Port Severn, Lock 45 - the end of The Trent/Severn Waterway

July 28, 2010 Wednesday
We stayed in a fun city, Orillion, Ontario, for three nights to catch our breath and provision our groceries. (It was also buy two nights, get one night free!)  We were also able to find the motor oil needed for a future oil change (after a five mile walk to get it) and Buddy got a needed clipping.  The city had street entertainment, sidewalk sales, a concert and has about fifty decorated guitars all over to amuse the tourists.It was a great place to settle after being on the water for a week.

The final section of the Trent-Severn Waterway is the Severn River which is lined with breathtaking granite rock formations, making for eye candy for us and great jumping for the kids on the wall!

Look carefully for the kids ready to jump!

This beautiful river took us through two more locks until we arrived at Lock 44 Big Chute.  It's not really a lock but a giant railway car that picks up boats and transports them over land to the basin on the other side.

Carriage that holds boats

We drove Tony M into this giant carriage with slings  positioned so our boat hangs there when the water drains off.  Then it starts moving and brings us over land to the channel below -a rush you can't explain!

That's Tony M in the cartriage

At the end of our ride, looking back to where we were

 One of the reasons this was built was to keep the lamprey out of the other lake.  Maybe this idea could be used to keep the Asian carp out of Lake Michigan....just a thought...

Today we made it to the last lock on the Trent/ Severn Waterway and even though we thoroughly enjoyed this amazing canal system, we are happy to put these 44 locks behind us and look forward to just exploring the islands in the Georgian Bay-our next venture.