Stopping to watch this barge come down the canal provided a nice distraction from the hard riding. |
I said, "Look, there's a tugboat pushing it." Rob said, "No, that's part of the barge." |
Yup, it's a tugboat. |
Earlier on the trip we saw two barges going through a lock and only one tugboat. We've only seen empty barges. |
The riding was challenging, but still lovely. |
The towers on either side allow people to walk across the canal when the bridge is up. |
"I prefer rain to wind," I said.
"What about rain and wind together?" Rob asked.
"That would be worse."
I looked at the bridge and there wasn't much room under it. Possibly, if they all ducked, the rowers might have made it.
We chatted a bit and found out that they were rowing the entire canal to raise money for a homeless shelter: http://www.rowforhope.net/home They had called ahead to have the bridge raised, but it appeared that no one was home in the control room.
And the young people were on their way. |
If we thought that maybe the wind would die down while we were taking a break, then we were sorely disappointed. It hadn't. "This will get us ready for North Dakota!" I shouted back to Rob.
From our Erie Canal bike trail guide:
Lockport derives its name from the locks that were built to partially overcome the 70-foot difference in elevation as the canal crosses the Niagara Escarpment, a massive geological formation of sedimentary rock cliffs running in a northern arc around Lakes Huron and Michigan to Wisconsin. Niagara Falls is a result of the water from Lake Erie spilling over the Escarpment on its way to Lake Ontario.
In Lockport, one of two original sets of five-step locks built in 1825 stands alongside a modern working double canal lock, making for a great comparison of two centuries of canal engineering. Commercial boat rides enable visitors to "lock through" these engineering marvels.
Looking upstream into the modern barge canal double lock system. This was certainly taller than any of the others we'd seen. |
The bike trail took us directly to the bottom of the two sets of locks. We didn't go into the city, just explored the lock system. We happily watched a boat going through the double lock.
They'll operate the lock for a single boat. Notice how someone on the boat holds a line attached to the wall of the lock. |
Going down. |
The gates open up to let the boat into the second lock where the water is now the same level as the first one. |
The boat we just saw will now go through the process again, being lowered to the level of the canal below. |
The Honeymoon Trail Winery. |
We tried two reds and two whites, including a sweet red and a sweet white. The sweet white suited our budget and seemed an appropriate gift for the gentleman who was hosting us for the next two nights. We all enjoyed it over the salmon dinner Rob cooked that evening.
Day 19: Tuesday, 6/25/2019 38 miles to Lewiston, NY
Home of Dave, a friend of Heather Williamson's family
The party ended today with a headwind that promised to get us ready for North Dakota. At least that's what we kept telling ourselves when we struggled to ride 7 or 8 miles per hour. But we had some interesting stops along the way. In Gasport we got to watch a lift bridge work and in Lockport we saw the old flight of five locks and the new double lock let a boat through. A stop at a winery (how can you pass a winery?) gave us a break during our last stretch. We arrived in Lewiston at the home of a friend of a friend who promised to put us up for a couple nights.
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