Dot's Way Cruising Cat: Hastings to Mile 88.7, Lock 19 Scotts Mill, Little Lake anchorage, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

We woke up again around 6 am on Friday and made coffee and pulled away from the Hastings city wall and headed towards the narrow railroad bridge opening and into Rice Lake. We turned off onto the Otonabee River mouth and headed upriver to Lock 19 at Scotts Mill and then turned into Little Lake. The next lock was right at the turn and the Peterborough Marina is across from where we anchored with the huge fountain in the middle of the lake. It was a long run of about 40 miles so we enjoyed a picnic lunch on the flybridge and then a rain shower came which ran us below. We took the dinghy around the cove in with the marina and looked for a spot to tie up near the Holiday Inn. We did not see anything so we went around the edge of the lake and found the city T-dock which is free to stay out with two local boats docked there.

Getting ready to leave Hastings city wall

Tied up to the wall along Front Street

Heading through the narrow railroad bridge opening

One of the few osprey nest platforms

More river toys

Beautiful reflections in the mirror like lake

A soaring bald eagle

If you miss finding a navigational aid, look onshore

Fishermen at our turn off the lake onto the river

Flock of seagulls

Great blue heron

Beautiful scenic river for a change

Another tight turn through a railroad bridge

Welcome to Little Lake at Peterborough

Beach close to Canoe Museum and Lock 20

On Saturday morning we went ashore and walked to the Lock Street Diner for a delicious omelet breakfast. It was right down from the Farmer's Market near the Memorial Civic Center. There was a variety of fresh farm produce, food trucks and other edibles. We ended up with two hot sauces, honey, bread, green beans, squash, cherries and yellow plums. We continue our walk past the dock and past the marina to the Boater's World store. We got directions to Staples and Home Depot and we were done shopping and back to the boat. It was so cool on the fly bridge in the breeze that we had lunch and then finally got ready to head to the Canadian Canoe Museum next to the lock. The water got shallow and full of seaweed so we were invited to tie up behind a boat on the lock wall. The Canoe Museum was beautifully done and we enjoyed the history and variety of canoes and it had a huge storage room with racks of canoes. We headed back to the boat for happy hour a late dinner thinking we could hear the band playing but the noise from the fountain drowned them out. We dinghied over to the park and anchored off the bandstand and listed to Steven Page and his band who wrote for Bare Naked Ladies, a band we loved. So it was a late night for us.

Cute wine glasses at Boater's World

Historic Peterborough

Our dinghy dock

TransCanada trail heads to the park beach

The lock loaded up

Paddle fest on July 19

The cruise ship goes through the locks

We dinghied through the fountain spray

Sitting pretty with cemetery behind us

The bandstand

Sunset over the concert viewed from the water

The fountain lit up

On Sunday we headed into the dinghy dock and then walked towards the marina and ate at Smitty's Diner for another delicious breakfast. We continued down the main street until we intersected the TransCanada Trail and walked to Lock 21 which is the lift lock where you go up in a pan counterbalanced with a second pan. There were no boats around and we walked to the top and then over to the Lock Museum which disappointedly is temporarily closed. We watched one group of five boats lock through and the the thunderstorm rolled in as the tour boat entered the lock. They were directed back out until the lightening and thunder passed. We watched two tour boats going through in opposite directions and then waited out the rain. We walked over to the Canoe Museum Cafe for a beer waiting for the rain to stop. We headed further downtown to Saigon Wrap and Roll for tea and fresh rolls like egg rolls with rice paper with a peanut dipping sauce. They filled us up so we did not order an entree. We headed back to the boat and had another surprise thunder storm roll through losing our looky bucket over hoard when the wind picked up. We were unsuccessful in finding it before it sunk in the lake. There is one other power catamaran anchored far from us and the occasional jet ski and boats pulling floats.