Monday, September 29, 2014

July 19, 2014 (89th Day)

Very cloudy 60˚

Erwin was the first one up at 6:46 am, went to Tim Horton's to get coffee while Edith wanted to sleep in a bit longer.

After checking emails we went through Lindsay downtown, saw farmer's market going on. We love going to farmer's markets, like to support local farmers and businesses.  Where we parked was not far from Lindsay Firehall and there parked out of the garage was a beautiful old firetruck. We walked over to check it out and there were two firefighters standing by. Erwin asked them questions about the truck.  It still runs good and it was built in 1929.  It is used for parades only, not to be used for fire fighting.


Walked to the farmer's market, bought yellow zucchini and carrots.  Sampled some sausages, pepperoni, etc. There were many dogs there.  Edith just could not resist taking pictures of some of them, especially puppies!





The downtown was dead, nothing special to see, so we headed out of Lindsay at 9 am, got on Highway 7 toward Peterborough, ON





Few miles before Peterborough we swung by Craftworks at the Barn store. Lots of antiques, some old fashioned cameras, lots of comic books. Upstairs - home furnishings, lots of interesting stuff.  Big Rocking Chair on the Craftsworks property on Highway 7






Salt/pepper shakers on BBQ grill.. CUTE!
Arrived in Peterborough, ON at 10:30 am. We drove through downtown, had a hard finding a parking spot.  It was either meter parking or the spot was too small for our camper van. We kept on driving toward Lansdowne Street, saw farmer's market, a big one! Nearby the market was Home Depot, so we turned right, parked the van there, rode the bikes to the market. Walked around. Bought a box of fresh cherries and apricots for $10 Canadian dollars.  Large selection of produce, but very few handmade crafts.




Biked back to the van to drop off produce we just bought, then we continued biking toward downtown. We were not sure where to go because we did not have a map of the town with us, got lost for a while and had to stop to ask a passerby for directions. "Take a left turn, go a couple blocks and you will be there", he instructed. We made it to downtown just fine, parked our bicycles.  It was on George Street that we walked up and down.  Erwin wanted coffee and Edith wanted something cold, so we went in Haseltons Coffee and Sweets.  Edith went with iced tea with lemonade and it was just perfect, not only for taste, but to cool herself off. After we finished our drinks we walked back to where our bicycles were parked and continued biking.

It seemed like we must have biked 6-8 miles.  We enjoyed biking even though the weather was very humid and there was not much breeze.

Went to Rogers Cove Park, parked the van, walked to Ashburnham Lock #20, stayed and watched how the locks are opened and five boats went by. There was this very friendly Lock Master named Wendy and she took her time to explain to us how the lock system worked. It was fantastic.
Wendy, the lock master




Back to the van, we crossed the bridge, got on Ashburnham St. to see the world's highest hydraulic lock lift in the world. Peterborough Lift Lock was built in 1904 and is still in operation.  It is Lock #21 on the Trent Severn Waterway. There are 44 locks along the Trent Severn Waterway.  To travel from Lock #1 to Lock #44 (a total of 210 miles) it will take 5-7 days one way!

There is an exhibition center nearby and there was a cashier who knew sign language, but it was British Sign Language. She learned to sign because her parents are deaf.  British Sign Language is different from American Sign Language, but we were able to have simple conversation carried out.  The exhibition was nice and interesting.  Then we walked outside to get a close look at the lock lift being in operation.  We stayed for a long while to watch how boats were lifted and lowered.





Not far from the lock lift was a Trent tugboat that was decommissioned in 1973 due to excessive cost in repairing the engine. The guide gave us a short tour on the tugboat.





We wanted to check out Beavermead Park/campground, but one night fee was $42 without electricity or $50 with electricity.  We decided to go to Canadian Tire store that was already closed, so Edith can fix supper before we continue trekking.

We got lost for a while trying to find a way to get back on Highway 7. Arrived Havelock, ON and dry camped at another Tim Horton's. (There are a lot of them in Canada)  While it was still too early for Edith to go to bed she went to Horton's using its free wifi to upload pictures and to edit the blog.

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