Sunday, August 16, 2009

Talbot River

Saturday, August 15

Our plan for today was to run the twelve miles and five locks to the entrance to Lake Simcoe, and then tomorrow we would just cross the lake to Orillia. It was another clear, calm morning with the promise of being hot. We proceeded down the last of the man made channel connecting the Trent and Severn watersheds.

After about half a mile this leads to Canal Lake, a small lake that is in two halves. The first is shallow with a buoyed channel through water that is only deep enough for small fishing boats outside the buoys. The second is not deep but there is seven to ten feet of water so there are no buoys. The halves are connected by this interesting old bridge build in 1905.

From Canal Lake proceed into the Talbot River. The first thing on the Talbot is this swing bridge which is permanently open as the road is closed. This is a pretty stretch of water with nice cottages on both shores.

A little farther is another swing bridge, the attendant sees us coming and we hesitate only a moment while the bridge swings.

Along the way an osprey is watching as its young flaps its wings.

We are soon at the first lock of the morning. This stretch of locks are all still manual, with hand cranked gates and valves. As with all the locks the grounds are beautifully maintained.

There is not enough water for many loons, but there are still a few around.

The Talbot River winds around a lot and drops rapidly from here to Lake Simcoe, so there is a straight six mile canal with four locks to bypass the river. Here is the entrance.

Along the way is this pretty old farm house.

The very helpful lock staff tells us that although there is lots of room to tie to the breakwater at the entrance to Lake Simcoe, it is very popular with fisherman and on a hot August, Saturday night with others. The last lock is right under a busy highway and also very public. We take their advice and stop for the day two locks and two miles from the lake. This lock is only accessible by boat and a private Parks Canada service road, it is very quite.

We find a spot on the gray line in the shade and watch the boat traffic go by. It is a very short day. Mid afternoon this interesting work barge comes through the lock. It is a big diesel in a small jet drive aluminum boat.

By late afternoon the shade is gone and we run the generator for the rest of the day to have AC. It is getting very humid, but the forecasted chance of showers never appears.

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