Day 99 Niagara Falls to Middleport 74km

The problem with staying at hotels is that it is always much more difficult to leave them on a chilly morning than it is a campground. So after lingering over the complimentary breakfast, chatting with the other guests, and sorting out a problem with our bill, there really was nothing left to do but step out into an icy breeze and head back to the United States. The trail continued almost to the border and it was lovely riding, autumn sunshine, green, manicured parks, indecisive squirrels (should I commit hari-kari by bicycle or not?) and plenty of other cyclists enjoying the trail too. It is an odd experience to cross borders by bike, border crossings are rarely set up for them, and you just have to join the queue of waiting cars. This border is, of course, the Niagara river, and crossing the bridge required cast iron nerves. The trucks and freight movers get the two right lanes, that leaves the single centre lane only open for everyone else. So accompanied by an unpredictable side wind, with trucks zooming past on my right, everyone else passing on my left, and some bike eating bridge joints to cross somewhere in the middle, I pedaled that white line as quickly as possible! Relieved to join the slow moving queue of cars on the other side of the bridge, all of us waiting to roll into New York State.


There are some benefits of bicycles, and we get waved to the front of the queue, for a perusal of our passports, "sunglasses off please ladies" and we are back in the land of the stars and stripes. Where the people are still friendly, just the accents and currency are different. We are charmed by the towns we quickly pass through, New York State is the most densely populated state we have crossed so far, so the distances between cafes is much shorter! We enter the library at Lockport with some trepidation owing to our last experience but are pleased enjoy the fantastic hospitality, and beautiful architecture of their Public Library before immersing our taste buds in some truly excellent sandwiches at Scripts Cafe. With time urging us on we find our way to the Canal Way Trail, which will be our pathway for the next 90 miles. Despite the dropping temperature and bitingly cold wind (tail, thank you God) it is a gorgeous trail, following the green and winding canal through farms and historic towns.


Our good friends and companions this whole trip, the Canada Geese also find the trail a nice spot to stop, and watch us with bright, intelligent eyes as we pass, we even surprise a beaver who quickly dashes off undercover. In Middleport, we can't find the campground, but we do find Greg. A firefighter with a vacant grassy block behind the fire station, who let's us pitch the tent right there along the banks of the canal. The first genuinely cold night in ages is falling around us and we decide it is time to pull the long underwear out from the bottom of the bag. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad