Hello Suzanne
Thank you very much for you comments and route suggestions. I always enjoy reading about your rides in Bavaria and look forward to learning more. I will contact you very soon for more details. Best, Susan

Thanks, Susan. We've done a good deal of biking around Burlington over the years -a week long trip around Lake Champlain; a one-nighter from Burlington to Isle La Motte and back; and a supported ride with our daughter from South Hero. The ferry was never running, so never got to do the Island trail, looking forward to that.

Hello John,
Thanks for your kind words.

Yes, the Canal Trail east of Schenectady is more interesting, with more varied landscapes and terrain. After winding through a nice wooded section, you climb up on bluffs before descending down to river. There is a short, steep climb that sneaks up on you, but the major descent is straight and not so steep.

I biked quite a bit around Burlington several years ago. I recommend taking the Island Trail and bike ferry over to South Hero and biking around the islands a bit. When I visited, Local Motion (the bike rental shop on the trail behind the aquarium) had a lot of route info. I also have a pdf file of some routes that I can send you.

Hope you have a great trip! Susan

Hi, Susan - really enjoyed your journal, nice photos and great writing.

A question about the Canal Trail in/out of Schenectady:

My wife and did a few days on the Canal Trail staying in Pittsford and really enjoyed it. Towards the end of August we will be driving up to Burlington VT for a wedding and will be doing some biking there.

I learned years ago to avoid driving back from upstate NY/VT on Sunday - we live in Maryland and have to head directly south, have been in massive traffic jams as everyone from NYC, LI and NJ come back from their weekends upstate!

So, I've added a stay in Schenectady on the way back and we'll do some biking from there. So the question is: from Canal Trail guide I have, seems for a 20-30 mile out and back (about what my wife will do) from Schenectady, heading West towards Amsterdam would be the more scenic choice. Kinda sounded like that from your journal - yes?

My wife is a runner, so we'll often do a ride like that together in the am and then in the pm she'll get a run in and I might do a ride to the east towards Albany.

So, thanks for any thoughts and glad you had such a great experience on your ride.

Hey Lucy,
Yes, and I've been a bit freaked out for the last two days!

I'm considering all my options, including canceling or joining the trip mid-way, when they are beyond grizzly country. But I'm also buying some bear safety gear to take along if I decide to do the whole trip.

Not to dampen your enthusiasm for your Great Divide tour but did you see this story?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/07/08/grizzly-bear-kills-bicyclist-camping/

Hi Susan, what a fantastic tour! How exciting to cycle out of NYC. I was a student at Barnard 1958-62 and cycling wasn't yet on my grid but the idea to start a bicycle tour in Manhattan is beyond anything I could have imagined until I read your journal. I would love to do it.
I am also excited that you are coming to Munich in early September. I would love to meet you. We are in Munich until September 12. If I can provide any information etc on Munich and surroundings, don't hesitate to ask. You can contact me at suzannegibsonatarcordotde.
It looks like you have a great itinerary planned. We loved the Alpe-Adria bike path. I see you plan to leave it at Moellbruecke. However we found the best part started at Arnoldstein. It would be a shame to miss it. Here is the page in my journal. https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/alpeadria2018/buongiorno-bella-italia-arnoldstein-to-chiusaforte-a67/ Something to think about.

If that’s your itinerary, there’s quite a good chance that we could cross paths somewhere. We plan to arrive in Amsterdam on 8/11, and then spend about a month working our way to Salzburg, arriving there on 9/12 (we’ve already booked our lodging through Salzburg, but not beyond that yet). We’ll be in the vicinity of Salzburg and the lakes for about a week and then will be heading down the Alpe Adria also, probably about the same time you are (and are you aware that the bicycle train service through the Tauren tunnel ends for the year at the end of September?). From Udine we plan to work our way southwest to Lucca and then south through Tuscany to Rome for our flight home.

We have Suzanne’s contact information, so we’ll make sure that she’s aware of this and can reach out to you.

I hadn’t noticed that! Yes, that brings a grin.

Thanks so much Kathleen - I really enjoyed your comments and learning that we shared a lot of the same experiences growing up.

Hi Scott
I'm still working on the exact itinerary, but the general plan is to leave Munich around Sept 12 and head down to Salzburg and the Alpe-Adria to Mollbruck then make my way east to Dobbiaco and south thru Cortina, Feltre, Vincenza to Bologna. Coming back north thru Verona, Bolzano, probably Innsbruck and not sure of rest back to Munich.

It would be wonderful if we crossed paths or arranged to meet somewhere along the way. I'd also love to meet Suzanne- I know she lives near Munich. I'm just not sure how to contact folks other than thru comments. My gmail address name is susanlongcarpenter

Hi Rachael.

The 15 miles of canal trail from Lockport to Medina is packed stonedust - it's pretty smooth and easy rolling. There was a thin layer of dust covering the hard pack. Even though it had rained in the morning, the trail wasn't muddy. There are some pictures in my entry about Medina that might give you a better idea of the surface.

Farther east, unpaved sections of the trail can narrow and sometimes the stone dust is a little looser or heavier, but there aren't really rocks and ruts. I did hear that thick layered stone dust may get like peanut butter in heavy rain, but I did not experience that -even though it did rain during my trip.

Overall, there is very little of what I would call a "rough road" - certainly not like a gravel road with loose stones - just not as smooth as the tarmac. I'm not sure what your tire size is, but I saw some folks riding pretty skinny road bike tires.

Hope this helps - happy to give more info.

This was a lovely tour to follow. Makes me want to ride the same trails, which means you wrote and illustrated a great journal. Looking forward to more this year. Bon voyage!

Rich - Thanks for the kind comments and for following along

Scott - I was also a bit flabbergasted on both counts, especially when I figured out how long I'd been riding that way.

Thanks for following along - I hope you and Rachael enjoy your trip along the canal.