My wife and I did our share of Ontario tourism by seeing One for the Pot at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake and seeing Something Rotten in Stratford. However, my unexpected favourite visit this summer was to Peterborough for a short cruise through the world’s highest lift lock along the Trent-Severn Canal.
I’m so impressed by this delightful cruise and astonished that nobody has ever mentioned it to me. Ellen, my wife, discovered it when she was searching for Ontario cruises. Just a ninety-minute drive from Toronto brought us to the docks at Little Lake in Peterborough, where we boarded the Island Princess III for a three-hour tour.
The weather on Friday was the kind you would hope for on a Thanksgiving weekend. Mostly, we had bright blue skies with a few white puffy clouds. The air was crisp and perfect.
Our boat arrived quickly to the first traditional flood lock, known as Ashburnham, Lock 20 of the Trent-Severn Waterway. It rises up twelve feet to meet the next water level. These locks are opened and closed by two young Parks Canada employees, who turn a large, spoked metal wheel, one at either side of the gates.
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