My first attempt was to find one of the breaks between Bristol and Morrisville. Though I found the road next to it, there was a gated electricity transformer area and road construction blocking any signs of a) parking and b) an entrance. So off to Morrisville I went.
Getting there is really easy, and the parking is free along the waterfront. In fact, there is a pathway that runs between the two bridges in town linking PA to NJ, so you can get a good circuit of about a mile in on crushed stone, with a river view (there are also benches). There are also a couple of parking spots at various locations along the route where it intersects with roadways, in case you want to start some where else.
For this route, I made it to about a third of the way between Washington Crossing, PA and New Hope, PA where RT 32 main and RT 32 River Road splits/merges (depending on which direction you go).
At Morrisville (my trail start/end), the entrance to the D&L tow path is conveniently by public toilets (I did not use them so I can't tell you how good they are inside). The path has a short section to the left that leads to a dead-end at a road, so unless you want the little extra workout, turn right. Parking is across the road along the river bern. Note that the parking symbol on the traillink site is NOT accurate.
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| Looking to the left at Morrisville |
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| Looking to the right. Direction of trail to go. |
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| From the trail head towards parking, all along the other side of the blue water tower |
The path is crushed stone with some areas of well packed ground, and a short section of pavement when it oddly becomes a roadway for a handful of houses. On this particular day, it seemed that no matter where I stopped along the canal, be it by houses or in the woods, I was immediately set upon by the humidity and a phlanax of blood sucking insects.
Along the route you encounter several low bridges, so duck. These bridges are often used by cars and pedestrians, but every so often there is a bridge solely for the use of pedestrians. One in particular seemed to go off into the woods, perhaps to grandma's house.
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| Typical of most of the bridges |
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| Some are low, some carry cars, some pedestrians |
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| and some go off into the woods.... |
You also encounter several geese, and since these where with their young, they hissed a lot. One of them was in true form and actually came at me. I guess they could care less that it's a *shared trail*. I let them go since at least one will get a comeuppance on Christmas. Other wildlife I encountered were a family of ducks and several birds.
The path itself is quite flat and straight, which makes sense since it's only slightly raised above the canal water level. Do keep in mind that if you ride after a rain, it gets muddy and may be flooded out. Also, there are two concrete dips along this part of the route; I can only speculate that they are for flood control, but they did surprise me with the quick drop.
You or your ride mates are tired, cranky, hungry, or sore-assed. What to do? You can get off the path into Washington Crossing, which did a nice job of connecting it into the park and the downtown. The other option is to get off into Yardley, where there is a bakery, a Starbucks, and other shops up to a block from the path (head across the bridge). If you opt for the Starbucks, go around to the backside of the store, that's where parking and bike racks are.
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| The bridge at Yardley |
Minus the humidity and the swarm of insects, it's a pretty good ride, and a nice relatively safe connector for the towns along it. (well, at least the part I rode). I can't say the same for the area south of Morrisville. That was just a disaster in planning.
Total miles round trip: 20
Bug bites: probably the same.
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