored there will be leaving by then. And then on to Stoney lake where we look to anchor.
So we hope for the next few days to be back in nature and out of the “suburbs” of cottage country.