After a bit of a delay in schedule, we left Trenton this morning in a light rain to continue our journey. Just after exiting the marina breakwater we passed under the Gateway Bridge, glad to be back on track. Eric and Karen, our harbor hosts while at Trent Port Marina, were fantastic and we certainly appreciate all the hospitality and local knowledge they shared. Hopefully we'll cross paths again. Thanks to Karen for snapping this photo as we went under the bridge. I wore my orange shirt so you'd know that was me. Barry was wearing dark gray. He looks like the door.
Almost two miles upriver we entered Lock No. 1. We were the first boat of the day and had to wait a short time for them to empty the chamber and open the big dark doors for us. We were lifted 18 feet and moved right along. I had walked up here earlier just to check things out. It definitely eased my mind to have visited here earlier in the week. I took the picture of the sign then (note the blue sky that was missing today). Only 384 more kilometers (240 miles) to go.
When we enter the locks we have to secure two lines around vertical cables mounted to the lock walls. Barry is on the bow and I am at the stern. From my position, the view rarely changes as I get to see the big doors close. We met up with Lark, as we entered Lock No. 2 behind them. This is Barry's view while locking through. These locks require no pumps. Its all done by valves and gravity. The gates are opened by lockmasters who turn a large crank by walking in circles.
It rained off and on all morning and the forecast did not look promising so we decided to call it a day after passing through Lock No. 6 and tie up to the wall for the night. Although our engine only ran two hours today, our total time on the water was closer to four hours. Lark also pulled over and we met back up with Greg and Doreen aboard Noah's Ark whom we had met way back in Waterford, NY as they entered the Erie Canal. Around 4:00 the clouds moved out and it turned into a beautiful day. We walked into town to stretch our legs, passing through a nice little park along the way. On the way back we stopped for a little swinging. The shadow selfie on the right is of me looking down at the closed lock chamber. The heavy wooden doors on the left are holding back the full chamber of water for the 16 foot lift.
The view from the top of the lock, looking back on where we came from.
The weather is still questionable for the rest of the week, but we plan to cast off around 8:00 tomorrow morning and see how far we get.
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