“Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge, yeah we’re coming to a town”
After our rest day in Albion, we woke up in our motor inn, packed up and pedaled into town for breakfast at the Village House. Fueled up we aimed for the towpath. We have a new guest with us today, and it appears for a few more days. T.S. Fred, after being found unwanted in Florida and the southeast has decided to join us. The now downgraded tropical storm continues to swirl enough energy to cause us flash flood and t-storm watches. So far we just got rain. It’s been mostly light rain, but constant all day. Amazingly the crushed gravel towpath was pleasant enough only casing us to get a little gritty, but the path was firm.
Heading east towards Rochester we came upon two retired buddies riding the canalway from Buffalo to Syracuse. Being elder and full of wisdom they plan to stay in hotels each night. I guess some just don’t appreciate true adventure.
After 30 miles we entered the outskirts of Rochester. Gone were the farmland and quaint old villages. We actually thought we were back in Erie, PA. Many bike paths intersect through the city and some thorough navigation was required to keep us on the right path.
Our goal was to take a break in Pittsford. The first restaurant we came too looked a little swank. Drenched and covered in a layer towpath we probably would have been asked to find different accommodations. I probably wouldn’t have cared for their lunch special anyway. Pittsford is a nice little village and soon we entered the Village Coal Tower cafe. It was the place to be. Rhonda had their multi cheese grilled sandwich. Laura had a turkey club wrap with enough protein to spare. I had a warm meatloaf sandwich complete with mash potatoes and all covered in gravy. It’s been decades since I ate one of those. The Village Coal Tower is a breakfast lunch spot and closes at 2. The rain was coming down now and we stayed till 2:20.
As the song states, we had 15 miles on the Erie Canal before camp. So we donned our rain gear for the first time, and took off. Our destination was the community park in Macedon. I was surprised that the park was being used by so many others. Especially since there was only one porta potty, well used. We sat under the pavilion thinking about what to do, where to sleep and where to eat. We had rinsed our bikes and lower extremities of the Towpath knowing that tomorrow we had to do it all again. I looked at the map and realized we had only 4.4 miles to Palmyra where we would leave the canal. I also read that if you call town hall and the police you could stay in their marina park. And they have a “comfort station” complete with shower. Rhonda talked to them on the phone. Yeah, come on over. There’s plenty of restaurants near by. Make sure you let the police know you are there.
4.4 miles later we are in a clean park, comfort station tested and found to remove Towpath. We ate at the “Akropolis” which served Greek and Italian by a very polite waiter. We all had their special stuffed seashells with marinara and meatball. The girls had a huge chocolate browny and I ate baklava for dessert
The rain is coming down harder. We pitched our tents under the pavilion. I hope that will be ok. Someone is supposed to come and lock the comfort station at 10 and unlock at 6am. I hope someone let them know we are here. Otherwise, send bail money courtesy the Palmyra Village jail.
P.S. oh yeah, there’s the Rochester REI store on the path. We added to our potential year end dividend.
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