Good Morning Boaters!!  Rise and shine.  Only 6 locks today toward Campbellford, ON.  This was such a pleasant stop.  I found this very detailed map of the Frankford during my early morning walk.  We didn’t explore it the town.  Too exhausted by our travels the day before.  I do appreciate the artwork and information for travelers who may want to stop for a spell.  Several of our fellow Loopers did find the beach at the bottom of the hill and enjoyed a refreshing cool water soak yesterday.

We are on our way to Campbellford, ON.  The city has two long walls with power and water provided.  We hope to get a place where there is 50amp service.  We hear that there is a lot of space and we should have no trouble.  Fingers crossed.  First come. First served.

Today we are traveling with 3 other Loopers.  Two are ahead of us.  One is behind us.  We discussed the best way for the 4 of us to travel together is to raft our boats in the locks so all four of us can fit in the lock at one time.  Hmmm…. this will be a first for us!  More on that later.

In the mean time, Wayne was able to snap a picture of an early morning swan family out looking for breakfast.

I thought this slide looked very enticing.  A quick ride into the cold waters of the Trent-Severn.  Is it really too early in the morning for kids?  Why aren’t they swimming already?  Don’t they know it is summer?

 

Here we go!  Approaching Lock 7.  The first two boats are getting in and tying up.  We are waiting for them to stabilize before we enter the lock.

As we were waiting, I noticed the plants growing in the water.  The water is so clear.  You can’t call this growth seaweed.  Maybe river weed?  Tentacles reaching up from the bottom to grab ahold of some sun, perhaps?

As you can tell, it is cloudy and humid today.  My pictures turn out hazy on days like today.

We are just entering Lock 8 with fellow Loopers, Nearly Perfect and Spirit already in the lock and rafted together.  Spirit grabs the locks cables.  Nearly Perfect attaches their boat to Spirit using a mid cleat.  Fenders placement is critical so that there is enough fenders between the lock and Spirit and between the two boats.  With such a tight fit, the water entering the lock jostles everyone a bit less.

We went in the locks third and had the fourth Looper, Aunt Aggie, raft to us.  I would get our boat secure and then help Aunt Aggie get their boat secured to us.  Sounds complicated but it worked.  All 4 of us went up 6 locks successfully.  I was too busy taking care of our lines and such that I don’t have any pictures of us rafting.

I do have a fine picture of the cables in the Trent-Severn Locks.  They really do look like black lines ( ropes) hanging down.  They are rubber coated and secured both at the top and bottom.  There is some slack in the cables so they do move making them easier to grab and get a line around them.

What surprises me is to see marshes and water plants along the way.  I don’t know why.  I guess it is because I always think marsh and water lilies are southern…Georgia and Florida type. Louisiana and gator country.  In Ontario?  Just never considered it before.

While we were waiting for the water to fill in lock 9, the lock keepers told us to take our time to get to Lock 10.  A cruise boat was just exiting the lock.  Another Cruise boat?  First we encountered a cruise boat on the Erie.  They do that here as well??  How cool is that?

The final 2 locks of the day are flight locks.  You go in the first lock, the water is filled in and you go up.  The doors open and you enter the next lock.  Back to back, so to speak.  We go up a total of 48 feet in this lock combination alone.  Look at those doors!

The door looks broken.  It must be worn from the water.  OR someone painted the doors to look like this.  Very strange feeling.  This picture was given to me courtesy of the crew on Nearly Perfect since they had a front row seat.  

 

We are welcomed to the town of Campbellford by mid afternoon.

We went through 6 locks going up 118 feet today.  Approximately 24 miles from Frankford.  A good day.  Time enough to go find the Beer Store.  In Canada, you buy beer in “The Beer Store”.  Liquor is sold in the LCBO store ( Liquor Control Board of Ontario).  I am not sure where the wine is sold, yet.  I need to visit a LCBO to investigate.  😉

The story I heard was Beer is sold by the 6pk or cases.  You find the bottle or can that you want.  Tell the employee who goes into the back refrigerated room and brings out the beer.  If you order a 24 pk or case, it is pushed out of the back room via the roller table.

Here is my quick pic of the bottles of the beer they had at the Beer Store I visited.  The display of canned beer is on the opposite wall.

I found my MGD!!!  I had to go to Canada to find it!  We haven’t seen it in the stores since AZ over a year ago.  Better be the same.  I am paying twice the price per six pack than we pay in the states.  Where’s my bottle opener?  I did pack it, didn’t I?

It is going to be a cool night tonight.  Down into the lower 50°F.  Delightful!  By the way, we did get a space on the wall.  We did get our 50Amp power.  Don’t really need it to run the air conditioners if the temperatures are really going to be 53°F.  A city employee walked over from the Tourist Information Building to give us town information and to collect their fee for the night.  Very convenient for us.