Riding the Bucket at Peterborough Lift Lock – Ontario, Canada

Powered by Gravity – Lock 21 Features the Unique Peterborough Lift Lock!

The day started off like most other days on this journey, however, on this day we were excited to be locking through the Peterborough Lift Lock. Built in the early 1900s, the Peterborough Lift Lock is quite a treat for boaters transiting the Trent Severn Waterway. Peterborough lift lock is on the Otonabee River section of the waterway. It is a Canadian National Historic Site, fashioned after smaller lift locks in Europe. Considered to be a marvel of modern engineering, because gravity powers it, the Peterborough Lift Lock is the highest one of its kind in the world.

We woke up from our “dreamy” overnight stay on the Lakefield lock wall to get prepared for a day full of locking through. It will be nine locks for the crew of Kismet today before we reach our destination of Hastings, Ontario. It was a beautiful day, and the scenery was exquisite!

FYI: We do apologize for the break in the reporting of our trip on the Trent Severn Waterway. We experienced a few technical issues on the blog and needed to get them fixed. Stay tuned for the rest of the adventure.

Jim and I could not have had a better day to cruise this stretch of the Trent Severn Waterway. Taking it slow and easy as we enjoyed the surrounding farmlands stretched out around us.

The upper side of the Peterborough Lift Lock (above). From this vantage point, you might not expect the steep drop on the other side of the lock. It was like riding a toy boat into a bathtub and the tub turns into a Ferris Wheel.

From below the view back and up at the lock gave us pause. All hands were on deck as we contemplate this engineering marvel.

We arrived at the lock wall in Hastings in the late afternoon. We found it to be a very peaceful spot within walking distance of town. Like most of this trip has been, it was unbearably hot. We found that only a couple of lock walls offer power, so even though we have air conditioning onboard, we had to do without and settle for our portable fan for air circulation and minor relief.