Sagamore sits at the western end of the Cape Cod Canal, right where the mainland ends and the Cape begins, and it is a place that exists mostly because of a ditch. The canal, dug between 1909 and 1914 and later taken over by the federal government, cuts through the neck of land to give ships a shortcut and spare them the long, dangerous trip around the Cape's outer shore. Today it is a deep tidal channel about seventeen miles long, and the two big arched bridges, the Sagamore and the Bourne, are its landmarks. Sagamore Bridge, which carries Route 6 over to the Cape, is the one most travellers know, mostly from sitting in traffic on it.
For a rider, the interest is in the approach and the water. Service roads run along both banks of the canal, and the bike path alongside is busy with cyclists and walkers. From the road you can watch container ships, tugs and little fishing boats slide through, and on a summer afternoon watch the tidal current race by. The Sagamore Bridge itself is a steep arch with narrow lanes, and the wind can come across it hard, so stay alert on a lightweight bike. Summer weekends can bring grim traffic on the approaches in both directions; a Friday afternoon headed onto the Cape, or a Sunday evening coming off, is the time to be anywhere else.
Sandwich, just across, is the oldest town on the Cape, settled in 1637, and has the sort of harbour, old mill and glassmaking history that make it worth a slow walk. The Sandwich Glass Museum remembers the nineteenth century factory that made the town famous. The pleasure of the Cape Cod Canal area is that it can be tackled in an hour or in an afternoon.
Services are plentiful, because this is a gateway. Fuel is easy to find around the canal on both sides, and Sandwich and Bourne have places to eat. Mashpee, to the south, is larger, with more shops. Pitch-pine and oak woods line the roads here, and the air is cool and salty even when the day is hot. Evening light on the water, with ships coming through lit up, is the quiet reward for anyone who stays.