Canal Cruise : 20120308

Hey! C'mon!! The sun is shining and it's 72F/21C!!! Even an icicle like me can ride a bike in March in New Jersey. Okay, there was a bit of a stiff breeze, but the trees by the canal broke it up. And flats? Pah! I laugh at flats!! Oh yes!!! There were flats ... but not mine ...

It was day when riding your bike was hard to resist. So I drifted down the hill from where I live to the start of a meander down the tow-path of the Delaware and Raritan Canal, situated in one of the longest and thinnest state parks in the USofA. 

Bike route 1445602 - powered by Bikemap 

The path is in a fairly good state, following an exceptionally mild winter. However, mild doesn't necessarily mean dry, so the path showed signs of repair where the canal had overflowed during the progress of the season.

But it was a good sign that the work had been done, although, at the moment, some of the repaired sections are pretty rough, but another month of riders, joggers, walkers and doggies should see the path relatively smooth again.

It's over 10miles/16km from our start on Route27/Old Lincoln Road in Kingston to Millstone and over that distance there is a fall of 30ft/9metres, not that you'd notice it other than the slow progress of the water on the canal.

There's a little deli in East Millstone which makes an excellent sarnie, although, unfortunately, it's closed on Sundays. But still, a simple sandwich in the open air is one of the pleasures of life, and having partaken, it was time to return, this time against the imperceptible climb, and more importantly, stiffening breeze.

A half-a-dozen turtles/terrapins turned out to salute us and a huge heron did a fly-past to finish off an unseasonably warm and pleasant ride.