Saturday August 15: Lakefield

The past week we've spent traveling from Fenelon Falls to Lakefield - one of the nicest stretches of the Trent. Travel days are short.

Bobcaygeon now has power along the north dock - we lucked out and pulled into the last spot!

Sadly the bakery (with chelsea rolls) was closed but we managed to make it to breakfast at the Full Cup. It's like sitting in your grandparents kitchen in the 50's. Retro tables and chairs - only these are the real thing!

The weather has been great. Sunny, cool breeze, warm sun, little wind. An occasional rain cloud would go over - and the rare thunderstorm as well.

Traveling the channel out to Pigeon Lake hasn't changed much. Still well kept older cottages mixed with super nice newer homes.

Years ago there was an older gentleman that would always be fishing at the entrance to the lake. Not sure we ever saw him catch anything but he sure must have loved to fish. Haven't seem him for quite some time though.

The plan was to stay another day at Bobcaygeon as rains were due in late in the day. Too nice though - off we went to Buckhorn.

Score of the day were some pseudo chelea rolls that Steve found at the bakery up the road. Not the real thing but passable enough :-)

Plus we were a short 6 miles from Lovesick Lock. Steve had to try one more time at his favorite fishing spot on top of the dam.

Nothing but small bass but it was really a much nicer day than when we stopped on the way north.

It's such a great place to kayak as well. Lots of small islands and weed patches.

Once again we ended up in our favorite spot at the end of the dock!

The Kawartha Voyager made her way into the lock. To do this, the front has to be folded up. Once through the lock, the front is folded back down and away they go.

Really quite the interesting design for this small cruise ship.

The top also collapses down to make it under the lowest bridges - including the pilot station!

They were staying at Buckhorn this night - we were glad to not be there as the ship runs generators 24/7. Quite noisy .....

As usual Steve was cooking some good stuff on the grill and the shade provided by the boat made it pleasant to sit out.

The raccoons came to visit in the middle of the night - which is not unusual for this lock. Sadly no food for them on this boat!

If my brother Tom was with us he would have left food out for them ......

Young's Point was our stop for Thursday night. Top of the lock. And the only ones here. We can't figure out where everyone has gone but guess the vacations are over. There are still MANY houseboats out and about. Fifteen of them left Happy Days on Pigeon Lake on Monday. Somehow everyone seems to find a place for the night though .....

Rain was threatening most of the day yesterday so we headed a short 6 miles to the Lakefield Marina.

With such a short trip, Steve found a weed bed out of the wind (if the boat is swinging on the anchor, the fish won't bite - guess it's the moving target!) and caught a nice large mouth bass.

These fish get much larger so back it went into the water. But they do have large mouths, that's for sure :-)

Lakefield has been a nice stop - the showers are great and the laundry is close!

There are several bike paths around the marsh near the outer channel - which is a good place to kayak as well. Too hot today though. Until the rain clouds moved in late in the afternoon.








Slight bike mishap though. Steve's bike has a serious issue with the front rim.

The aluminum has actually split and the tire/tube is poking through!

A temporary fix was to let some air out of the tire but I definitely see a search for a bike shop in our future.

The old pavillion that was here in the 50's has been replicated and sits in the park near the marina.

It's surprising how many of these structures have survived - most notably the one at Juniper Island on Stony Lake. Very distinctive.

A bit of the history of the area ....

Tomorrow: headed for Peterborough and by week's end we'll be in Trenton. Since we decided not to go to the North Channel, we'll head to the Erie Canal and travel to Buffalo!