Standalone 

Left from my doorstep, and headed up the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail from its starting point until it ends up in Mass., then cruise back down through CT farm country and head for home.

Nursery, Cheshire CT


Farmington, CT




Continuing on the Farmington Canal Trail


Roadside "Campsite," Granby, CT


Former rail station


The border before breakfast, then to Agawam before heading south again.


Shel Silverstien


Heading home, took the Windsor Locks Canal Trail


Blocked again! Time to backtrack a long, bumpy way! Last 200 yards closed for bald eagle nests.

Standalone 

Hartford-- yes, I was heading south into that wind all day. 110 miles!




Mark Twain House...


No more photos-- just make a break for home! Made it back around 10:30pm Monday.

https://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/84316893/

https://www.farmingtoncanal.org/ (maps are out of date...)

mbryant52

Awesome. Touring from your front door is the best. Thanks for sharing.

Standalone 

Thanks.

It was the maiden voyage for that new old stock '85 Alyeska. Not just with me, but with anyone!. All original freewheel/chain/etc. Somebody had obviously bought it and stored it right away. It arrived from ebay on Friday, and by Sunday I was on the road.

I took it out with a different seatpost/saddle and left the original black "raleigh" water bottle at home, but the chain saw its first road grime ever. That foam will have to go, too. My hands are numb!

It sure rode like a dream, though-- it loved to track straight-- you could jiggle the bars and they would just wiggle themselves back to straight. Great touring geo-- but it didn't feel really sluggish or flexy in a climb considering the weight.

cycleheimer

Trip looks good. Is it pretty smooth sailing on the trail, or do you hit many rough patches? Looks like a great weekender. Any motels/hotels along the way?

So, after 27 years that bike finally got a chance to get out there and do what it was meant to do. Looks like a great maiden voyage!

Standalone 

no hotels/motels that I stayed in, but some could certainly be googled. I set out at 3PM on Sunday and was home late night Monday, so just one fitful overnight in a mesh bivy. The deer were really active-- I guess a linear park is THEIR highway, too! Smooth trail on the FCHT, but a bumpier thicker-tire worthy trail is the Windsor Locks.

cycleheimer

Sounds like a great ride! Great route, beautiful classic touring bike, and a little stealth camping thrown in...all thrown into a 175 mile adventure that took just a little over a day's time! Time well spent. Excellent!

RB1-luvr

that was some adventure you went on. Nice.

djyak

Nice photos! Looks fairly quiet out there too, even better.

adventurepdx

Looks like a nice ride! I rode the northern section of the Farmington Canal Trail on a tour several years back. I remember how the paved part just ended at the CT/MA line. I managed to trek on a few more miles through the unimproved section, though it wasn't fun. I realized (too late) that the old rail alignment was going through a very-active dirt bike course. Thankfully I got out sans conflict.

Question for the OP: Does Chick's in West Haven still exist? I see from the map you started near where it would be.

Standalone 

Hey, you know Chick's! That's great. It certainly exists--- though Irene took out a bit of the MUP bike path across the street on the beach, but everything's ok. When were you here??

And you can see in my first post where the path ran out, only a good bit further up in MA than it did where you hit the end. It's the photo with the orange sign. Looks like they're building it out even more. I walked up to the survey team to ask whether there was any path further ahead and they said no. So I got directions to a good diner. Now if they can only connect that one section through Southington, CT...

adventurepdx

If you mean when was the last specific time I was at Chick's, sometime in the mid-nineties. There were many times I've been there, though. I lived in "your neck of the woods" from 1975-2000. Many summer days were spent at either Silver Sands or Gulf beaches in Milford, and stopping at Chick's was part of the post-beach ritual. (Fun fact: The last car I ever bought was from someone who lived a couple blocks from Chick's.)

Ah, New England. How I miss ya!

jimmuller 

Nice report!

Standalone 

I'm a Stowe's Seafood fan myself... I grew up in Del, but came up to the Milford area-- where both my parents grew up until moving out in '75-- once I was ready to settle down. Lots of family roots and kin here. I'm pretty active in religious and civic life in Milford, even though we're over the W. Haven line. I have come to love both towns quite a bit. Glad to be living here.

Standalone 

update: on a club ride and chatting with my shop's owner, he said that lots of folks had talked about doing the full farmington canal route w/ tent, but that I was the first.

I was really surprised! It seemed a ready made tour. I was sure tons of people did the same thing every year.

Spld cyclist

Looks like a great trip. Thanks for sharing. I should do that one the other way around - I'm just north of the border.

Standalone 

Cool. Let me know if you have any questions. My furthest point of the trip was the Springfield skyline.

One interesting aspect of the trip is that the loop basically covers the Connecticut River Valley, a sort of rare ancient geological area that shows all kinds of cool things relating to when the continents pulled apart 200M years ago or whenever.



Google "Connecticut River Valley Geology" if you're interested in that kind of stuff. It was kind of like the split that could have become the Atlantic, but a parallel split wound up going the distance.



And get in touch if you need route planning help. Cheers.

HacO

That was cool! Inspiring maiden trip.
I am in the process of researching for the route, and all the necessities that may entailed for my own maiden touring trip. See, I am planning to ride 236 miles in 2 days - From Detroit to Muskegon, Michigan - I kinda having some doubts, but after seeing your trip report, it really empowers me to embark on my adventure on wheels. And I hope I will be able to tour across this beautiful country, from coast to coast, some day.
Thanks for sharing your experience.

aenlaasu

Gorgeous photos! Thank you so much for sharing! I had to chuckle when I saw the building with the name Granby on it. It's a very common place name in my part of Sweden. I've ridden through at least 3 Granbys while pedaling around a 30 mile radius.

yiffzer

Very cool. I was on the same bike path that you went on that goes between Connecticut and Massachusetts -- it was an awesome bike path! I went all the way to the end and continued onto Springfield, MA. Nice cycling. I should do this sometimes.

Standalone 

That's a looooong way to go in 2 days. My trip was pretty much at the outside of my abilities, and I ride quite a lot-- and often loaded with a kid on the bike. If your route is mostly very flat as this one was, then go for it-- but be ready to have alternate shorter routes, too. No shame in that.

Don't forget that 40-50 loaded miles a day is *very* respectable. My 110 mile day two was pretty intense.

HacO

Many thanks for the advice. I forgot to mention since this is my first try out. I will be traveling very light and I will be using my race bike (Litespeed Tuscany Ti) with the handle bar adjusted to higher position. I trained regularly, I think I can achieve my daily objective. Further more, my touring bike is still being build. It will not be ready for the target date. I know this is not a full out touring, but at least I can find out what the feeling of the long distance traveling like. I still need to learn a lot from many, many seasoned riders in this forum before I can set out for an all out touring with every thing I need on the bike.
Worst case, I will reach my destiny on my 3 day.