Day 5 of Trent-Severn Waterway- Lovesick to Fenelon Falls, Ontario

Woke up, got dressed, made breakfast, and walked to the Lovesick lock sign. Told the lockmaster that they actually WERE lock 100 and asked them to take a picture of us and with us before we were on our way. 

At Buckhorn (halfway point of TSW), they told us we were lucky to come thru now 

because it is slow, but usually is the busiest stop on the whole TSW! It could be the rainy weather or that kids have one more week of school, but July will hit and the number of boats passing thru each day will explode. Personally, I have no complaints about the lack of other boaters!

We stopped on the wall after the Bobcaygeon (pronounced Bob-Cajun) lock. This is another very popular destination on the TSW and wall space is highly coveted. Luckily for us, only a few boats were there and we had a space to tie up. 

As we were tying up, there was a rental house boat having issues docking. Between the wind and the inexperienced drivers, they were a hot mess and we were holding our breath, hoping our boat wouldnt get hit by theirs. The lockmaster on our side of the water was yelling directions across the water to a lady on their stern, who told those directions to whomever was driving, as quickly as they could, while more people from the lock came running to catch their lines and give them instructions from a closer location. They got tied up and we no longer felt like our boat was going to get damaged by them.

We got off the boat to look for souvenirs. Didn't see anything we wanted, but we did get some liquid bandaids that we forgot to grab during our stay at Hastings. The boys went to the fishing store and the girls and I grabbed some milk and cream cheese (along with some raspberries). 

Earlier, when we were tying up, the lockmaster asked if we were the Carter Family. He asked me how I thought he knew. I said he must be pretty observant! The lockmaster told us about the Kawartha Dairy 0.3 miles away, so we went back after our errands to ask for directions. We put our groceries on the boat and met the boys at the lock who, in addition to getting directions, were trading boat stories with the lockmaster.

Our walk took us through the less touristy section of town. Bobcaygeon is yet another cute small Canadian town. As we were walking, it reminded me of small-town USA and I decided they're not much different! 

When we got to Bobcaygeon, it looked like it was going to rain again, which wasn't surprising since it's been cloudy, raining off and on since yesterday. I brought a long sleeved half zip shirt and a raincoat with me. Throughout our time walking around Bobcaygeon, I used every possible layer- both from the cold and the heat. Big, quick changes in the weather reminded me of Colorado.

At the start of the day, we initially thought we'd stop in Bobcaygeon to peek around and then continue on to Fenelon Falls for the night. The change in weather made me second guess moving on. We had a lake to get through between the two locks and the wind was picking up, so we figured we'd stay tied up for the night.

Upon our arrival at Kawartha Dairy, we walked up to the service window and had just a short amount of time to pick one of the 52 flavors. Those of you who know how indecisive I am, know how frazzled I became when it was our turn to order and I still hadn't finished looking at the whole menu. Ha! Well, I wound up defaulting on Maple Walnut, which I have loved ever since our first Canadian ice cream stop in 2013, and have yet to find a comparable flavor in the US. Gotta get it and savor it while I can!

We sat down to eat at an outdoor table, checked out the shop (with some cheese, milk, eggs, coffee, swag, and yes-more ice cream), and walked back to the boat.

I saw a boat coming through the lock and I wanted to be a spectator to see how other people do it, so I told everyone else I'd be back at the boat soon. The girls stayed with me. I heard the lock speaker announce for the incoming houseboat to come into the lock with the other boat, and I decided it was going to take too long and we should get back to the boat. It looked like the houseboat was attempting to tie up on the wall, across the river from us where the other one had problems just a few hours ago. I knew right then and there that we wouldn't be staying any longer and we needed to move. Our leisure walk back to the boat turned into throwing everyone and everything back on the boat and rushing to untie so we could zoom past this disaster of houseboats. Moose was told by Ben to start both engines. Ben and I both knew we were booking it out of there without even speaking about it!

This houseboat was getting instructions yelled at them from the lock speaker and Parks Canada employees were rushing to help them tie up. All I could hear was the loud speaker and the repeated crunch of aluminum on the cement wall. I looked up to see they had completely taken their bow railing off and were being blown back toward us. Meanwhile Ben was yelling from our bow to their stern saying, "No, a boat hook will not stop you. You're too heavy for a boat hook. I will be furious if you hit my boat. My boat is not a rental." 

Ben quickly ran to the lines to pull our boat in closer to the wall. I looked up at them and let out some choice words (one in particular that is "the best") and the poor young Parks Canada people on our side holding our lines looked at me like they'd never heard those words before, and asked what was wrong. I said, "They're gonna hit our boat!" They pulled our lines and held us closer to the wall and said we'd be okay, while Ben untied a few of our lines. Once they were out of the way, we pushed off and got outta there! We all, understandably, had racing hearts for a while after that.

On Sturgeon Lake, there were white caps and 2 footers. Compared to the rest of our trip (with Lake Champlain being the exception), this was pretty choppy, but wasn't actually that bad, so I was glad we decided to continue onward today. Once we got to Sturgeon Point, Ben said we'd head closer to the west shore to ride smoother water to the north end of the lake. 

I think this stretch of this waterway has been my favorite, as far as housing goes. There is like a whole little village on the stretch leading from the lake to the lock. Everyone has amazing decks, landscaping, and it looks like a fun evening/weekend community area.

When we got to Fenelon Falls (lock 34), we had to wait for a few minutes for them to drain the water, so we kind of floated out front by the lower wall where several jetskis and another rental houseboat were tied up. I looked at the front of this houseboat, out of curiosity, and noticed it was torn up too. I guess it's a common thing for those!

We locked up a pretty big lock and were chatting with the lockmaster. As we got closer to the top, I realized we had a whole slew of people just watching us. I didn't realize how many were there along the fence. They started asking questions and I told them our story. As we were leaving they thanked me for chatting and I told them, "Don't forget to like and subscribe." Roo told me that was funny. 

The wall just outside of the lock with power and water had open space, so we tied up for the night. This was another night where we were not the only boat. This lock wall was the most crowded of all of our stops so far, most likely because of the power, water, and adorable town. We kept the windows open until about 10 PM and then closed up and put on the AC, running on our battery. We didn't need their power, but will likely fill up with water before we leave.

Once we were settled in for the night, the kids and I watched Beethoven, which I remember loving as a kid. It was a cute movie and I'm glad we own it so the kids can enjoy it over and over again.

We did 3 locks today. Trip total: 103 locks.