Aah, A Great Weekend

We've just had a superb weekend. Some friends came to stay and others joined us Saturday for a BBQ.

We fished from our dock

And watched the swing bridge swing open to let the boats through.

This is lock 18 on the Trent Severn Waterway in Hastings. The bridge has a weir/dam underneath it and on the aerial photo, just to the right, you can see the lock and the swing bridge.

Photo taken from the Parks Canada website

The Trent Severn Waterway is one of Canada's National Historic sites. It connects Georgian Bay in Lake Huron to Lake Ontario. 240 miles and 44 locks of water travel. They started building it in 1833 and finished it 87 years later. "They" being various people and organisations who wanted better connections for trade. There was opposition to building a canal too, and funding eventually came from both Federal and Provincial governments. By the time the waterway was finished it was out of date and it has never been used for commercial traffic but building it provided employment for many.  It's now a great tourist resource with beautiful scenery and attractions along the route.