Day 49: Little Falls to Latham

Today’s Highlights:
Our luck with the weather continued. After a rainstorm last night, we were left with dry roads, low clouds rising off the hillsides, and small breaks in the cloudy sky giving way to sunbeams streaking through. The morning light was soft and beautiful on the landscape. Although the humidity left me quite sweaty, the temperature was comfortable and we had plenty of cloud cover and shade to keep the sun off us most of the day. We even had a little tailwind today.

Our route traveled mostly along US Route 5 and on bike paths that paralleled the Erie Canal and Mohawk River. We were able to see the waterway for most of the ride, including several locks. A railroad also runs along it for freight and Amtrak. There was a lot of train traffic and I also saw several boats in the canal. As you would expect, the roads and paths along the waterway are flat. Hills rise up on both the north and south banks of the Mohawk River, carved out long ago by the glacial drainage from the Great Lakes to the Hudson River. The hillsides are heavily wooded or cleared for farms, and are very lust and green, and a nice backdrop to the Mohawk River. The bike paths were tree-lined or right along the river edge. I especially enjoyed those paths.

We passed through some small quaint towns, like St Johnsville and Fonda. The only large town we cycled through was Amsterdam. There were several historical sites along the way and many markers about events and site from the 1700’s. I could not take the time to see all of them, but it would be interesting to be able to do so. Along the way were Fort Klock from 1750 and Fort Johnson from 1749.

The best part of the day was meeting Sue at the hotel at the end of the ride. She came up from Poughkeepsie to see me. Eight weeks is a long time to be away from home. There are only three riding days left.

Day 49

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 7/20/2013, 4:06:4

Duration: 05:51:49

Ascent/Descent: 3222 ft 3315 ft

Distance: 80.03 M