June 13, 2024
Day 7 - Amsterdam to Albany
Castle
Today would be our last day of riding the Erie Canal path. But before leaving the town of Amsterdam, we decided to visit the Amsterdam Castle. The castle is more of a hotel and event center, but it looked cool. Constructed by a prolific architect and builder named Isaac Perry who was born in 1827. The historic building dates back to long before 1827 where a magnificent mansion stood in its place in 1736. Mr. Perry designed the famous Capitol Building in Albany among many other notable structures in the Empire State.
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Amsterdam to Schenectady
This section was smooth and as I recall, mostly if not all paved and adjacent to the Mohawk River. Like yesterdays path, it appears to have been built on an old rail trail. We passed several lock / dam combinations. The river was much wider than most parts of the canal so it required both of these structures to operate.
An Italian Cruising through Schenectady
Schenectady had a bit of everything. We were adjacent to the river and a highway, we rode through some nice waterfront parks and we also cruised down a really cool downtown street. Parts of the town were really nice, but we also rode through an older section that was under some upgrades.
I'm part Italian (25% or thereabouts) and had memories of pasta, cookies called pizzelles and other goodies so when we came upon an Italian bakery, I had to stop. Perreca's has been in operation by the same family for over 100 years. These types of places are a must stop on a trip like this. I bought a little something sweet and shared it with Doug. Notice a theme here? If you are ever in Schenectady, be sure to visit Perreca's Italian Kitchen.
Just a few pics of this part of the trail
It was so green and such a nice day.
Sore butts, subs and Dom's
We left Schenectady and cruised through various terrain. Most of the way we were on a nicely paved rail trail. Sometimes it was through a tunnel of trees. While other times we weaved our way with a view of small fields, had river views or rode through a corporate area.
We also encountered the steepest part of the trail in this section and it was a complete suprise. While it wasn't long, it was so steep we had to walk our bikes uphill for a few minutes. We realized later this section was created to bypass GE Aerospace Research center and the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. Fortunately, what goes up must go down and we enjoyed the downhill immensely.
We passed many workers from the space and atomic lab out on a lunchtime walk. We also marvelled at the two headed squirrels and giant talking chipmunks scurrying about. Not sure if this had anything to do with the atomic lab or maybe we were just really hungry and our minds were making things up.
We arrived in Dunsbach Ferry and found out through another biker that restaurants were tough to come by along this section of trail. So we searched Google and found a promising place and plotted our course. It was only about a 3/4 mile detour through a residential area, but darn it if it wasn't up hill.
By this point in the day, we were super hungry and the detour was necessary. Also this was our 7th day of riding our bikes so our butts were sore too. So Dom's Pizza, Subs and Wings was a welcome stop. We both enjoyed giant subs that we probably should have shared.
Albany bound!
We at way more food than we should have at Dom's and with rested butts and legs, we were ready to power through the 30 miles to the end of our journey to Albany.
The route into Albany is on some roads and through some industrial areas but as you approach downtown, we rode mostly adjacent to the Hudson River through various parks. Overall, it was a pleasant ride.
We made it!
After about 6 1/2 days of riding, we made it to the end in Albany. We had ridden over 350 official trail miles plus some extra for side trips. What a fun journey!
Hanging out in Albany
We spent the night in Albany and were fortunate to have some time to walk around and see the downtown area. What a great little downtown area with lots of restaurants, bars and sites to see.
Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 364 miles (586 km)
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