Today's plan is to progress eastward and once again rejoin the Erie Canalway bike path, after our two day diversion south to Ithaca. Under grey skies and over more hilly terrain on SR 20 (Ellen not happy with hills!) we visit Nelson, Morrisville, Bouckville, Madison, Sangerfield and finally downhill to Bridgewater for a lunch of leftovers. (Sometimes, one is compelled to eat up the remains of the staples one has been lugging around for days, so to allow for the accumulation of more staples to lug around.) It's nice to see new flowers roadside: purple Asters, Black-eyed suzies and Queen Anne's lace adding to the lilies, cornflowers and treefoils. Most of the trees are deciduous: maples, ashes, sumacs, oaks; all vivid in my childhood memories.
In East Winfield, we meet Paul out riding a recumbent and owner of the local Precision Cycling bikeshop. Retired from auto mechanics, he has turned his efforts to bicycles. We talk briefly about local cycling and the failing local economy, and he sadly dubs the region 'The New Appalachia". Sad, but true.
We turn northward on Rte. 51 and follow a sweetly flowing stream, gently downhill, to Ilion and back to the Mohawk River. (The Erie Canal and the Mohawk River, as well as other natural bodies of water, make up the navigable ship canal across NY state that covers over 500 miles. Locks and gates were used to control water levels and flow.) A short 10 miles along SR 5S takes us past historic Herkimer and into Little Falls. Little Falls, a onetime commerce hub and producer of tools and cheese, sits gracefully in a valley, cut long ago by the Mohawk River, and boasts a downtown of ornate and very European-looking stone and brick buildings. Tho suffering as well financially, there was an attempt to attract and accomodate visitors. There was a decided upbeatness to our visit there.
We close down the evening with a stuffed pizza that was New York delicious and retire to the Knights Inn.
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