6th Update from Gillespie's Great Loop Adventure

It has been about a month since the last post. Sorry to all who have been following our trip and wondered what has happened to us. I have been struck by limited internet access in Canada, laptop keyboard issues, and just a lack of time. One would wonder how being retired and traveling on the water could keep one so busy.... but it does...

I will be brief and give the highlights and pictures of our travels from Britt, Ontario to Seneca Falls, New York over a series of updates. This update is from Britt, Ontario to Bobcaygon, Ontario.

As we left Orilla we found we had a issue with the transmission cable on our port engine. Kyle McDonald, the GM of Hot Knots came to Orilla and fixed it so we could get to Hot Knots. Once ther we got that fixed, along with our 5 year charging problem, and our dingy motor... They were great. We also caught perch and got some great wildlife shots.

When we left we headed across Simcoe Lake and to the Kirkland Lift Locks. This lift lock and the one at Petersbrough are the biggest lift locks in the world. In Kirkland we climbed around 50 feet in a single lock. It operates like a scale. Boats enter both at the top and bottom and then a little more water is added to the top, causing the top lock to drop and the bottom lock to rise. Our boat reached the top in less than 2 minutes. In regular locks this would take 30-45 minutes. The pictures below show a narrow bridge we went through and the view of the boats at the north side Kirkland locks before and after we traveled through.

We spent the night at the Kirkland Locks and traveled to Bobcaygon, Ontario Locks to spend the weekend. This was a very nice town and we meet some great people. We did a little shopping, ate ice cream, cooked out, drank wine, caught fish, and had some very interesting wildlife shots.