In early August of 2005 we spent a weekend riding down the first third of the C&O Canal towpath on our bikes with some friends. The weather was great, we went swimming in the Potomac river twice and Renée even enjoyed the trip on the back of Martin's bike.

Here we are, Saturday, at the trail head in Cumberland, MD. Downtown Cumberland has undergone quite a few renovations focused on the trail head. There are some nice shops and a fountain. We ate lunch here before leaving on our first leg, 27 miles to Paw Paw where we camped overnight.

Renée's bike seat was not quite mounted right, this damaged a link on my chain causing it to slip once per revolution. Good thing it was toward the end of the first day.

Rob later told us how nervous he was Sunday morning when, I decided to remove the bad link from my chain. While I did have a chain tool with me, I had yet to actually perform such a repair. I must have removed at least 6 pins before I eventually figured out how to do it right. The next time (at the Outer Banks when one of those pins finally gave out) was much easier!

This is the exit to the famous Paw Paw tunnel. We passed through this tunnel Sunday - at the start of our second leg of the trip. Only 32 miles to Hancock, MD to finish our trip!

Fixed: All of these pictures on one page (Nice if you have DSL!)

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