Samba's Great Adventure: 6/23,24,25/15 Fenelon Falls, Lovesick & Lakefield

Thursday, June 25, 2015

6/23,24,25/15 Fenelon Falls, Lovesick & Lakefield

6/23/15 to 6/25/15 Fenelon Falls to Lakefield, ON

30 to 45 knots all day!

Tuesday - Fenelon Falls
Tuesday, the wind was between 30 and 45 knots all day – that’s a lot. We worked on the blog, did some boat projects and had some other boaters over for wind-downers, not sun-downers. Everyone brought a beverage and hors d’oeuvres to share. It ended up being a fun evening with lots of story-telling.

Wednesday - Fenelon Falls to Lovesick
Wednesday, we awoke to clear, cool skies and headed out. Though we had a general idea of places we may end up, we tried to remain flexible as we explored this beautiful countryside and its myriad of lakes and islands.

Fenelon Falls

We were passing through a lock and town called Bobcaygeon about noon so we tied up and went ashore to explore and have lunch.

Many boaters had told us to be sure and visit Bigley’s store here where they specialize in women’s clothing and shoes - - lots of shoes. No, really.

We've seen all kinds of homes on the waterway. This home was a little more nicely landscaped than most. Apparently, he had all of these big rocks brought in. Wow.

Today we went through several locks and lakes. We just love all of the islands peppered throughout the lakes. Sometimes, the lakes look like there are lots and lots of layers of islands as far as you can see.

Wednesday - Lovesick
At the recommendation of some other boaters and a couple of the lockmasters, we decided to spend the night at a little lock called Lovesick. It’s actually an island that can only be accessed by boat. The attendants even have to come and leave by boat.

The lock at Lovesick

The view behind our boat at Lovesick

A restored "canoe slide"

While here, Jim did some hiking and fishing. On the other side of the dam, he stumbled into an old canoe slide that had been restored by local residents. A canoe slide allows canoers to move from one lake to another by just rolling their canoe over the slide. It sure beats portaging the canoes on your back!

Our overnight stay at Lovesick

The fishing, though fun, wasn’t productive. Jim caught 8 or 10 bass but all were under 8 inches so he kept throwing them back. Argghhh. Never did catch the daddy.

Thursday - Lovesick to Lakefield

Sunrise from the front of our boat at Lovesick

Lifting the cap timber out of the way so they could add more

As luck would have it, Thursday morning before leaving Lovesick we were able to watch the lock attendants make adjustments to the lake levels. In this case, they were placing large beams in the dam to raise the water level.

Picking up a timber to put in the dam

Placing the timber in the water

Even though the forecast was for partly cloudy skies, it began raining soon after we left Lovesick and rained pretty much all day long. Fortunately, there was no fog or wind, just gray and rain. That’s a good thing since we had to pass through Hell’s Gate and Devil’s Elbow today. A little intimidating but we did just fine.

This little cottage that we passed was a bit more palatial than most.

The "Church on the Rock" is an

Anglican church that is only accessible

by boat and only open during July

and August.

We arrived at Lock #27 at Young's Point around 12:20 so we tied up on the wall, had some lunch on the boat and then checked out this little shop. They had 2 floors full of all kinds of fun things for a cottage or cabin. They also sold Kawartha ice cream which is made locally and supposed to be some of the best. We gave it a go - - it was pretty good.

These folks keep their plane right behind their house. Convenient.

At the recommendation of a couple of lockmasters and some other boaters, we decided to spend the night at the lock wall in Lakefield. As we traveled through Lakefield, it seemed like a very nice town. We had hoped to do some biking here but the rain put a damper on that.