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THOMAS PROWSE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
The Big Chute Marine Railway \u2014 unique in North America as it lifts boats 18 metres on an inclined plane \u2014 is a vital link in the Great Loop, a waterway that extends from the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n
Ontario\u2019s system of canals and locks was developed over a period of two centuries to scale up transportation on waterways long used by Indigenous Peoples. Like the Rideau Canal, which links Ottawa to Lake Ontario at Kingston, the Trent-Severn Waterway\u2019s canals were conceived in the 19th century when U.S. invasion was a concern and, more than a century later, Canada initiated the Saint Lawrence Seaway with the U.S. signing on, making it an international project. History has moved on with the growth of railways and west coast ports, but the waterways, maintained and operated by Parks Canada, are a legacy to be enjoyed.<\/p>\n
Many travel options<\/p>\n
While you can access many of the TSW\u2019s attractions by car, they are best seen from the water. Intrepid paddlers can traverse the 44 locks and enjoy camping and other accommodations offered by Parks Canada. While we have kayaked in several fresh- and salt-water locations, the TSW\u2019s multi-day kayak voyage, or a more manageable canoe version, are both now outside our comfort zone. At the other extreme of experiencing the TSW, a trip on the biggest boat the canals can accommodate with dozens of other seniors did not suit our tastes or our budget.<\/p>\n
However, friends and fellow Winnipeggers Alvin and Mary Suderman extolled the virtues of seeing the TSW from the 36-metre Kawartha Voyageur, a great option for those who enjoy viewing nature from the comfort of a dining room and having sleeping quarters in which you can stand up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a very loyal following with many repeat customers \u2014 one couple was on their 44th TSW cruise,\u201d says Alvin Suderman.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t ALLISTER MAINLAND \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Sunset over Cameron Lake at Fenelon Falls.<\/p>\n The Sudermans last summer embarked on a five-day cruise from Kingston, down the St. Lawrence River through the Thousand Islands and through more than 20 locks on the Trenton-to-Peterborough section of the TSW.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw parts of Ontario we\u2019d never have seen otherwise,\u201d says Alvin.<\/p>\n For some, rental of a houseboat is an option to experience the TSW, but reviews are mixed. For one thing, houseboats are notoriously difficult to manage in a narrow system of canals and locks.<\/p>\n Fortunately, we had another option. Dan\u2019s cousin Allister Mainland, who is living his dream of winters in Manitoba and a cabin moored on the St. Lawrence in the summer, invited us to join his \u201cCousins\u2019 Cruise No. 2\u201d for a 2,500-kilometre month-long double traversing of the TCW \u2014 the sequel to a Rideau Canal excursion the previous summer.<\/p>\n Cousins Meghen and Thomas and Allister\u2019s friend, Andrew Gregorash, took the first three weeks of the adventure, while we were crew for the final stretch from Peterborough to Iroquois on the St. Lawrence.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t ALLISTER MAINLAND \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Locks between Peterborough and Campbellford on the Trent-Severn Waterway<\/p>\n Before crewing, we drove through the countryside enjoying quaint towns on the way to meet Allister and Thomas at a restaurant overlooking Lock 34 and Fenelon Falls. In Millbrook, Ont., we enjoyed a compelling locally-themed play staged by 4th Line Theatre in a rural barnyard featuring a heroine racing through a tall grass meadow to reach the stage. A fellow spectator recounted his part in a previous production in which he rode horseback across that meadow, sweeping someone off the stage and galloping away. If we lived nearer, we\u2019d defitinitely have season tickets for the 4th Line Theatre!<\/p>\n The crew change at Peterborough, the birthplace of the modern canoe, made it convenient to explore another must see \u2014 the revitalized Canadian Canoe Museum.<\/p>\n Tracing the canoe from its Indigenous origins to modern incarnations, museum highlights included canoes owned by former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, Winnipeg naturalist and film maker Bill Mason (who has been called a patron saint of canoeing) and the Starkells, who canoed from Winnipeg to Brazil in a canoe built by Winnipeg\u2019s legendary Bill Brigden.<\/p>\n We also had time to canoe in downtown Peterborough, cycle local bike paths including a section of the Trans Canada Trail and catch a free concert by Blue Rodeo\u2019s Jim Cuddy.<\/p>\n Peterborough is the site of a historic engineering marvel \u2014 the world\u2019s largest lift lock. While many TSW locks seem ancient with their hand-operated chain winches and valves, Peterborough\u2019s lift lock involves a two-metre diameter hydraulic piston that lifts or lowers boats and 1,500 tonnes of water 20 metres in the space of a few of minutes. Impressive to watch from a distance, it\u2019s even more dramatic traversing the lock by boat.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t ALLISTER MAINLAND \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Allister Mainland (front), Viola and Dan (rear) on the hunt for rhubarb-ginger ice cream and affogato al caff\u00e8 in Picton, Ont.