Mon July 24: Lakefield Lock to Bobcaygeon lower lock wall

I had this idea I would go for a run this morning, but the downpour put an end to that.  Back to bed…oh darn!  The rain reminded us of what we heard someone's granddaughter say recently, when she was swimming - 'this is really watery'!

Once again we were crammed into the locks like sardines - this time with a different group.  One of the lock masters told us she had once put 13 boats in a lock!  She said that every year the Bobcaygeon lock tries to see how many canoes & kayaks they can put in at one time-their record is 100.  Oh, those crazy Canadians!

"What you lookin' at, punk?"

The whole time we were in the lock this little dog stared fixedly at Rick.  All Rick could hear in his mind was the Taco Bell dog - 'Yo quiero Taco Bell'...

FINALLY - SOME SCENERY!!!  Up until now we’ve basically been stuck in a channel.  But the Trent Severn is a waterway that connects the many natural lakes in the area with small stretches of canal, and we finally got to ‘Cottage Country’-the most beautiful bit of the waterway.

Look how much water there is!

It’s a cultural thing, in this part of Canada, to have a summer house on the water, or on an island, a ‘cottage’.  And many are still that.  But many have ‘improved’ their cottages far beyond their humble roots!  The lakes are made from glacier scoured granite shield, and look much like the 1,000 Islands.  It’s a delight to boat through them.

This famous little church can only be reached by boat.

We are so happy to see loons again.

Look-a toaster!

Of course, because it’s super rocky, we are already terrified-and then they throw in a narrow passage way…

Just your average cottage-with a lower ‘garage’ for boats and other toys.

This cottager has a boat that is bigger then their cottage.  It’s WAY too big for these waters, so either they are ostentatious Canadians (which seems like an oxymoron) or they do big water somewhere else.  Or they are Americans…

How cute is this place?!  When there isn’t much summer- you should squeeze all the joy you can, while its warm!  That will be our new motto.

Well….who says we can’t be spontaneous?! We ended up changing our minds, twice, and now we are where we planned to be tomorrow. The uber-popular Bobcaygeon (pronounced Bob Cajun). 

The usual Goose Brigade greeted us, as did the goose poop. They always have a sentinel goose on duty-this one is on the right.  You can see he has the goose-equivalent of hands-on-hips going on. (the guy on the next boat over asked if we've ever eaten goose - "delicious" he said while kissing his finger tips.)

It’s a cute little town, but my knees are killing me, for some reason, so I just stayed on the bloat and felt sorry for myself… 🙄

Good night!

PS: Hey Linda & Mike - thanks for the rec, we are listening to This Tender Land!