This morning, I took Izzy for a walk as the sun was just coming up. As you can see from the photos, it was a pretty sky and just a bit of ground fog. And then the sun peeked through the trees on the other side of the waterway.
The Peterborough Lift Lock is the largest lift lock in the world, at over 6 stories of lift/drop. This is different from the Kirkfield Lift Lock, which is mostly steel construction; The Peterborough Lift is mostly concrete. The lift lock doesn’t open until 9:00, so we had plenty of time to look around. When the guys from the lift came in to work, one of them asked me if I wanted a tour of the control room.
“Absolutely!”
John showed me the combination of high-tech and low-tech that makes this all work. Very interesting, and quite a view from there. After he had run all his morning checks, he said, “The lock is ready for you whenever you want.” I thanked him for the time and info and headed back to bring Wild Blue into the chamber.
Joan took photos from the bow while I did video from the stern. As usual, she gets the best view from up there. Above is the view from over 6 stories up... that gate in the foreground is what is holding the water and Wild Blue from being a 60+ foot waterfall. The view from the back is very impressive, too; because of the cement construction, it looks like a midevil castle wall, with openings. The back of the lift lock moves down along that wall, with the same type of gate keeping water in on that side.
The principle of how this lift lock works is much like the Kirkfield lock (same designer/builder): water is added or subtracted from the chamber to change the weight; the lighter side rises as the heavier side lowers.
In a very short time, our boat has dropped over 60 feet, the front gate is lowered, and we motor out. That side is now ready for the next up-stream boat.
This may be the least amount of travel for any cruising day since we’ve owned Wild Blue: a whopping 1.6 miles. We transited the lift lock, went through a swingbridge opening, then into another historical lock. When we exited that lock, we turned into Little Lake and pulled up to the Peterborough Marina.
I said to the young man at the office, “Can you find a slip for a couple weary travelers?”
We are spending a couple nights in the marina, with power, water, showers, and a washer/dryer. And wifi. We even managed to pull in two whole TV stations. We are living large.
After settling in, we set out on foot to see what is nearby. We stopped for fish and chips (yes, I ate fish) at Captain George’s Restaurant, recommended to us by the head lock master. Then we wandered down the main drag; into a boating store, through a craft store, and finally stopped for some groceries. There’s pizza and Tim Horton’s within two blocks. We are set.
The shopping options are different here in Canada... we haven’t seen as many of the chain stores, but this is one place that seems very popular... and self-explanitory.
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