Day 82 The Ditch and more

No rush to get started this morning since we couldn't leave till the lock opened at 9. Fenelon Falls was a cute village that survived the lumber industry collapse in the area. John is strolling downtown looking for the Cow & Sow (rib) Restaurant. Spent the night listening to a waterfall right next to our lock wall tie-up. Met some wonderfully helpful residents, Norm and Barb, yesterday, who formerly owned a boat like ours. They traveled on it for 13 years doing the Loop and more, so they passed on a lot of good knowledge about the next part of our trip. They even knew the former owners of our boat!  We conquered some narrow channels called "the ditch" by the locals. There's not enough room for two trawlers to pass and was barely deep enough for the Sundowner.  Picture 4 was taken looking down from the fly bridge  -  the channel rock wall is only a few feet from our boat. Yikes. We crossed Lake Balsam reaching the tallest altitude of the Loop - 840'. Then fairly quickly after that, we rode the Kirkfield Lift Lock down 49'. (Pic 1) I enjoyed riding the bow down like Leonardo in Titanic. John? Not so much. We did 6 locks and passed under 4 bridges today - the most unique being pic 2, Hole in the Wall Bridge, built in 1905. A heron flew across our bow right before we entered - that must be good luck because we made it through. We are at a rural peaceful lock wall tonight. Met some other folks from Florida here doing the Loop.Heading across Lake Simcoe tomorrow morning since it looks like a calm day.