September 6
Added 10 miles today to continue on the Empire State Trail, although some of it was still roads. 74 miles total from Albany to Kingston. Back to hills (almost 3,400 ft elevation gain) but some enjoyable downhills, too, Lots of great cloud formations and not more than a few drops of rain. We rode by Bard College before crossing the Hudson River and then south to Kingston. Even though today was harder, we felt great. Warmer temps, but lots of shade off and on.
We got to Kingston before 3, quickly had a beer on the river, then checked into a nice B&B. They don’t do breakfast until 8:30, so we will just have to sleep in tomorrow and get a later start 😉 Can’t believe we will be in NYC day after tomorrow!
September 5
Much shorter day today (47 miles) so we stalled this morning while it drizzled in Amsterdam and didn’t get on the road until after 9. Unfortunately we still got caught in some rain later, but only for about 10 miles and then we dried out before we got to Albany.
The castle isn’t serving breakfast again yet, so we opted to ride 15 miles before stopping in Schnectady at a cafe/bakery called Arthur’s. Great call! Outstanding breakfast sandwiches and, of course, we had to sample a chocolate chunk cookie and a cinnamon swirl scone…
Highest temp today was only 66 degrees. But even with the rain we were never cold. Quite comfortable actually. We only had to navigate a short ways off the trail to find our hotel.
After doing laundry we had a beer at an Irish pub and then found one of the few restaurants open on a Sunday during Covid era. Cafe Capriccio delivered big time – they only had space at the bar. I had an excellent truffle pasta and Craig had the ravioli special. We also chatted quite awhile with Brad and Mallory from Chattanooga (on a road trip to move a grandparent from Arizona to New York, I believe). Brad (who has lived in Ballard among other places) has connections with glass artists in Seattle and would like to work more in stone, so he and Craig had lots to talk about… Overall an excellent evening. Just watching the US vs Canada game now. Changing our path slightly tomorrow to stay on the Empire State Trail since the trail system has been so great. So much of the trail is new enough that MapMyRide doesn’t even recognize it yet, so we have learned to follow the great signage instead of adhering to our GPS devices.
September 4
79 miles today from Rome to Amsterdam (and passing through Frankfort ha ha). Nearly all trail, mostly paved and a little sunnier today but quite comfortable. Getting spoiled by all these flat miles though. We still have a few long days left with more elevation gain. But tomorrow is an easy day to the end of the Erie Canal Trail in Albany.
Amsterdam is bigger than we expected but has a small town vibe. They have a beautiful pedestrian bridge across the canal with lots of flowers and art. We ate dinner (quinoa bowl – yum!) at Astoria Landing, where we were the only customers until we were leaving. Excellent food and service only a week before they close for the season.
We are staying in Amsterdam Castle. One of our spendier stays but I couldn’t resist! The rooms are amazing, and they have suits of armor lining the dining room. Good knight! 🙂
September 3
My eye is still bugging me, but I tried without antihistamine today. Still a little swollen and that side of my face is hot. Ugh. Still managed to ride 75 miles with relative ease. The Erie Canalway Trail (part of the Empire State Trail) is well marked, and they recently added trail and great signage through Syracuse as well, which made navigating the city in the middle much easier.
In Syracuse, we detoured just a few hundred feet to a bike shop, Advanced Cyclery, where we got Craig’s broken spoke repaired. Only about a 45 minute stop. Managed to pass the two gentlemen we met that morning again – they are doing the canal trail from Buffalo to Albany but had to get a half hour lift to a town yesterday for their flat and had just paid someone for a ride back to Weedsport. The trials and tribulations of bike touring!
We really enjoyed the trail again today – quite a variety of surfaces and many more people (walking, biking, running, and fishing) than we’ve seen before. The skies threatened off and on all day. We did get sprinkled on for a few miles outside Syracuse but not bad. Rome is bigger than we expected, so we were worried about getting wet again before we made it to the hotel, especially since we had a minor route issue when the road we were supposed to turn on was blocked by a large fence and gate. So an extra mile or two spent navigating by phone to get there.
No nearby restaurants and not up for a 2 mile walk, so we had Italian food (Luigi’s) delivered. Good choice!
September 2
Antihistamine again, but not until I had itched my eye enough that it swelled worse, below my eye as well. I think I may have been stung more than once when the MFB (use your imagination) got trapped behind my sunglasses.
Back to the Eerie Canal, which required a few miles on an urban trail in Rochester first. No free breakfast at the hotel, and yesterday’s was meh, so we opted to ride 10 miles and then stopped in Pittsford at the Coal Tower restaurant and had an excellent breakfast. When I can have eggs and toast AND a half waffle then I am content!
Even though we rode 72 miles today, they passed quickly because it was cooler (in the 60’s and 70’s), mostly flat (1,211 ft elevation gain), and nearly all trail. We rolled into Weedsport, stopped at the local brewery (Lunkenheimer’s), and then returned there for dinner after long showers at the hotel (long enough for the steam to set off the smoke alarm – woops!). The brewery had gigantic pretzels (the size of a pizza) and great pizza as well, so we were happy! Saw the two couples we had passed that day as well as the day we left Buffalo.
September 1
Forgot to mention that I got stung by a bee yesterday above my eye – second time this trip! I took an antihistamine today as it was a little tender and I was trying to avoid itching it.
Today was a working zero day. Even though we didn’t set an alarm, I didn’t sleep particularly well and we were up by 7. Then I started working on the remaining reservations for the last two weeks and changing a few routes on my Garmin. It takes way longer than it should. We took a break to get our hair cut at a funky salon called Talking Heads (taxidermy and eclectic furnishings) and Seig did a great job. Paid extra to deep condition my hair which has suffered from two months of hotel shampoos and sweaty ponytails. After that we wandered over to the Genesee Brewhouse because we had already had their lager and liked it. No tours thanks to Covid, but we still enjoyed our visit.
Back to work at the hotel. It took me a few more hours to get us booked through Cape Cod. Now I just have Provincetown and Boston to figure out, as well as the flights home and bike shipping arrangments…
We walked almost 2 miles to dinner because several people mentioned The Red Fern, a vegan/vegetarian restaurant and bakery. Great food, but small portions – didn’t surpass the previous night. So great to have dinner options that aren’t standard bar fare though!
August 31
After a second Best Western in as many days, we were pleasantly surprised this morning to have a hot breakfast and not just a sack handed to us. Didn’t stop us from a late lunch in Brockport or a fabulous dinner in Rochester, but owell!
The Erie Canal will be our route for most of the next week (after our rest day). Sometimes paved, but mostly nice, crushed gravel. Cute little towns along the way. We took our time, listened to music, made the stop in Brockport (where I also splurged on a book), and then navigated pretty easily into Rochester where we are staying downtown. 63 miles total today. Already made a hair appointment for tomorrow, but I also have the last 8 or so reservations to make and a few routes to fix.
Dinner tonight was fabulous. They had an entire second menu with vegetarian/vegan options and the tofu poke bowl was the best meal I’ve had so far on the trip (Craig had a jerk chicken curry). We also had crispy brussels sprouts and local beers. And dessert was a banana and deep-fried cheesecake. OK, we might have outdone ourselves today, but owell!
Breit Bikes 