Erie Canal-Day 6 From Little Falls to Schenectady

Hello from Schenectady,
I just love the name of this town. We rode 63 miles today. (Wynn rode 48 miles and I rode 37.) There was 917 feet of climbing today and the majority of the trails were paved. 😀 The morning started at 7:45am and was it ever foggy. We actually could feel water droplets on our arms because of the fog. Our first challenge of the day was finding the trail through a closed off area. We ended up walking across a lock bridge and then carrying our bikes down a tall set of metal (slippery) stairs. We did find the trail that led to “Little Falls”. Visibility was not great but the rain was gone and the temperature was nice and cool as we started riding.

Our first part of the trail was gravel along the canal…very peaceful this morning, and maybe a little eerie. Our first stop was in a little canal town called Fort Plains. We met at the Highwheeler Coffee Shop. Of course there was a penny farthing bike in the window…can't get much higher wheel than that. I loved the big clock tower in the church across the road.

Our second stop was at a little Reformed church in Sprakers. They had a welcome sign for bikers and kept the church open for bathrooms. The little creek running beside the church was very sparkly as the fog burned off.

Wynn drove the SAG the next part of the trip and I made my last leg of my Erie Canal journey on my bike. I will SAG the rest of the way today and all of the 30+miles tomorrow. What a difference the skies were today after yesterday's rainy gray. I passed by Our Lady of the Martyr's Shrine and took a couple of pics of the ruins and signs there. We ended up at Karen's Produce and Ice Cream for lunch. BLT's were on the menu. We also bought some Blueberry preserves to take home.

I drove ahead to the next spot at the Mohawk Valley Gateway Overlook in Amsterdam. The bridge way amazing with foliage and artwork. It was a sweet view of the Mohawk River.

While I was on the bridge, Wynn was at the Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site and the site of Old Fort Hunter

We did a quick SAG stop at the Hungry Chicken Country Store. They are famous for their egg sandwiches, served all day long.But I don't think anyone tried one, even though they smelled so good. I went on to the train station in Schenectady and gave the 3 riders going back to Buffalo their luggage. After a few trips around the circle, and delivering the forgotten computer, I made it back to the hotel and got checked in. We are staying at a Courtyard Marriott tonight with a beautiful room. We got cleaned up and then dropped our last train passenger at the depot before taking a tour of the 100 year old houses in the historic district of Schenectady. Here are a few pics of the gorgeous houses from so long ago. I included the statue of Lawrence the Indian as it was at the end of the narrow street I walked to get pics of the houses. I loved the 2 old churches here too!

We ended the evening at Druthers Brewing Company and celebrated Emily's birthday. Way too much food, but what a good time with these new friends.i had a chicken sandwich and Wynn had a skillet of BBQ Mac and Cheese. Look at the size of his portion . We took more than half of it home. I am always amazed at the people God allows us to meet and what joy they bring to our lives. We will complete the trip tomorrow with a short ride and look for the mile marker 0.

So goodnight from Schenectady
Wynn and Brenda