Today was a long day of biking for a couple of people who rarely get on our bikes. We got on the trail by about 7:20 am and managed 51 miles—the longest day in our itinerary. We had stayed the night in a Rodeway Inn, and the “breakfast” fare didn’t seem inspiring, so we biked to Jordan, where I had found a nice little coffee shop cafe, just off the trail: Peace Love Coffee. It was an awesome place, maybe five or six tables, several occupied by the old guys having their morning chat—maybe it’s a thing in these little towns (not just in Brattleboro, where I’m in a similar, Monday morning group).
Peace Love Coffee in Jordan, NY
We got into a great conversation with an older gent who was sitting alone, but seemed to periodically weigh in on the conversation the other guys were having. He looked kind-of grumpy, but when I reached out he totally opened up with information on the village of Jordan (they used to make the wheelbarrows that were used in building the canal) and other aspects of the history. But the village is just a shell of what it had been during the Erie Canal days. He asked us about the biking, where we were from, and all sorts of topics. I was so glad I had gotten up the courage to start a conversation with him!
The morning Guys Group at Peace Love Coffee
Jordan was beautiful, with some old Erie Canal infrastructure ruins that have been turned into a nice community park, but I think places like Peace Love Coffee really define towns like Jordan. The owner, Sarah, started the cafe two-and-a-half years ago, and it seems to be going strong. She couldn’t have been nicer, and “our music” was playing—in keeping with the cafe name.
A community park in Jordan
A plaque about President Lincoln’s funeral train, which passed through Jordan
From Jordan, it was a long slog to Syracuse, but easy peddling with awesome—if redundant—scenery. We passed more aqueduct ruins, a “restored” aqueduct, some old locks, and town parks. We weren’t biking along the barge canal today, but rather the first- and second-generation canals—some areas that were just the narrow original canal (“Cliton’s Ditch”) that is now filling in. Most were the widened canal, but not yet barge size.
The widened Erie Canal—but not the current Barge Canal—that was relocated from the original canalway. We had great weather, though clouds thickened throughout the day.
A rest stop along the way to figure out how to pay our real estate taxes (due tomorrow), which we had forgotten to pay before leaving home!
This is an original timber lock gate (or parts of one) at an Erie Canal Museum we passed today
Having learned about Erie Canal aqueducts yesterday, we saw a number of them today—mostly ruins, but this one (the Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct) has been restored to show how the Erie Canal was carried over another waterway! It’s pretty cool—though reeked of creosote!
The Erie Canal is at the upper level, being carried over Nice Mile Creek in this aqueduct.
As we neared Syracuse, we veered off the canal route on a winding, largely paved trail that led us to a quite new, galvanized steel bridge over railroad lines and open land near the southern end of Onondaga Lake. Getting into Syracuse, we passed a Downtown Farmer’s Market in full swing and were on a route shared with the Syracuse Creek Walk, which is wonderful. We split a bagle sandwich at Water Street Bagel Company, waved to the family from Washington, DC we’ve been running into every day (who were ending their trip in Fayetteville, just east of Syracuse) as they rode by, and then biked out of East Syracuse on East Water Street and Erie Boulevard—for about five miles until the Empire State Trail resumed.
A fairly dramatic steel bridge carrying the Empire State Trail over railroad tracks near the southern end of Onondaga Lake
We stopped a few times to read interpretive signage (of which there is lots), and took a side trip into Chittenango for a pick-me-up snack around 3 pm (by which time we were fading fast). From there it was another seven or eight miles to Canastota and the Day’s Inn, where we’re currently sitting.
Along the Creek Walk in downtown Syracuse
After showers (one gets covered with the stone dust on the unpaved portions of the Canalway) and brief naps, we walked eight-tenths of a mile into “downtown” Canastota, which isn’t much. We were headed toward a Mexican Restaurant (one of the only places that was open on a Tuesday evening). The dinner was good, but they didn’t even have margarita’s (sad-face emoji).
We walked back with some spitting rain beginning. Tonight and tomorrow the area is predicted to get about two inches of (much-needed) rain. It will be great for farmers and lawns, but perhaps not so great for bicyclists. We’re not really sure what to do. There seems to be almost nothing to do in Canastota (except the Boxing Hall of Fame); there isn’t even a coffee shop, and certainly no place to hang out at the Day’s Inn, except our cramped room.
The Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota—across the road from our Day’s Inn
We will likely bike on to Utica, where we are going to be staying in a bed & breakfast, which should be great. We’ll be wet, for sure, but we have waterproof panniers and the cool temperature (low- to mid-sixties) should permit us to bike wearing our rain jackets.
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