BELLA, MEET BELLA
July 11-13, 2026
We try to ask the names of the dock hands that help us dock the boat. When we docked at Trenton and found out that “Bella” was our dock hand, we had to get a picture.
When we get into a marina, we try to get out and exercise the dog with a walk or a swim. The Millennium Trail looked like it had some possibility as it went along the water. Problem was it was in the direct sun and it was HOT that day. The dog went into the water a few times and we tried walking a bit farther, but the trail went into a seedy part of town so that completed the exercise portion of the day.
We met up with some recent looper friends from the boat Hardly Home. Jim and Marlene have two dogs on board which keep them busy. Had a great meal at Tommaso’s restaurant with them which was in walking distance to the marina.
Trenton has a really nice National Air Force Museum of Canada that Howie and I biked to (after a side trip to Tim Horton’s for coffee and a donut).
Canadian Air Force museum
It had some interesting stories about a breakout at the Stalag Luft III prison. The men created an intricate ventilation system to push air into the tunnels (Tom, Dick and Harry).
Air ventilation system created by the POW’s.
In 1944, 76 Allied airmen escaped through the “Harry” tunnel, nine of whom were Canadians. Unfortunately, the airmen didn’t have any support network once out of the camp and 73 men were recaptured with 50 of them executed.
The next night we met up with the other looper folks from the marina. We were starting the Trent Severn lock system the next morning so we tried asking everyone when they were planning to leave so we didn’t all get clogged up in the first lock. Everyone was very non-committal, so that was a bust.
We were excited to start the Trent Severn Waterway, so we got up the next morning and met the dock hands for fuel and a pump out. There are 44 locks along the 240 mile waterway and we were anticipating it taking about 12-13 days to complete. Stay tuned because it took us 19 days to get through the last lock!