We departed Havre de Grace on
a rainy morning and proceeded out as we had come along the narrow channel back
into the Chesapeake Bay, around Turkey Point and into the Elk River leading to
the C & D Canal. This area of the
Chesapeake Bay is quite rural and lovely and we enjoyed our trip. The canal was approved in 1788 by Benjamin
Franklin but didn’t open until 1829. It
connected the Delaware River to the Chesapeake Bay and reduced the shipping
distance between Philadelphia and Baltimore by nearly 300 miles. The original canal had four locks, the
boats were pulled through by a team of six mules. Today there are no locks; the canal is 450
feet wide and 35 feet deep. The maximum
allowable length of a vessel transiting the canal today is 886 feet. We remarked how many more commercial vessels
we encountered on this stretch compared to our trip in 2009. We stopped for the night at Summit North
Marina at roughly the half-way point of the canal.
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| Summit North Marina |
Surrounded by Delaware’s
Lums Pond State Park the setting was beautiful presenting a great opportunity for long walks.
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| A Nice Walk Along the Canal |
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| Sunset at Summit North Marina |
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| Cape may Canal |
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The skies cleared overnight. We waited
until 11:00AM to depart so that we would have a favorable tide on our trip down
the Delaware River to the Cape May Canal and Cape May. Again we were impressed by the numbers of
freighters we encountered on the trip.
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| Hey Harry, Look Behind Us! | ! |
Cape May is an enjoyable stop;
we unloaded the bikes and pedaled into town.
We enjoyed the beautiful pool at the marina and had a scrumptious dinner
at the Lobster House. We will look
forward to returning in the fall.
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| The Pool at Canyon Club Marina, Cape May |
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| Lobster House, Cape May |
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