Just found out that I am going to the UK in early October/late September. I'll have a week free to do whatever I want, then the wife and I are going to do some traveling up to Scotland for a week.
My goal for the first week is to do some hiking/biking... probably along Hadrian's Wall. If any of you have -any- information on how to make that possible, please let me know!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Out on the C&O with the Mom!
Monday was Memorial Day over here in the States. I took off bright and early to go to Frederick to meet up with my mom for a day of biking along the C&O Canal. The canal is a 187 mile long now-defunct canal that reaches from Washington DC to Cumberland, Maryland. I was excited to try it out on my new mountain bike and my mom was up for some biking.
We drove our bikes down to Point of Rocks, Maryland which is on the border of Virginia and Maryland. We found a nice little place to park right along the canal and headed out on the 12 mile journey to Harper's Ferry in West Virginia. The goal was to meet up with my dad who was driving there for lunch. Then, depending on how my mom was feeling, either I would return on my bike to my car and have my dad take my mom and her bike home or my mom and I would bike back.
The C&O canal is awesome. It parallels the Potomac River (which is the dividing line for Maryland and Virginia) and is mostly shaded. Even with the temperature reported to be 93 degrees F (34 degrees C), the shaded path and the proximity to the river kept us much much cooler.
There were lots of sights to see., especially the river.
Nowadays there is a train track that runs next to the canal for most of the time. Through some tree jumping, I was able to make it along the tracks for a bit.
Since it was a canal, there were the lock keepers houses to check out as well.
And the locks themselves
We also stumbled upon the stones they used to make the canal.
And some more pictures...
As we were riding down the trail, we were surprised when, right after a quick turn, we ran into this monstrosity that had just fallen over.
I stuck around for a little bit to help some people over it.
Some more pictures...
The canal itself is a bit run down. Algae covers most of it, yet somehow wildlife still flourishes.
One of the many amazing views..
The Appalachian Trail (AT), which is a 2,000+ hiking route stretching from Georgia to Maine uses the canal for a bit. This is the famous "White Blazes" trail marker which means you are on the AT.
When you get closer to Harpers Ferry there are some fun little rapids along the Potomac.
And we finally made it. This is the first view of Harpers Ferry.
Harpers Ferry is a major location for trains.
We carried our bikes along the bridge that leads into Harper's Ferry.
And got some great views of the two rivers (Shenedoah river and Potomac river) colliding.
We got there just as my dad did, but since he had to park, I rode around town a little bit.
This is the Arsenal, which was what made Harper's Ferry famous during the Civil War.
And the flood line levels. Harper's Ferry has gotten flooded so bad so many times, this marker shows how high the water gets. I guess that's what happens when you put a town where two major rivers meet.
And the church...
And finally for some much wanted lunch. We were able to find a nice little outside diner where we could sit outside to watch our bikes.
After this, my mom said she was up for the return trip, so we got back on the canal and rode back to my car. I was impressed with my mom! 24 miles? Hell yea! It was slow though... took about 90 minutes to get there and about 2 hours to get back. I stopped to take all those pictures while my mom went ahead and I caught up.
It was a great trip and definitely made me want to go out and do the whole 180 miles!
We drove our bikes down to Point of Rocks, Maryland which is on the border of Virginia and Maryland. We found a nice little place to park right along the canal and headed out on the 12 mile journey to Harper's Ferry in West Virginia. The goal was to meet up with my dad who was driving there for lunch. Then, depending on how my mom was feeling, either I would return on my bike to my car and have my dad take my mom and her bike home or my mom and I would bike back.
The C&O canal is awesome. It parallels the Potomac River (which is the dividing line for Maryland and Virginia) and is mostly shaded. Even with the temperature reported to be 93 degrees F (34 degrees C), the shaded path and the proximity to the river kept us much much cooler.
There were lots of sights to see., especially the river.
 |
| From May 31 |
 |
| From May 31 |
Nowadays there is a train track that runs next to the canal for most of the time. Through some tree jumping, I was able to make it along the tracks for a bit.
 |
| From May 31 |
 |
| From May 31 |
Since it was a canal, there were the lock keepers houses to check out as well.
 |
| From May 31 |
 |
| From May 31 |
And the locks themselves
 |
| From May 31 |
We also stumbled upon the stones they used to make the canal.
 |
| From May 31 |
And some more pictures...
 |
| From May 31 |
 |
| From May 31 |
As we were riding down the trail, we were surprised when, right after a quick turn, we ran into this monstrosity that had just fallen over.
 |
| From May 31 |
 |
| From May 31 |
I stuck around for a little bit to help some people over it.
Some more pictures...
 |
| From May 31 |
 |
| From May 31 |
 |
| From May 31 |
The canal itself is a bit run down. Algae covers most of it, yet somehow wildlife still flourishes.
 |
| From May 31 |
 |
| From May 31 |
One of the many amazing views..
 |
| From May 31 |
 |
| From May 31 |
The Appalachian Trail (AT), which is a 2,000+ hiking route stretching from Georgia to Maine uses the canal for a bit. This is the famous "White Blazes" trail marker which means you are on the AT.
 |
| From May 31 |
When you get closer to Harpers Ferry there are some fun little rapids along the Potomac.
 |
| From May 31 |
And we finally made it. This is the first view of Harpers Ferry.
 |
| From May 31 |
Harpers Ferry is a major location for trains.
 |
| From May 31 |
 |
| From May 31 |
We carried our bikes along the bridge that leads into Harper's Ferry.
 |
| From May 31 |
And got some great views of the two rivers (Shenedoah river and Potomac river) colliding.
 |
| From May 31 |
 |
| From May 31 |
We got there just as my dad did, but since he had to park, I rode around town a little bit.
 |
| From May 31 |
This is the Arsenal, which was what made Harper's Ferry famous during the Civil War.
 |
| From May 31 |
And the flood line levels. Harper's Ferry has gotten flooded so bad so many times, this marker shows how high the water gets. I guess that's what happens when you put a town where two major rivers meet.
|
| From May 31 |
And the church...
 |
| From May 31 |
And finally for some much wanted lunch. We were able to find a nice little outside diner where we could sit outside to watch our bikes.
 |
| From May 31 |
After this, my mom said she was up for the return trip, so we got back on the canal and rode back to my car. I was impressed with my mom! 24 miles? Hell yea! It was slow though... took about 90 minutes to get there and about 2 hours to get back. I stopped to take all those pictures while my mom went ahead and I caught up.
It was a great trip and definitely made me want to go out and do the whole 180 miles!
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