Campbellford
Bell Tower on top of Fire Station
Southern Style at East side of Trent River Town Docks
Clock Tower on Town Hall
Our first night on Sunday, July 1st was quiet. We got settled in and walked to dinner at a restaurant nearby. Up here in Canada they have something called poutine. This tasty dish originated in Quebec and consists of French fries with cheese curd and brown gravy over them. Cheese curds are a type of cheese in pieces that are a bit more rubbery than what we usually think of for cheese. I had to try some. Nice for something different. I would not want my fries this way every time, but not a bad change of pace.
Poutine
Monday July 2nd Captain Keith and I left the boat to explore with our bikes. We went to the Ranny Gorge Suspension Bridge just south of town. The Campbellford Rotarians wanted to build a bridge across the Trent River Gorge as part of the town's Ferris Park. After raising about $50,000 for the project in the early 2000s, they were still a little short of funds. The bridge was put on hold until engineers from the 8th Wing CFB Trenton offered to build the bridge as a military exercise. The 8th Wing is located at the airforce base in Trenton, Ontario (where Southern Style stayed for Captain Keith's seminar as we started the Trent-Severn). Anyway...... groundbreaking for the bridge began in September 2002 and the grand opening of the Ranny Gorge Suspension Bridge was June 2004. This bridge hovers 300 feet above the Ranny Gorge and is located just south of Ranny Falls which are visible from the bridge.
Ranny Gorge Suspension Bridge
Ranny Falls view from Bridge
Trenton River from the Bridge
Ranny Falls after a short hike along the river
Hiking just north of the falls the river looked like this
There is also a dam just north of the falls
Dams can be found all along the Trent-Severn Waterway and many are used to generate hydroelectrical power. So much so that Canadians refer to power or electric as "hydro". When asking if there is power at certain docks you ask............ "is there hydro?" Gotta learn the lingo.
Captain Keith and I also biked back to the last two locks (#11 and #12) that we passed through just before pulling into Campbellford. These two locks are literally one immediately after the other and are called a flight. We talked for some time with the lock attendents. Most are college students working the locks for the summer. These two locks are not manually operated like most of the other locks on the canal. There is also a swing bridge immediately upstream of lock #12 that they also open in conjunction with the lock.
Boat entering lock #11
Here he is lifted to the top
Here he is in Lock #12
Lock #12 almost full and swing bridge in the distance
After exploring the locks on land for something different, we biked back to town and to the park along the river where some of the boats passing through tie-up. In the park is a giant coin, a replica of the Canadian "Toonie". Canada decided back in the 1990s to do away with the $1 and $2 paper bills and replace them with coins. Brent Townsend, a Campbellford nature artist, designed the two dollar coin and is most noted for his portrait of the polar bear on a summer ice flow which graces one side of the coin. Queen Elizabeth II is on the opposing side. The coin became so popular that in 2006 the Royal Canadian Mint held a contest to name the polar bear. The winning name was Churchill, a reference to both Winston Churchill and to the common polar bear sitings in Churchill Manitoba, Canada. The name toonie came from a combination of two (for two dollar) and loonie (the name of the Canadian one dollar coin). Why is the one dollar coin called a loonie you ask? Well the one dollar coin has a loon (a common bird in Canada) on it, hence the name loonie.
The Campbellford Toonie
Captain Keith trying to make off with the toonie
I don't think it will fit in his pocket
Tuesday, July 3rd shops were back open after the Canadian Holiday so we decided to see if we could spend a few toonies around town. In the morning we walked over to Dooher's Bakery. They are very well known in the area and have homemade goodies of all kinds.
Pengi on the counter checking out the baked goods
The hardest part was deciding what to get
Here is our selection of doughnuts for breakfast
After my sugar high from breakfast, I did some laundry and then headed back out. I found an amazing quilt shop. Can you believe it? I am like a truffle sniffing pig when it comes to fabric. They had a large selection of fabric including some with Canadian themes. I purchased some with Canadian geese and one panel that had an outline of the country and red maple leaves around it. I can not wait to start designing something with my treasures.
Captain Keith took the bike to the local "box store" and purchased some spare bike tires and inner tubes in case of a flat with our land transportation. He also did some boat projects.
The weather was so hot again today that Keith and I decided not to walk to the chocolate factory at the end of town. Not like we needed more sugar anyway. We stayed on the boat with the AC running for the afternoon. Even the locals are keeping cool.
Authentic Canadian Goose
Geese on the Trenton River in town
Tomorrow we leave to make our way about 20 miles farther along the Trent-Severn to a small town called Hastings, Ontario.
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