GAPCO - Day 6 July 9

What a fabulous day of cycling.  We pedaled just over 40 miles for the day.  It started out in the 70's but it climbed into the high 80's with 92% humidity.  The good news was that the trail we rode was like traveling along a leafy tunnel.  We were sheltered from the full brunt of the sun all day. 😎

The ride was one of those times that you float along the path and let your mind drift through some of the most beautiful scenery of green.  It was poetic in nature.  It seemed even effortless at times.

We moved along the trail with the river flowing beside us.  A short ride down the trail the river began to take on a faster pace and entered a set of rapids.  The rapids continued as we reached the town of Harper's Ferry.  Another stop on the historical trail we are traveling.

    Harper's Ferry arsenal which John Brown captured at the outset of the Civil War.  Harper's Ferry sits in the V of the confluence two rivers.  It is a beautiful river town that was a center of activity during the War of Northern Aggression.  The town changed hands 6 times during the Civil War.  It was an easy town to capture but a very tough town to defend.  It is surrounded on two sides by mountains.  Anyone who commanded the high ground from these mountains could control the town.  

    The church at the high point of the town.

    The old houses along the Main Street of town. 

Once we left Harper's Ferry we traveled downstream on the towpath and came to a lock keepers cabin that was restored and open for viewing.

The lock keeper was on duty 24 hours a day and was called to duty when a barge would approach the lock.  The barge would blow a horn and the lock keeper would work the lock and guide the boat into and through the lock.  The house was a two bedroom no bath house.  The first floor consisted of two rooms, a sitting room and a kitchen.  The second floor had two rooms.  One was the lock keeper and his wife's bedroom and the second room was the children's bedroom.  The lock keeper was given the use of the house and an acre of ground.  He was paid only a modest salary and had to supplement that with other means to make ends meet.  It was not an easy life.

Speaking of locks and waterways...  we came upon several aqueducts along the path.  The aqueducts carried a waterway and hence the barges over and above rivers and streams.

The Catoctin Aquaduct as seen today.

The Aquaduct as it appeared when in operation.

Another Aquaduct over the Monocacy River, a large expansive span across the river.  One heck of an engineering marvel.

And of course the topic of water brings to mind water that is accessible along the trail.

   The convenient and readily available state of the art water refilling stations that are dotted along the trail.

 

As we finished the ride for the day we caught a ferry across the Potomac into Leesburg, Virginia. 

 

Who would have thought that I would be cycling into Leesburg.  In my career at Xerox I sent quite a few stints at their training facilities in Leesburg.  Never would have imagined that I would be on a bike in the area at some point in my life.  😊

The Potomac...

Tomorrow is the last day of the ride.  We will be riding into Washington DC and finishing the ride.  It went by quite quickly.  😕