The next attractions that we visited in Peterborough was the world famous (not that
the place is getting overrun with tourists but it does have a distinction which
I’ll gracefully reveal in a moment) lock 21 – the lift lock. One of the only
two hydraulic lift lock in the Trent-Severn waterways it is the highest
hydraulic lift lock in the world. Located in the eastern part of the city it
does have a visual impact on the visitors. The visitor center is located at the
bottom of a hill on the lower part of the waterway. There were stairs and also
a paved road to go up to the upper level of the waterway. The height difference
between the two levels is 65 feet. (Wikipedia tells me in Belgium the lock located in Strépy-Thieu is the highest with a
difference of 73 meters; the distinction here is hydraulic).
Initially when I planned a visit there after finding it from
the net I was not expecting too much. In the pictures it did not look something
out of the world. I wasn’t even sure if I could motivate the rest of the team
to visit it. As I mentioned before – it is hard to appeal to everybody’s taste.
The kids goes left, the adults right and I am in the middle. One of the main
reason why everybody agreed to go to the locks was to find a suitable spot with
some leaf colors to take some pictures. The day before we had driven around and
found practically no spot that had any noticeable amount of fall color left
(the amazing red-orange-pink colors of oak and maple). This year something
strange had happened with the weather and the leaves seemed to either just
dried up or had changed color too early, before we came to this trip. But no
fall trip can be full filled with some images of us in colorful surroundings.
The area around the visitor center of the lock was not a
total disappointment. We identified three trees with partial colors left and
took snapshots in various combinations of family, friends, males, females, kids
and so on. My interest in photo shoots have been diminishing over the years as
one thing I have figured out – anybody rarely had time to check these pictures
out. They were taken and forgotten. But I guess, they did provide some
excitement during the procedure of being taken. I just didn’t want to have
anything to do with it anymore. While the rest of the team got busy with their
cameras I went to find out what I really came to see – the view from the top of
the lock.
As I climbed up the stairs to the higher part of the lock
the view that greeted me was truly amazing. Standing at the bottom of the lock
the view of the concrete and steel may look a little overwhelming but the
actual beauty of it all await above. A water channel not wider than 30 feet met
the upper level of the lock. 65 feet below ran the canal where the lower level
of the lock was. A tour boat was sitting on the lift pad, waiting to be taken
down. I saw the operators running around wearily suggesting something wasn’t
going smoothly. This provided me some time to run down to the visitor center
the get rest of the team. Watching a lift lock this high working is definitely
a good experience, especially for the kids.
Thankfully, the kids and adults equally were awed by the
operation and the view. The lift operators were able to resolve the problem in
time and the tour boat was lowered down to the canal in minutes. We saw it
float away out of the lock pad and mooring in nearby dock to unload some of the
passengers. Another round of photo shoot took place. The view was great with
much more color visible from that height. Everybody was happy. Their happiness
was my satisfaction. After all I was the convener. It was in a way my
responsibility to keep them entertained. All good is what ends good (went a
proverb in Bangla, my mother tongue).
We had a plan to eat in an Indian restaurant located in Peterborough downtown. I
had found the name of the restaurant in the net. However, unfortunately we
found it closed around noon. Not knowing when they would open, or if they
opened at all on Sundays, we looked for other options. Apparently Sunday
afternoon didn’t seem like a preferred time to do business for any of the non-fast
food restaurants in the area. After some more exploration we hoarded into a Harvey’s next to the lake.
We occupied half of the sitting lounge and instantly destroyed the tranquility
of the place.
Hours alter, with our bellies full and mind happy we started
back for the city.
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