Cape Cod Canal Bike Ride

Can we tell you how nice it is to see the sun after three days straight of rain. Our friends Claudia and Charles came to visit on Saturday.  Our cook-out turned into a cook-in. However, that didn't dampen our spirits as we had a chance to catch up.

Monday, October 1st dawned clear and bright. We really wanted to get out and get some exercise.  We decided to explore the Cape Cod Canal and Bike Path. Being from Philadelphia, we never heard of this before.  The canal runs seven miles from Buzzards Bay to Cape Code Bay.  By taking the canal, boats can save over 130 miles of sea travel.  Back in the day when mules pulled barges, there were tow paths on either side of the canal.  Today, those tow paths are now paved and open for biking.

We started our bike adventure at the Cape Cod Canal Visitor's Center in Sandwich, Mass.  (Yes, there are sandwich shops in Sandwich.)  It was just a short walk from the visitor's center to the beach on Cape Cod Bay.  If you look really, really hard, you can see Provincetown at the end of the Cape.

The wind today was pretty stiff.  We had to peddle into the wind to get from Cape Cod Bay to Buzzards Bay. We decided to peddle on the sunny side of the canal.  That required crossing over the canal on Sagamone Bridge.  Dave stopped for a picture from the middle of the bridge.

Kathy, on the other hand, continued to peddle furiously across the bridge not stopping until she reached solid ground on the other side.  While not totally afraid of heights, crossing over a really, really high bridge on a bicycle with only a narrow sidewalk, a view straight down to the water, all while cars streamed past at 50 miles an hour was just about the limit of her endurance.

Here is Kathy pointing up to where here near death experience took place.  Keep in mind, we had to go back across the bridge to return to the car.

At the far end of the canal is the old railroad bridge.  This bridge is really cool.  The tracks go up and down like an elevator.  These tracks weigh 2,200 pounds and there are 1,100 lb counter weights on each end.

The seven mile ride back to Cape Cod Bay was nice since the wind was at our backs. We pedalled past many groups of cormorants, sunning and drying their wings.  Some were perched up on light poles.  Others were on rocks in the canal.  Still others lined up along booms floating in the water at the local power plant.  Seagulls were numerous, and very fat.  The gulls on the jetty and breakwater weren't scared of us at all, and even let us get within about 8 feet of them as we walked atop the rocks.

We noticed that there were a number of RV parks along the north side of the Canal, even out at the point on Cape Cod Bay.  We hadn't found these when we were hunting for a campground in this area, and they looked as if they would have been very nice places.  But they were pretty full, and, as Kathy noted, when you're that full and popular, you don't need to advertise - and so we never heard about them.

At Cape Cod Bay (eastern) end of our ride along the north side of the canal, we walked out on the breakwater out into the bay. It was two miles back to the Sagamore Bridge and then up and over back to the south side where the truck was parked. Needless to say, Kathy survived the ride back even if she ended up walking the bike for part of the way.

So, we biked a total of about 20 miles and enjoyed many interesting sights!

The cats were excited to see us, since we had been with them for three days straight.

Tomorrow, we are going to do the tourist thing in Plymouth.