June 28 - Lakefield

We received word before we left our slip this morning that the huge Peterborough Lift Lock, one of the seven locks we would pass through today, was not working. In essence, we could not go anywhere until it was fixed. Pat and Al had hiked a few miles to see it yesterday, and a similar thing had happened. This did not give us a warm feeling, and the weather was beginning to deteriorate. George phoned the lock-tender a little before noon, and was told that it was repaired, so we decided to proceed. This particular lift- lock is the highest in the world, and we were lifted 65' by entering a 1300 ton lower pan, while 130 tons extra tons of water were allowed to enter the upper pan. The extra weight pushed the upper pan down and raised our pan to the top level. The view going up was stunning and we were amazed at how quickly we rose - just like going up in an elevator! Unfortunately, we did all our locking today decked out in full storm gear, as it poured. It took us almost 5 hours to only go 10 miles through the seven locks. Of course, when we arrived at the lock wall where we would tie up in Lakefield, the worst was over.