Campbellford to Hastings

Campbellfort to Hastings

We stayed at the Campbellford Municipal  docks. We found the staff friendly and helpful and we saw no signs of the vandals that threw a garbage can on another looper's boat the weekend before. There were many young kids swimming off the eastern side of the canal wall and even-though they were noisy and shouting profanities , they disappeared after it got dark and we never heard another sound from them.

I highly recommend a stop over in Campbellford. A visit to the Dooher's Bakkery is a MUST! Ask the dock staff or anyone around for directions, it is worth the walk for the creme filled donuts (trust me)

After saying good bye to Mya in Campbellford we headed up the waterway towards Lock 13 ……just to find that all the fenders and lines were on the wrong side for locking….When we came up the river a lock master told us that you always lock on the starboard side going up stream…well, apparently not !!  Now to those of you who are non- boaters this might seem like nothing, but it is a lot of work running around changing lines and fenders to the opposite side while entering a lock. Thankfully the Looper boat that was travelling ahead of us was kind and patient and waited for us, Thanks to MV Shirley Ruth (New Jersey) (http://mvshirleyruth.blogspot.ca/

As we left lock 13 heading to 14 we realised we lost a fender, so in the middle of a narrow channel we had to turn around and I was able to pick it up with the boat hook….again we made Shirley Ruth wait for us and we were so glad they did. The wind was being uncooperative and locks 15, 16 and 17 we rocky- rolley and hot, sweaty, tough work.

While locking through, we found out that the couple on Shirley Ruth we actually crewing for the owner of the boat. They met up with him in Kingston and were going to go as far as Port Severn. This seems like a great way for people to see the world and do little parts of trips without actually owning a boat. I don’t know much more than that but I thought I would share the website for those who might be interested. The couple who crewed we ex-military; she was a meteorologist and he was a diesel mechanic …..the perfect crew if you ask me.  Find a Crew http://www.findacrew.net/ 

We anchored in the bay just past Healey Falls and a stone’s throw away for Gary’s cousin’s cottage. Bernadette made us a lovely meal for dinner and we spend most of the evening visiting. When we got back to the boat Gary and I started on the curtains for the front windows. We have protective screens on the outside of the windows but we found that even though it blocked uv rays and some light we still had a lot of heat coming in. I had gone to Giant Tiger in Campbellford and bought some heat blocking curtains. We measured and cut the fabric to fit our forward windows and I started sewing (by hand). At midnight we called it a day and went to bed.

On Sunday it rained buckets again but the boat stayed nice and dry! We woke early Monday morning to a very strange sound …it seems the marker buoy for the anchor got wrapped around the anchor chain and was making a nasty noise against the hull. Of course it turned out to be a simple fix but no one likes to walk around the boat at 1 am, in the dark, fixing anchor chains. After that I slept poorly as I kept fearing that we would drag…Gary slept like a baby cause he knew we wouldn’t...

We started off to Hastings at about 10 am and arrived at lock 18 after a calm scenic cruise. We plan to stay here a few nights. Picked up free wi-fi from a marina and got to skype with the grandchildren.

 I really like Hastings. It is a quaint little town with lots of great places to eat and shop. Even the garbage cans are painted with town pride. Consider staying here a night or two. We saw this young man was catching carp with a compound bow and reel, he feeds the carp to bears , that he also hunts.