C&O canal

July 3, 2016

Our original plan to get from Falls Church to Frederick Maryland was to backtrack East 5 miles and take the C&O canal tow path bike trail along the North bank of the Potomac. The C&O path is not paved and we woke to a light rain. Our plan B was to take the paved Washington and Old Dominion trail up the South side of the Potomac to Leesburg, then cross the river at White's Ferry.

This was our 3rd time up the W&OD trail this week. By now we are familiar with all of the street crossings, hills and curves. The pavement is very clean, so even though it was wet we did not get much grit on the bikes.

White's Ferry is quite small. The Potomac is narrow at the ferry crossing. The access road is quite steep - we walked the bikes both down and up. Judging by the flood marks on the store next to the ferry landing the river can rise quite a bit when it is in flood.

White's Ferry (Virginia side). Note the ferry cable.

The Potomac has been known to flood in the past.

The C&O is extremely popular with cycle tourists. We saw more touring cyclists in 10 miles on the C&O than we have seen in the rest of the trip put together. Some cyclists were interested in our route and Kerry soon had a gaggle of bikers checking out (chicking out???) the map on his jersey.

Gaggle of cyclists checking out Kerry's map.

The canal path features the ruins of old locks and a spectacular aqueduct that carried the canal over the Monocacy river.

I guess the mules that worked the C&O canal tow path were not afraid of heights.

We left the canal to go the Frederick for the night and immediately entered hilly farming country. Wheat, beans, corn, sod, hay and grapes were present and accounted for. There were also lots of wild raspberries along the roadside.

When we arrived at Freederick and checked into our hotel we headed around the corner for Greek food at Analia's Cafe. This was one of the best meals we have had during our trip - if anyone is in Frederick MD we highly recommend Analia's.

Analia's Cafe, Frederick Maryland. Yummy!

Lots of rain is forecast for tomorrow so we decided to check out downtown Frederick tonight instead of on our way out of town tomorrow. Frederick has an excellent river walk through the heart of the city. We paid a visit to Barbara Fritchie's house.

Barbara Fritchie's house, Frederick MD. "Shoot if you must this old gray head, But spare your country's flag." she said. "Who touches a hair on yon gray head Dies like a dog! March on!" he said.

It must have really happened if they wrote a poem about it...

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