the Way of the Turtle

END-TO-END-TO-END, Year 1
24.8 Mile Ride Through the Old Erie Canal State Park, on the Rome Streets, & on the Erie Canalway Trail (New London to Rome)
Friday, August 19, 2016

And... that's a wrap. I've now ridden the entire Old Erie Canal State Park, for the first time ever. I started at Lock 21 just west of Rome, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the first 2+ mile were paved! Then it was stone dust until just before the Erie Canal Village. Lots of turtles in the old canal... only got a few pictures because whenever I stopped they tended to dive into the water, so after the couple of tries I just rode on by when I saw them.

Only stopped briefly at the Erie Canal Village because it was very closed (more on that in a bit) - from there I followed the recommended path through Rome, which wasn't too bad, and after a couple of miles on streets ended up back on paved paths, first along the modern canal to a very nice waterfront park (Bellamy Harbor Park) and then alongside a busy construction zone all the way east to the end of the Canalway Trail between Rome and Oriskany.

The ride back was a bit smoother just because I knew where I was going, though I did watch a police boat going zooming up the canal - they ended up locking through at Lock 21 while I was packing up to leave. Gotta wonder what was up...

JMH