Orillia, the Big Chute and the end of the Trent Severn
(Title bar still not working)


We have delayed our departure this morning so I can catch up a little on the blog.

We celebrated Canada Day on July 1. This is the same as our Fourth of July. All of the local dignitaries and others do their political duty and there is a parade, bands, vendors, and everything you would expect for this type holiday. We purchased some good maple syrup and local produce.

All of the locals come out and Orillia is a favorite spot as it has a large marina where the locals come to party for the long weekend. There are re-enactments and children's events. At dusk (10:30 here) they had a fireworks display for the finale.

We left Orillia on Tuesday and headed for the Big Chute. This is one of the highlights of the trip. There are a number of pictures of this and I will try to explain how it works.

We drive our boat onto a large rail car that is lowered into the water. They use slings to stabilize the boat but we are literally resting on our keel on the rail car. The car then brings the boat out of the water, over the road, and then enters the water on the other side.

The car rides on two sets of rails that are at different elevations so that the car remains level over the course of the trip.

It is an unusual feeling to be on your boat and riding across the road and having the view of the drop into the water on the other side.

After the trip across the road and down the other side, the rail car rides into the water and you drive off and are on your way.

As far as we know, this is the only “lock” of this type. It was built as a temporary lock until the two locks were constructed here but an economic downturn in the 1920’s stopped construction. The temporary solution became permanent and it is still in use today. Now it is justified more because of the Lamprey eels that are creating havoc in the waterways. Without a conventional lock, the eels can’t pass from one waterway to the next at this point.

As Murphy’s law would have it, as soon as Bill had his boat loaded he could not get the engine to shut off. He had to come back off the rail car and after unloading, we determined that he had a stop solenoid problem and he would have to manually move the stop lever to shut down until we could see about the problem. He did this for a couple of days and we were later able to make some adjustments to the linkage to solve the problem for now.

After leaving the lock we traveled through the final stretch of the Trent-Severn Waterway. We are in rock country now and the channels are narrow and rock lined. We didn't really need a sign to tell us.

As we approach a lock there is a wall with a "Blue Line". There is no radio contact with the lock as there is on the Erie. You signal your desire to lock through by tying to the blue line. The lock tenders will then prepare the lock and call for you on a loudspeaker.

We went through the final lock at Port Severn and ended our trip through the Trent-Severn Waterway.

We have now entered Georgian Bay.

I will update the blog with Georgian Bay the next time I get a good connection.