<\/p>\n Crew duties<\/p>\n We quickly adapted to our crew duties including scrambling to the bow to toss a rope to a canal attendant or to lasso a mooring bollard. In the deepest locks, it was our job to steady the boat as the water level dropped at the rate of a meter a minute. Descending down from the sunny top of the lock to a dank zebra mussel-coated concrete-walled canyon up to eight metres deep and then having massive gates open to reveal an expanse of river below really never became routine.<\/p>\n Allister\u2019s 10-metre cruiser \u2014 large for us but a small player beside some of the often U.S.-registered vessels \u2014 provided comfortable sleeping below deck with facilities including a shower, functional kitchen and, when moored with shore power, much-appreciated air conditioning. Marinas offered adequate and often luxurious washrooms, showers and laundry facilities. At some marinas, many boat owners avoid the crushing cost of fuel and just dock their boats virtually all summer as ersatz vacation homes.<\/p>\n Beyond Trenton, the origin of the TSW, we were welcomed at the Prince Edward Yacht Club in the peaceful and picturesque natural harbour featuring many sailboats at Picton in the Bay of Quinte. It was in Picton that Canada\u2019s first prime minister John A. Macdonald managed a law office for his uncle, but our focus in the town was finding its heralded rhubarb-ginger ice cream and coffee affogato.<\/p>\n Further downstream, Kingston was alive with its 35th buskers\u2019 festival of international circus performers and musicians. For Allister, Kingston was a chance to visit Canada\u2019s penitentiary museum; for Meghen, her old Queen\u2019s University haunts; for Dan and Viola the Great Lakes Museum \u2014 the resting place of the SS Keewatin.<\/p>\n Less than half the size of its sibling the SS Titanic, the Keewatin is identical to the luxurious Edwardian steam ship on which Dan and five young siblings had sailed the Great Lakes long ago \u2014 much to the horror of some of its well-heeled travellers. The trip yielded a favourite family quote when Dan\u2019s father, a farmer from Pipestone, Man., told the officious waiter in the formal dining room to respect his three-year-old son Thomas\u2019s request: \u201cDid you not hear the boy? My son will have oatmeal porridge!\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t ALLISTER MAINLAND \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Southern Ontario\u2019s Trent-Severn Waterway provides scenic anchorages and moorings with shore power \u2014 which means much appreciated air conditioning.<\/p>\n Home stretch<\/p>\n The home stretch to Iroquois gave us glimpses of the Thousand Islands, pre-seaway canals, elaborate mansions, including Singer Castle, and closeup views of the seaway\u2019s massive ships. While approaching the St. Lawrence Seaway locks at Iroquois on the TSW, the surroundings felt more like a a South Seas adventure than an expressway of massive bulk-carrier freighters the seaway can conjure.<\/p>\n While the Thousand Islands were not to us more impressive than Lake of the Woods and the natural scenery on the TSW not superior to that of Manitoba and northwestern Ontario, the canal system with its historical villages and cities and their many attractions are unmatched in Manitoba. (Even getting there offered up many attractions with Thunder Bay\u2019s record-breaking suspension bridge at Eagle Canyon, hiking the beaches of our Algoma honeymoon and the surprising beauty of Sault Ste Marie\u2019s waterfront.)<\/p>\n In 2026, Parks Canada is again offering free admission to national historic sites and parks, free dockage at canals on historic waterways, and 25 per cent off camping and overnight fees at some lock station cabins, oTENTiks (tent\/A-frame cabin mashup) and even an \u00d4asis (tear drop-shaped elevated cabins with hammock lofts).<\/p>\n Whether Ontario\u2019s canals are your destination or just part of an exploration of our neighbouring province, we are sure you won\u2019t be disappointed.<\/p>\n Viola Prowse is a retired educator and current board member with the Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba. Dan Prowse is an electrical engineer.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t ALLISTER MAINLAND \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Hastings Lock 18 at sunrise. The TSW provides scenic anchorages and moorings with shore power \u2014 which means much appreciated air conditioning.<\/p>\n viola_prowse@foodfocus.com<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t DAN PROWSE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Waiting to descend in the world\u2019s largest existing lift lock at Peterborough on the Trent-Severn Waterway.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t DAN PROWSE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n A boat exits the world\u2019s largest lift lock at Peterborough, Ont., on the Trent-Severn Waterway.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t DAN PROWSE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n The locks between Peterborough and Campbellford (Healey Falls Locks 16\/17 ) on the Trent-Severn Waterway<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t VIOLA PROWSE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Allister Mainland enjoys picturesque Rice Lake, on the Trenton-to-Picton leg of the Trent-Severn Waterway trip.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t DAN PROWSE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Viola on the final leg of the Trent-Severn Waterway journey, from Kingston to Iroquois. Strolling the deck on a cruiser takes some agility!<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t DAN PROWSE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Viola enjoys the views of the Thousand Islands on the Trent-Severn Waterway.<\/p>\n
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