Author: alliumstozinnias

A gardener (along with the Brit) who has discovered there is more than hybrid tomatoes. And a cyclist.

Connecticut’s Farmington Canal Trail: One last major gap

There’s been big progress on Connecticut’s Farmington trail since I biked it in 2016.

farmington canal signI’ve been touting Connecticut’s Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, which bifurcates the states as it heads north from New Haven and ends in Massachusetts, as a 5-star trail ever since I biked it in 2016.

Now it’s even better because all the construction projects I saw two years ago have been completed. Only one sizeable gap remains — the 5-mile “Plainville Gap” up to Southington. While the state has approved funding for the project, the gap likely won’t be closed until at least 2023. You can cope by using roads and sidewalks, but of course that’s not quite the same thing.

This gives a sense of just how popular parts of the Farmington trail are.

Continue reading “Connecticut’s Farmington Canal Trail: One last major gap”

Discovering two Delaware bike-trail gems: the Markell trail and the Castle trail

We biked on the new Jack A. Markell Trail from Wilmington to New Castle and part of the Michael Castle Trail cutting westward across Delaware.

F2A807C1-0BE2-47A1-906E-AACD7A7B143D

Four years ago, I was on a bike ride from Wilmington, Delaware, that had us meandering through some industrial areas, navigating the traffic headed for I-295 and riding on Delaware highway 9 just to get to New Castle seven miles away. We met the governor at the time, a cyclist, and he bluntly told us that it wasn’t a great route … and that better was coming.

Better  has finally arrived, and it’s not just better, it’s fabulous: a trail from the environmental center in the middle of the Wilmington riverfront’s wildlife refuge all the way to New Castle. One beautiful bridge over the Christina River visible from I-95, two well-lit tunnels, under I-495 and I-295, one long boardwalk through the wildlife refuge, plus woods in another section. Great variety!

Continue reading “Discovering two Delaware bike-trail gems: the Markell trail and the Castle trail”

Biking 2 trails — the D&R and D&L — to watch polo in Pennsylvania

Polo matches along the Delaware? Who knew?

2B034D8E-1642-49BB-93D7-84CE589BE71FThis bike ride began with a tip: you can watch polo matches in Tinicum Park, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, just across the Delaware River from New Jersey.

Polo? That blue-blood sport? Who knew?

Continue reading “Biking 2 trails — the D&R and D&L — to watch polo in Pennsylvania”

The joy of bicycling on London’s cycle superhighways

Here’s what I found when I went bicycling in London.

553DEF9B-6FF8-4609-A478-C255541A5E22There’s no getting around it: bicycling in a big city can be stressful. Cars, buses, plus lots of people on foot. Not enough space for everyone. And often no bike lane, never mind signage to help you get around on a bike without using main roads already full of vehicles.

So I have been following with interest the development of London’s “cycle superhighways” since they were announced a decade ago.

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Philadelphia’s Pennypack Trail: A surprisingly hilly bike ride

The Pennypack winds and climbs (if just briefly) alongside Pennypack Creek.

I think these ducks associate the human voice with food…

Trails have a reputation for being flat and, to some people, kind of boring. That’s because many were once railroad lines, and locomotives aren’t going to pull a train up a steep hill or around a sharp curve.

Philadelphia’s Pennypack Trail breaks that mold. It winds and climbs (if only briefly) along the Pennypack Creek, offering riders shade and water views.

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Closing our loop: Vermont’s Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail

The final (half) day of our five-day, two-nation bike ride brings us back in the U.S.A.

D9A01894-89C6-438D-91EE-553ECF7FDA34The final leg in our 5-day, two-nation bike tour was the 26-mile Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail, which begins within a few miles of the border crossing in Richford, Vermont, and ends just north of downtown St. Albans.

This is a quiet, if perhaps underutilized, rail-trail — we counted just 23 cyclists, 2 dog walkers (each with one dog), and two women on horseback as we rode the entire length on Saturday.

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3 1/2 days biking along Quebec’s Route Verte

This was a trip to France without getting on a plane. We biked less than 150 miles over four days along Canada’s Route Verte in Quebec’s Eastern Townships and Monteregie sections.

694DC774-2840-4095-AEC2-BBA85D81FC80The one-word summary: Amazing.

The longer summary: This was a trip to France without getting on a plane.

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Biking Vermont’s Champlain Islands from St. Albans to Alburgh

This is the start of a five-day bike ride from St. Albans, Vermont, through the Champlain islands, onto Canada’s Route Verte in Quebec and back to the U.S. and the Missisquoi rail-trail to St. Albans.

F564C3D4-81C7-48B2-91F0-D24347ADFBAAWe’re kicking off a two-nation bike loop with a day along the water.

Vermont’s Champlain Islands, which string through Lake Champlain, are a lovely area to bike in, with quiet roads even in July. We generally stayed off U.S. 2, the main road, reconnecting with it shortly before the causeways that let us hop from island to island. The flip side of that is we didn’t see much in the way of services, beginning with easy places to grab a bite, North Hero excepted, as well as our B&B that has a restaurant. And a supermarket? Didn’t see one. Continue reading “Biking Vermont’s Champlain Islands from St. Albans to Alburgh”

A shakedown ride on the D&L Trail from Morrisville to Bristol, Pennsylvania

We head to a section of the Delaware & Lehigh Trail to test out our new equipment ahead of a five-day trip to Vermont and Canada.

We’re planning a five-day ride in Vermont and Canada. The route is picked out, the hotels booked — yes, this is credit-card touring. But there’s no support crew … no one to haul our bags from place to place. And I want to bring my carbon-fiber road bike, which can’t handle a rack and panniers. What to do?

A bikepacking class at REI led to buying a bikepacking bag that attaches to the seat and seatpost. My favorite local bike shop suggested some slightly wider tires that can handle trails, rather than my slick road tires. But I still needed to make sure it would all work. And Clive’s new toy is a carbon “gravel-grinder” bike that can handle a rack and panniers, but not unlimited weight.

Time to test out or new setups. A section of the D&L Trail — from Morrisville, opposite Trenton, to Bristol Borough — seemed perfect. It’s a new ride for us, and I’ve been wanting to check out Bristol ever since I binge-watched Hulu’s Small Business Revolution show.

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The D&R Canal: The New Jersey tough version of the Erie Canal

Tapping into the history of the D&R Canal.

3C0C266E-30D6-4F17-81AD-AED4BBC775CBI love combining my bike rides with a bit of history.

So to coincide with a couple of one-day road closures of busy Canal Road in Franklin Township, I’ve organized some family-friendly bike rides for the East Coast Greenway. On the first one, a couple of weeks ago, a half-dozen of us braved the rain to pepper Bob (from the non-profit D&R Canal Watch) with questions about the canal, once one of the busiest navigational canals in the country.

FBB503D8-EBBA-41CE-AE32-8817EB2926C9You know the song about the Erie Canal? That one is far, far longer than the D&R, but the D&R is wider (75 feet across) and deeper (8 feet vs 4 feet), so it could handle more kinds of boats. And that line in the song about “low bridge, everybody down”? Not a problem on the D&R because there are no bridges to go under. So not only could it handle barges but also steam-powered boats.

Bottom line is it’s tougher and stronger than the Erie Canal, even if it is shorter. Call it Jersey tough.

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