Fairport

The bustling canalside community of Fairport, can be explored with RV&E’s (40 N. Main St., 585/388-5680, www.rvebike.com [1]) bicycle rentals or the Erie Canal Boat Company’s (7 Lift Bridge Ln., 585/748-2628, www.eriecanalboatcompany.com [2]) kayak rentals. For a more in depth look at life on the canal, join an overnight excursion, which includes kayak rental, food, preset overnight campsite with sleeping gear. Paddling adventures with itineraries for up to 10 days are also available.

With any luck, a boater will need the Slanted Lift Bridge triggered, the only one of its kind on the canal system. With no angle the same, the irregularly constructed bridge once largely stayed raised in a crooked slant at its top fifteen-foot-height to allow for the high volume of traffic on the canal below.

A pedestrian bridge was created to accommodate foot traffic in this raised position. Current times see more road traffic, so the opposite is true and the bridge is raised from its usual six-foot-above-the-water level only when a boat needs to pass through.

The Red Bird Market (130 Village Landing, 585/377-5050, www.redbirdmarket.com [3]) is a good morning pit stop pre-paddle for baked goods and coffee.

Afternoon cool downs can be had at Lickity Splits (6 N. Main St., 585/377-6250) and Donnelly’s Public House (1 Water St., 585/377-5450), an excellent pub with 22 taps and good food.