From Trenton to Port Severn, Ontario is 240 miles on the Trent-Severn Waterway across the lower portion of the province that curves from East to North of Toronto. We finished it today. This is part one of two for this extraordinary part of our adventure; one we did not realize would be so enjoyable and challenging.

We stayed in Trenton for two days to recover from our difficult travel here and to take care of laundry and grocery shopping. We visited with fellow loopers and had a “docktails” meeting in the evening one night, full of insight and conversation about the sights ahead. And we began to plan our journey north.

The Trent-Severn Waterway connects Lake Ontario with Lake Huron, via Georgian Bay. We travel 240 miles and go through 45 locks! There are four “regions” as we go from the Trent to the Kawartha Lakes at Peterborough, then to the Lake Simcoe Region and down to the Severn River to end at Georgian Bay.It is a trip from an intensely agricultural region into the Canadian shield (where the glaciers from the last ice age scrapped the topsoil away to expose the underlying granite). And the entire journey is within two hours drive of Toronto!

We fueled up and began the Trent-Severn Waterway on Monday, July 8. We did six Locks that day within six miles, and that was about two too many for us. In spite of our smiles at the end of the day, Hervey is gradually learning how to pace us better and we are slowing down from an average of 50 or 60 miles a day on the ICW to a more reasonable and economical 20 to 30 miles per day (two miles per gallon of diesel fuel with two engines). We also find that we go a little slower in fresh water (less displacement than salt water).

The Mill Street Pub in Frankford was a break from the busy day, and our first meal since breakfast. The political situation in the US came up and it was notable that, even with some disagreement in the room, the conversations were very civil and sympathetic. Yes, there are some Trump supporters here — and some who deplore him but think some of his actions have merit. But there was no anger or bitterness in the conversation. That said, many people who had planned to travel to the US this year, have changed their plans.

We ended the day early (as usual) but not after hosting docktails on our own aft deck with some of our fellow loopers.

We connected with a boat that had four people on board and tackled another long day of eleven hours with seven locks and 37 miles of travel, leaving at 7:00 am (file that under “lesson not learned…”). We were trying to get through the lock at Hastings so that we could begin our journey early the next morning on our way to Peterborough, but arrived at the Hastings lock just after 6:00 pm.

Our trip the next day was much more leisurely, but we felt the effects of the past three hard days and were looking forward to a break in Peterborough. Our route down Rice lake was a boon after the intense locking of the days before and we relaxed as we turned north again. We went past Serpent Mounds Provincial Park, part of the Hiawatha First Nations territory, that reminded us of the cultural links between the Aztec and Ohio River valley cultures who built similar structures and, apparently, shared DNA. But ours was a superficial journey and we enjoyed the beginnings of the “Cottage Culture” on the lakes as we passed families who were enjoying the weather from their cabins.

And finally Peterborough, the end of the Trent River section and the beginning of the Kawartha Lakes region.

Next stage: to the Kawartha Lakes and deeper into the Canadian Shield. And more locks, including the famous Peterborough hydraulic lock!