UniChris

Finally got to ride the entire 82 mile New Haven to Northampton route, and wish I'd done so sooner.

Main conclusion is that while the CT and MA gaps are road rides, as road rides go they're not bad.

​​​​​​For the mid-CT gap, ECG routing (which Google maps and navigation use) actually starts at the road crossing before the end of contiguous trail at Lazy Lane. The first miles on Flanders are fairly quiet, large-lots residential with a fair amount of moderate up and down - nothing challenging, but compared to a rail trail notable. Next after crossing over the highway there's a section that turns this way and that through quiet, dense subdivisions where navigation beat my soggy cuesheet. That routed me into a seeming dead end at a cul-de-sac but then I spotted a sidewalk sized paved path and was pleased to find it crossed a brook back onto good roads. Soon came out to rt 10 which didn't feel bad and had a very welcome choice of gas station marts and pharmacies for fluid refill. From there under a highway it was a surprisingly short and comfortable shoulder ride until a bidirectional path began over on the southbound side, but traffic was calm enough I didn't bother crossing to it. A mix of off road path and shoulder then lead west to the trail parking at the Plainville/Farmington line where the rail line paralleling the runway once had a bridge.

In Avon there's a new whole foods [edit: still under construction] uphill from the police station where the trail exits the tunnel under rt 44 at what has been a resource-free stretch of a built up area. Some of the paving issues by the condos in Simsbury are newly fixed but some remain. Overall these are brief spots needing vigilence in 60 odd miles of generally excellent trail. Water fountain on Iron Horse behind Drake hill mall was on but had pathetic pressure, did not try the following playground as I tend to opt for either the gas station mart just north of crossing into Simsbury at Hopmeadow or the one at the north end of the built up area; there's little between there and Westfield without detour except at the limited hours of riding hoods basket just north of the state line.

Westfield has replaced the bridge at the current trails end at stop & shop but that and the rest running to the river is not yet open (there's a disconnected segment over the river itself but the road bridges are not bad at off hours and have walkable sidewalks, either of which can beat the challenge of getting to that little bit of trail). Mechanic & Bartlett are a quieter route from the trail to the river but Elm Street itself isn't terrible.

From Westfield I continue to use Union to Papermill to East Mountain and continue through name changes up to Park St to intercept the trail at the Williston school in Easthampton. East Mountain can get car brigading at some hours but all in all is workable and feels preferable to the curving no-shoulder hill on the stretch of Elm between the river and Mass Pike, though the boldly assertive can probably make that work, too.

Some of the cracks behind the mills in Easthampton are newly fixed but those hiding under the tree cover between the downtown road crossing and the mill remain as potential dusk surprises - still these are rare issues in a long route of all-tires-friendly pavement.