Erie's best feature is a sandy hook of land that curls out into Lake Erie. Presque Isle, a state park on a peninsula about seven miles long, shelters the bay and holds sandy beaches, dunes, marshes and woodland, which draw birds migrating along the lake in spring and autumn. On a summer weekend, the beaches fill with swimmers, and in winter the lake freezes into odd heaps of ice. The bay behind the peninsula was the base from which Oliver Hazard Perry built a fleet in 1813 and sailed out to defeat the British in the Battle of Lake Erie, one of the key naval victories of the War of 1812. The brig Niagara, his second flagship, has been rebuilt and is sometimes moored in the harbour.
The city itself is an industrial one, with a past in steel, paper and locomotive building, and about a hundred thousand people. It has the plain, practical look of a Great Lakes port, with brick factories, old churches and wide avenues, and downtown has a lively waterfront and a few good breweries. Lake-effect snow is a famous feature of the climate, and in some winters the city is buried under several feet in a week.
The Seaway Trail, the scenic route that follows the shores of Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, begins here in Pennsylvania. It runs northeast through vineyards, an unexpected landscape of long straight rows of grapevines between the road and the lake, thanks to a cool microclimate along the shore. Roads are flat and easy, with gentle bends, farm stands, and old farmhouses. In September, the grape harvest perfumes the air. Winds off the lake can be strong, and summer storms can arrive quickly.
Fuel and food are easy to find in Erie. For a lakeside break, there are plenty of places along the bay, and the peninsula has cafes during the season. The best time to ride is late May to early October, and the light in September is particularly good. Traffic is manageable outside the city, with the heaviest flows on summer weekends near the beaches.