It rained last night but the forecast was fine so off we went... in very short order we reached Albany. Some interesting architecture but we were happy to move on up the river to more sylvan views (I had to look up sylvan.. it means wooded)
We faced the first lock after the town of Troy NY. This is called the Federal Lock and its the first lock we have had to do totally on our own (the prior ones at Dismal Swamp were in the company of fellow helpful C-Brats, and besides, they were far less "industrial sized".
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| (isn't that reflection off the window neat?) |
Then we arrived at the town of Waterford, entrance to the Erie Canal. It is a lovely waterfront area and we'd arrived just in time to catch the Sunday farmers market... fresh cherries, corn, plums and apricots were going to be our dinner and desert tonight (with probably some digestive distress at bedtime). We were VERY disappointed at the Waterford visitors center... we were thinking it would have been more like a formal museum (like the Dismal Swamp visitor center), with Erie Canal history etc. It was just a small room with some marketing literature for places along the route. Docking at the wall is free, and ALL the reviews say this place is great... but the bathrooms were creepy and we didn't like it much. We hate to dis the place, but we can't understand the great reviews.
We walked a few blocks into town and passed some formerly charming homes... a few had been renovated, but mostly it was a sad little downtown. We did have a FABULOUS lunch at McGreavy's Pub (which was updated and very nice), and then walked around the harbor area to take pictures and view the lock:
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| Waterford Lock (see the spillway along the right side) |
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| Spillway "waterfall" and bike path along the canal... This bike path goes all along the canal for many miles |
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| The Waterford wall and park area |
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