Nassau Mills, Lock 22
Here we are back at Lock 22 again this year, but not by design.
Today was a typical Monday, except on the water. Start out strong and things don’t go as smoothly as you would like. We started off with sunny skies but by the time we were done, only covered 4.6 miles. Today we faced multiple challenges with more boats in the locks, tight quarters in the locks, lots of river current and more. No two days are the same and we’re constantly trying to adjust our line handling, communications and everything else that goes along with moving a 50-foot, 33-ton vessel from place to place. We even talked to the other boat’s captain and went into the lock first instead of second which gave us a bit more room to maneuver and didn’t affect them.
We had planned to travel to Lakefield (Lock 26), but while we were in Lock 21, (the big, famous Peterborough Lift Lock), a cable snapped in the gate at Lock 22 and the lock keeper was not able to close the gate. So, we joined four other boats tied up at the bottom of Lock 22 while the Parks Canada maintainers installed a new cable. You can see the snapped cable in one of the photos below (the rusty metal cable, not the yellow line they used to pull it through).
We locked today with another boat, Bertha, and you can see as we approached the lift lock what it looks like from the water. It’s an amazing engineering feat that’s been in service for nearly 125 years. No pumps, all water and gravity. Ninety seconds to raise boats over 60 feet.
When I strolled up to see what was going on with the problem at Lock 22, one of the maintainers looked at me and said, “You look familiar, did I pull a prop off your boat last year?” Well, yes he did after we dinged our prop near Bobcaygeon. Turns out the maintainer dives commercially as a side gig and he was the diver who pulled off the prop. So funny. He and his cohort did a great, speedy job and had the lock back in commission in a little over three hours. Bad news is that Monday through Thursday lock hours are 10:00 - 3:30, so by the time we got up to the top of the lock at 3:00 we knew we weren’t going any further so we tied up and spent the night at the lock.
We do love this space though. It’s very comfortable with a long wall with lots of shade trees, the background sound of the water running over the dam and a relaxing vibe. Plus we get a chance to see some wild flowers that you wouldn’t normally see when you’re more focused on navigating and not having time to take in the sights.
We had two stays here for three days last year so why not. It’s not like we have to be anywhere soon. There’s also a nice bicycle trail here between Peterborough and Lakefield and this pretty lock gets lots of sightseers who we talk to as we’re being raised in the lock.
