The Erie Canal Adventures
of
the Sterling Lady
The next several miles of the Erie have been carved thru solid rock. Quite the accomplishment for their time.
Keeps getting narrower.
and seemingly lower too!
In it's day maybe, but not today.
Wow, my ex has a park named after her!!
There was one guy on the bike path slower than us.
Brockport was just a short run west. AT the free docks is the Galley restaurant. We went there for happy hour. The drinks and wings were disappointing. As was the service.
At the free docks is a Museum/Visitor center. Downstairs is the laundry and bathroom/ showers for cruisers.
As you can clearly see, the Erie is elevated here. I took this shot from the parking lot. The town is alot lower yet!
Like all the Erie Canal lift bridges, in the up position, the Spencerport bridge has a stairway to allow walking across the canal while the bridge is up.
This was done originally , because it allowed farmers to cross the canal over the busy Erie traffic.
In the down position, a gate drops across the elevated walkway.
This is done for the really stupid walkers, with lawyers.
Spencerport is a well kept town, with shopping and groceries available.
It's an 8 mile run to Brockport , about an hour and a half in boat time.
<<<--- Look closely,That is a squirrel, who is purposely swimming across the canal to "get to the other side" No kidding!
Holly has a beautiful waterfall in a park setting, right below the docks.
In it's day , Holly was a decent sized small town. Today , it is, sadly, in bad shape. No shopping to speak of, lots of closed buildings and stores. But a nice free dock.
This morning, it's a five mile jaunt to Albion, less than an hour.
Sure enough, 55 minutes later, Albion.
Albion's free docks include 30 amp electric, and water, right down town.
Albion
If you get near Albion N.Y. , make sure you stop at teh RR museum. Well worth while.
We were there over two hours!!
The building is HUGE!
and it boasts the worlds largest train display, and it is!
Check it out:
The Detail was unbelievable!!!
Check out the couple in the back seat. You could spend hours here finding all kinds of "details" on the layout.
The nest morning another short ride to the free docks are right down town , Medina
Medina, once the Sandstone capital of New York, has many Sandstone buildings.
After a day of shopping, a 1.1 mile walk to the grocery store, we did happy hourz at the local American legion. The locals were buying us drinks!
7/30/2011
This morning finds us on the Erie for 6 mile, to stop at Middleport. The laundry is backing up ,and Middle port has a nice laundry close to the free docks.
Middleport opens her bridge for us.
We put $10 in the box and were glad to do it!!!
Middleport is a popular stopover for boaters from Tonawanda, west of here.
The entire town, is on one small block. that's it.
Doctor "Dicky" has an office on main street.
The laundry was done, and early dinner was eaten, so we felt an obligation to help the economy of Middle port. We went to the best (the only) bar in town for happy hourz!!
$3 call drinks, ya can't beat that,, and less than 500 ft. downhill walk to the boat.
7/31/2011
In todays overcast, with a very light sprinkling of rain, we will travel the 12 miles from Middleport to Lockport.
We passed Gasport, which the Marina is Sadly, closed. Way to go mr. President!
Getting close to Lockport.
An old mill on the left.
The Lockport Locks are back to back locks. They will bring us up 60 feet to 564 feet above sea level.
Here we are in the first lock, nearly at the top of the rise.
In front are the lock gates for the next lock.
The water came in fast , but it was a smooth ride up.
Remember This --------->>
It's Capt. Sterling's Patent pending (Feel free to copy it) tie you boat to the cable or floating bullard in the lock line.
It works to good, that ......
as you can see here, the Admiral can casually sit on the bow, while the boat slips right up this center tied cable. If you want the details on how to make one of these, email me @ Floridakeyz@aol.com
waiting to rise in the secound lock.
also,This is the only lock in the system with two gates.
We tied up for the nite at the Free Dock with electric, on the outside of the lock.We we actually in the old original locks.
The original 5 flights of the Erie Canal locks are used here as a spillway for lock 35. You can see they are much smaller, and shallow.
The small building at the bottom of the flight is a Lock Museum. A small lock museum.
Not the widest bridge in the world, but close enought for me.Widest I have ever been on or under.
