I have been thinking of doing a bike trip for a little while and finally came up with a trip and date that worked for everybody. We ended up spending two days riding in and around Delaware. Now Delaware is a small state so if you ride there you can easily end up drifting over the state lines into Pennsylvania or Maryland which is what the rides did.
On the first day we drove down to the top of Delaware near Winterthur and did a hilly ride in and around the Brandywine river. We had made a day trip to this area about four years ago and I wanted to explore it some more. The route we did was a lot different than last time as I wanted to explore so other parts of the area.
I know most people think Delaware is very flat but I was able to find the hillier parts and between the long drive and cold air I was struggling on the first few hills. Once I warmed up I felt better. A lot of the roads we were on are beautiful winding roads along rivers. There are no shoulders but that wasn't a problem because there wasn't much traffic and when there were cars they were extremely courteous and didn't seem to mind waiting to pass us.
I wasn't sure if we would find a rest stop out here but managed to find an Delicious Orchard like farm market called, Northbrook, that had a deli and bakery that gave us plenty of choices to refuel. Once back on the road we headed through some farmland and small towns as we worked our way back to the start.
There were of course some hills along the way. There were a few screaming downhills but also a few climbs and some of the hardest were close to the end of the ride. It was one of the hillier rides I have done this year but came in at a good pace. I'm glad I kept it at 40 miles.
After the ride we headed to a Comfort Inn which looked like it was recently refurbished. We ended up getting a snack at a local pub in the parking lot then heading over to a dinner across the street for supper. I was happy not to have to get in the car and drive any where.
The next day I had planned a flatter ride in and around the C&D Canal. We had done a day trip here in 2017 where we had rode on the roads south of the canal and then tried to come back on the canal path, which is on the north side, but had trouble getting over the canal in Chesapeake city as documented in my post and Laura's post.
This time I decided to stay north of the canal so we won't have to cross it to get to the path. We did this route which was mostly on roads I hadn't been before. We made a stop in Lum's Pond where we did the requisite gravel road after going around a closed gate. This let us get to the Pond and take a look. This must be a popular place in the summer because there were a lot of large parking lots around the lake and park.
After the pond we headed out through some farmland and eventually got into Maryland and the Elk river which leads into the Chesapeake Bay. Then it was on to Chesapeake City where the canal path starts.
We couldn't find any place to get food so we hung out by the canal eating what we had brought with us.
We then headed back to the start on the canal path which is fully paved. We had a good tail wind so made good time on the 15 miles of the path.
Most of boats on the canal were small personal boats but we did see a commercial barge towards the end. When we got back to the starting point I was hoping that Crabby Dicks would be open for ice cream like the last time we did the ride. The sign said it was open but you had to go into the restaurant next store and ask them to come down and serve you so it didn't seem worth the effort.
It was a good weekend in Delaware and we had some good rides and a lot of fun. It was a quick and easy get away so we may do this again in the future.
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