Overnight at upper level Lock 12-12 Ranney Falls
44°17’28.3992″N, 77°48’11.3940″W
What3Words: ///relax.inches.intense
We were up before 6:00 am this morning. It was a bit chilly and very misty on the water – reminiscent of our early morning experience on the Charente River last year in France with David and Valerie. However, on this trip we have shore power at our mooring, so the electric heater is plugged in to warm up the main cabin.
Misty morning at Lock 6 in Frankford
Back near the end of July when Cath was home in London for 10 days I asked her to bring our little electric heater when she returned to the boat, She asked “what do you want a heater for when its almost 40 degrees C outside?” I replied, “you’ll thank me later”. She has thanked me more than a few times during the past couple of weeks.
The next lock (Lock 7) on our trip was just a few kilometers away and lock operations don’t start until 10:00 am on weekdays so we had a leisurely breakfast and then published the blog entry for the previous day. That’s the first time we did this since we started from Midland, oh so long ago.
The morning was looking promising when we cast off around 9:30 but after an hour or so the clouds began to close in, and the wind picked up with heavy gusts. No worries while traveling on these inland waters… unlike being on the Great Lakes, there’s not enough open water on the rivers and smaller lakes on the Trent-Severn Waterway for any serious waves to form. We just bundled up and kept moving.
A little more daylight – good for navigation
Narrow passageway at canal entrance to Lock 6 – reminiscent of the aqueducts we crossed over in the UK on our narrowboat charter adventure
Mini cottages along the water between Lock 6 and Lock 7. This was a very nice setup.
Some open water and the sky brightened up – for a short while
A perfect little cottage all by itself – if we didn’t have a boat we would love something like that
Wally’s next project boat – a paddle wheeler – for some reason Catherine is not interested
We stopped for lunch at Lock 8 “Percey’s Reach”. Up until then we were all alone. We were just preparing to get underway when another boat came through the lock. The lockmaster encouraged us to follow them through to Campbellford because it was only 90 minutes before the locks would cease operations at 3:30.
This boat was a very nice 44-foot Carver with Edmonton, Alberta shown on the transom as its home port. When we were in the lock, I asked one of the crew members if she could share the charts with me that got their boat all the way here from Edmonton! She laughed and told us that the boat was from the Toronto area, and the previous owner was from Edmonton.
As we were getting closer to Campbellford we started seeing more concrete “pillars” sticking out of the water. At first I thought they were old bridge abutments but they were too far apart and often in very wide spots along the river. Catherine read in the guidebook that these were put in the river many years ago by logging companies. They were used to control log booms that were being transported down the river to sawmills. They would be difficult to remove so now they are simply marked as navigation hazards along the waterway.
A very determined little tree on the concrete pillar
Lockmasters house at Lock 9. Back in “the day” the lockmaster and his family would live there full time. Now the building at each lock is used as office space and public bathrooms.
We finally arrived at Ranney Falls Lock 11 & 12 just after 3:00 pm. The wind was still blowing stiffly but the sky was clearing. This lock is just on the outskirts of Campbellford and it’s a nice place to stop for an overnight rest – so that’s what we did.
Today was another first for us. It was too windy to light up the BBQ so we had leftovers for dinner fortified with a heaping helping of Minute Rice! I used to “live” on this stuff when I was cruising aboard Ananda and Santosha. Catherine will have nothing to do it – she tells me that the carboard box the Minute Rice comes in is probably more nutritious than the contents. I’ve got her eating Pepperettes now so maybe Minute Rice is next! Any port n a storm…..Oh well, pass the hot sauce please!
Ranney Falls double lock, on the outskirts of Campbellford. It’s a long way up!
Catherine contemplates crossing the pedestrian bridge over the gorge at Ranney Falls. This is so solid you could drive a car over it.
I crossed the bridge solo – and I’m the guy who is afraid of heights!
The view down the gorge from the center of the suspension bridge was amazing!
Google Maps – Ranney Falls Locks 11 & 12 and the Gorge Suspension Bridge – click anywhere on the image to enlarge it.
Enjoying the “down river” view from the Muskoka chairs at the top of Ranney Falls Lock 11
Tomorrow we will travel about 35 kilometers to Hastings where we will stay overnight. The forecast for the next several days is promising.
Cheers!