Day 82: Hamburg to North Buffalo

August 21, 2021

A guided Urban Bike Tour

“I could marry you two,” the captain of the Bike Ferry tells us. He’s a fun guy, a veterinarian that worked in South Africa and around the world. When he found out Patrick is Dutch he spoke some Afrikaans.

Mike fixes us a breakfast of eggs, vegetables and tomatoes. He is also packing up his bike and getting the house ready to be gone for a week. Then he leads us out on back roads toward Buffalo. It’s fantastic to have a local guide especially giving a break from navigating for Patrick. Mike also knows a lot about the architecture of the city and how all the bike paths interconnect, including a bike ferry to take us across the Buffalo River channel. There is an interesting maritime museum with several ships and submarines including the USS Little Rock, a guided missile cruiser. There’s also an old time Carousel in a building. We ride across downtown, past the Guarantee Building by Louis Sullivan and the huge Buffalo City Hall. When we get hungry he guides us to a Greek restaurant for a second breakfast.

Next we find our way to the Niagara River shore and follow bike trails north towards Tonawanda, one end of the Erie Canal. Mike has mapped out a route to our Warmshowers host in Amherst just north of Buffalo. We go off the Canal trail through Elliott Creek Park to quiet roads. We are a few miles away from tonight’s stay when we part. Mike has a few more miles to go than us to his own host further east.

Duke, our host, welcomes us and we meet Janice his wife. Duke has lived in Wyoming and on the Washington coast and is an avid sailor. Janice looks very Irish, and even though she isn’t, however she is a serious Irish dancer. They fix us a nice meal and we enjoy an evening of conversation and sharing stories.

This marks the end of Part 3: Ludington to Buffalo and the beginning on Part 4: The Erie Canal