Peterborough Ontario – Peterborough Marina (Port #116) ; July 30,31

Jul 30 – Mon
After 1 short day in Hastings, we departed on Monday morning for Peterborough Ontario.

As I had suggested in the last post, Peterborough was also a place of previous Looper memories for me & Jonell.

In July of 2015, while we were Looper Training on a 47′ Hatteras named Kat in the Hat with Richard & Katherine Cope, we ran into the folks who had gotten us into AGLCA, and were becoming our Great Loop God-Parents – Dave & Michele Sylver.

I remember vividly , that we were at a Looper dinner in Peterborough with about 14-16 people, when Dave Sylver approached me to ask if I would be interested in purchasing his 43′ Viking now known as Gettin’ Looped (formerly named Just Us). The rest is history, we ended up closing the deal in October of 2015 after  Dave & Michele had completed their Loop.

Back to today’s story.
Peterborough was about 38 miles & 1 lock away from Hastings.

While we were underway, I remembered the blog comments from one of our favorite blog followers –  Sharolyn (Doug Edgar’s 1st mate).
Sharolyn had made a comment on the Campbellford post about the Canadian Red Chair Program.

The Red Chair Program was created by marketing guru’s for the Canadian Parks & Recreation Department (Parks Canada).

The concept is this: plop pairs of red Adirondack chairs throughout Canada’s beautiful parks, capturing some of the most stunning views in this great land. And then what – you take a nap? Enjoy your lunch? Nope — you share !
You Facebook, Tweet, and Instragram your photos in those red chairs.
In the words of Parks Canada, “Visitors are encourage to seek out the ‘Red Chairs’ to enjoy these special places and to share their experience through social media and other communication channels.”

Well I’m not sure that we saw any of the official program chairs, but we sure saw a shit-load of the Red Adoirondack Chairs owned by the locals on the Trent Severn Waterway. And the chairs were in fairly prestine/beautiful settings !

Similar to yesterday’s ride, we also passed several remote areas, this time cows, not horses !

We arrived at the Peterborough Marina about 1:45pm.
The marina is not so much to look at, but the locals are very nice.
We met locals Rob-1, Rob-2, & Kyle all within the first hour of arrival.
A day later another local helped Jonell carry groceries all the way down the dock.

Our particular Pier-B is full of fun party people.
There is Docker the Deck Dog serving beer, and The Muskie Lounge Pontoon Party Barge.

Monday night seemed to come early, we went for a walk into town and had dinner at a place recommended by Christina the harbormaster.
We ate dinner at a place called Rileys, which had 3 floors ; a 1st floor with pool tables & a bar restaurant, and 2nd floor nightclub, and the 3rd floor rooftop bar. Per Christina’s recommendation, we ate at the rooftop bar.

The food was so-so, but I did have my first Molson Canadian since entering Canada.
I remember having many of these during trips over to Windsor in my youth (18-21).
Evidently according to the local kids, Molson Canadian is “old news” nowadays.
Microbrews are now The Rage in Canada.

On the walk back from dinner, we watched the Peterborough fountain for a while, but were too tired to wait for it to lite up at night.

 

Jul 31 – Tue
Tuesday was back to Tourist day.
There were a couple interesting things, of which Peterborough is known for.

> The 1st is The Canadian Canoe Museum (yes, a canoe museum).
> The 2nd is The Peterborough Lift Lock – one of only 8 in the World.

While walking about 1.5 miles to the Canoe Museum, we passed a little home restaurant serving only breakfast & lunch, so we stopped in for a quick bite to give us energy for tourist day.

The Canadian Canoe Museum is a unique national heritage center that explores the canoe’s significance to the peoples of Canada, through a large collection of canoes, kayaks and paddled watercraft.
Founded by the late Professor Kirk Wipper, and established in Peterborough in 1997, the museum’s holdings now number more than 600 canoes, kayaks and paddled watercraft.
The museum’s artifacts range from; the great dugouts of the First Nations, the singular bark canoes of Newfoundland, the skin-on-frame kayaks of the northern peoples, the all-wood and canvas-covered craft manufactured by major canoe companies, and the Royal Canoes.
Watercraft from as far away as Paraguay and the Amazon have helped the Museum expand its reach and scope to include International examples.
The Canadian Canoe Museum is a private not-for-profit organization with charitable status.

