Trip Planning - Champlain Valley Route Question

I rode the canal trail from Albany to Buffalo last summer and am planning a trip for this year. I am going to start in NYC and ride to Albany, but thinking about riding the Champlain Valley Trail North to the Canadian boarder, then turning left and riding Route 11 with stops in Malone, Canton, Watertown and then Syracuse to Buffalo. I would like to hear from anyone who has taken that Northern route regarding traffic, lodging, and whether it is worth six days of riding on roads.

Scott:

I have ridden much of the local roads and Champlain Canal Trail from Albany north to Whitehall, and drive all of those roads regularly. The State of NY has made tremendous improvements to the trail in the last 3 years, some of which were not completed until last summer. This should be a great ride other than the section of shared road riding on route 4 north of Fort Ann which has lots of truck traffic but also a nice wide shoulder. It is very hilly from Whitehall north to Plattsburg, but then is rolling and beautiful when you enter the Saint Lawrence River Valley.

I've driven route 11 from Vermont to Watertown, then down to Syracuse or Rochester quite a bit in the past while working at Fort Drum. Much of the roads don't have a great shoulder, and there is some truck traffic, but in general it is a pleasant rural route with not much traffic, large commercial dairy farms, and smaller Amish and Mennonite farms. TRoute 3 from Sacketts Harbor south to the Three Rivers area will be a nice ride, and then you'll have to figure a route via local roads to the trail west of Syracuse.

The Marina Inn in Sackets is a gem of a place, right on the water with beautiful sunsets. As many have posted on this site the lodging west of Syracuse is limited, the highway motels in Weedsport are clean, convenient, and inexpensive.