Years ago, many more than I want to count, or even admit to, my family's big trip was to 'sail' my uncle's boat from Buffalo, NY to the Chesapeake Bay. Sail was a bit of a stretch, for the first 400 miles we had stepped the mast onto a cradle so we could pass under the many low bridges that cross the Erie Canal. We actually started somewhere near Lockport, NY and did eventually end up in Annapolis, but owing to some difficulties along the way I didn't go the whole way by boat, only missing the final leg across the Chespaeake and Delaware Canal down the northern part of the Chesapeake Bay. But parts of that could fill another story.
Then many years later I was once again in western New York state and came across the canal. This finally piqued my interest in it, as a youngster I din't realize what an adventure that summer was. It took me another dozen or so years before I once again became interested. I'd seen mention of a bicycle ride from one end of the canal to the other, but it was too last that year to join. But in 2000 I did join the ride.
The ride started at the <a href= http://www.nicholsschool.org>Nichols School</a>
and wound through the city of Buffalo on a cool Sunday morning till we reached the western end of the Erie Canal. By lunch time we'd progressed as far as Lockport, and by evening we camped at a school in Median where a local group cooked a wonderful dinner, and breakfast the next morning.
Headed out by bicycle the second day of the long ride brought out old memories. I remembered that as we passed through this area on our first day of the cruise so many years ago I heard the sounds of running water. Neither mom nor dad knew what lie beyond the edge of the canal, so at that time it was a mystery, now I solved it. The canal was build in a hair-pin loop to the south, taking advantage of the hills that Medina was built on, and to allow Old Orchard Creek to pass under the canal, as it drops into Glenwood Lake in a cataract that can be heard up on the canal. The mystery of the running water was solved.
Then many years later I was once again in western New York state and came across the canal. This finally piqued my interest in it, as a youngster I din't realize what an adventure that summer was. It took me another dozen or so years before I once again became interested. I'd seen mention of a bicycle ride from one end of the canal to the other, but it was too last that year to join. But in 2000 I did join the ride.
The ride started at the <a href= http://www.nicholsschool.org>Nichols School</a>
and wound through the city of Buffalo on a cool Sunday morning till we reached the western end of the Erie Canal. By lunch time we'd progressed as far as Lockport, and by evening we camped at a school in Median where a local group cooked a wonderful dinner, and breakfast the next morning.
Headed out by bicycle the second day of the long ride brought out old memories. I remembered that as we passed through this area on our first day of the cruise so many years ago I heard the sounds of running water. Neither mom nor dad knew what lie beyond the edge of the canal, so at that time it was a mystery, now I solved it. The canal was build in a hair-pin loop to the south, taking advantage of the hills that Medina was built on, and to allow Old Orchard Creek to pass under the canal, as it drops into Glenwood Lake in a cataract that can be heard up on the canal. The mystery of the running water was solved.