The place was expansive, in a huge warehouse.

There were MANY different types of canoes, showing different areas of the country, the evoloution of designs, the fabrication, the different materials used, & the link to fur trading & commerce.

Some of the most interesting exhibits for me, were showing ;
> The Fabrication Process of an 1800’s vintage canoe.
> The Royal Canoes.
> How they made the Graphic Designs on the sides of the canoes.

The Fabrication Steps of an 1800’s Montreal Canoe

 
The Royal Canoes Exhibit showed gifts given by the Canadian Royals to dignitaries of other countries or received by the Canadian Royals. The photos below show a canoe supposedly given by Pierre Trudeau to Prince Charles & Princess Diana as a wedding gift.

 

How they made the Graphic Designs on the sides of the canoes.

 

There were MANY exhibits, but you get the jist of it.
Time to go to the more interesting Peterborough Lift Lock.

The Peterborough Lift Lock is over 100 years old, constructed between 1896 – 1904.
> It is Lock #21 on the Trent Severn Waterway (we will cross it on Wednesday, Aug1).
> It is essentially a giant two sided seasaw or teeter-totter, moving hydraulically up & down, driven only by water weight & gravity.
> For most of its life, the lock was the highest hydraulic boat lift in the world, raising boats 65 feet. This was a considerable accomplishment in the early 1900’s, when conventional locks usually only had an average 7 foot rise.
> It is 1 of only 8 Lift Locks in the World, and interestingly enough a 2nd Lift Lock is also on the Trent Severn Waterway in Kirkfield Ontario (Lock #36 – only 45 foot lift).
> The Peterborough Lift Lock was designated a National Historic Site in 1979, and was named an Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1987.

How it works – No Electricity, only using Water Weight & Gravity to Articulate!
> The lock has two identical LARGE bathtub-like Ship Water Trays in which vessels enter (like big pans of water).
> Both Water Trays  are enclosed at each end by pivoting gates.
> Each Water Tray sits on a huge 7.5 foot diameter ram, the shafts for which are sunk 75 feet into the granite ground.
> Both Trays are filled with water for the boats to drive into the tray.
> The 2 rams are connected with a pipe that has a crossover control valve.
> The Water Trays are guided up and down on either side by rails affixed to concrete towers.
> The Water Trays the boats drive into are huge, measuring 140 ft long & 33 ft wide.
> No external power is needed: the lift lock functions by gravity alone using the counterweight principle. One Water Tray always ascends and the other always descends during each locking cycle.
> When one Water Tray reaches the top position, it stops 12 inches (30 cm) below the water level of the upper lake, and the control valve is closed.
> The upper gates open, and water flows into the top Water Tray until the level equalizes between the tray & the Lake.
> The weight of the extra foot of water is 144 tons, making the total weight of the upper tray (1844 tons) heavier than the lower tray (1700 tons).
> The crossover valve in the connecting pipe between the 2 ram shafts is then opened.
> Since the upper tray weighs 144 tons more than the lower (1,844 vs 1,700 tons), it pushes down on its ram, forcing out water from its shaft via the connecting pipe into the shaft of the bottom tray.
> The force pushes up on the bottom Water Trays ram, raising it up to the top position.
> When the gate of the newly descended top tray reaches the bottom, the extra foot of water is let out and equalizes with the water level of the canal.
> Any descended vessels exit, allowing the cycle to start over again.

The principle works because any boats in the trays displace their weight in water. So even if there is only 1 boat in one tray and 5 boats in the other, the descending tray will always weight 1844 tons, and the rising tray will always weight 1700 tons.

If you didn’t understand it in words, watch this great video.
https://youtu.be/Arj2mEVTmiM

 

Hopefully you liked the Lift Lock Post.
It is truly an Engineering Marvel.
Over 100 years old and still functions the same way it did back in 1904.

Dinner Tonight = Upper deck of The Light House, right here at the marina
Food Blah !
Scenery Nice !

Next Stop
The Islandview Resort @ Young’s Point Ontario.
Don’t get too excited, it’s a marina / trailer park.

BTW , we will be getting into some remote areas and may not have WiFi or Cell Service.
There may be a delay in your next installment of Gettin’ Looped 2017.com