We had a delightful stay in Casa Monica, formerly the Coronado Hotel It was built in 1887 in the heart of St. Augustine. 2nd day was another relatively short one at a little less than 50 miles. Perfect way to start such a long trek.
The girls caught up to us at a traffic light less than a mile from tonight’s hotel. Right on the ocean. Tomorrow is our first of two long days. Supposed to have a tail wind again. Time to go to bed.
Weather is warm, compared to Philly, but a little cooler than I would have thought. Bright sunshine. Sunscreen will be a high priority.
Today’s ride is less than 50 miles.
We had 75 miles of riding today and we wanted to make the 4:30 PM mass near our hotel in Windsor Locks, so we were on the road by about 7:30 a.m. I think today’s ride was not the hardest, but very close to it. We had about 3700 feet of ascending and close to that in descending, and after a while, that can get old. We passed one Civil War statue today, as we have almost every day, but today we stopped for a photo. We passed close to a dozen small towns, and about half of them had small cemeteries. The other memorable part of today’s ride was all of the motorcycles. I would guess Tim and I were passed by close to 3 dozen motorcycles during our ride.
We made it to our hotel by 3 pm exactly, after which we showered and then headed to Beth’s room for our daily end of the ride beers and snacks.
Having Nancy along was really nice, and the daily lunches she packed for Tim and me were fantastic!
Here are some photos from today’s ride.
Very nice hotel but breakfast is not their strong suit. Burned two slices of bread trying to make my own toast. Easy ride today. At least a quarter of it was on macadam bike trails.
Forgot to mention in earlier posts that we have seen traffic circles this ride. First time since Europe. Total mileage today was 46.
Even though it was short, I still took a nap after the ride. One of my favorite things to do on a bike trip. Helps me rejuvenate for the next day’s ride.
Tim and I got a fairly early start and passed through Lowell first. The really nice aspect of the ride today was that we were on three different bike trails, all of which were beautiful and well maintained. I used my phone and Google bike maps for directions, which worked great. I’m not sure we will ever just rely on the Adventure Cycling Association maps again, since Google maps have been working so well. We only rode about 47 miles today, and made it to our hotel by 1 pm, another nice aspect of today’s ride. I managed to take a few photos today and here they are. I think these photos were taken on the first bike trail.
As usual, Tim, Beth and I head to the pool and the hot tub after checking into the hotel. Tonight we again are dinner at our hotel, which is where I took this photo.
Tomorrow we head to Windsor Locks for our last ride of this leg. It’s a 77 mile ride and will probably take us a good 8 hours.
Got a great start after spending 20 minutes attempting to clean the gears on our bikes–it worked– our gear shifters were operating without a hitch. Stopped in Dover,NH for our first break. Nice nice, young lady took this picture of Brian and I.
We switched to Google Bike Maps instead of ACC. We were rooted on some more bike trails. One was gravel and we had to dismount to walk our bikes around some huge puddles.
Today’s ride was not as difficult as we feared. The hills were not as steep as they were in Maine.
Total mileage was 82. Ate dinner at the hotel after a visit to the hot tub. Beddy bye at 8:15.
Started our ride by biking Acadia National Park including Cadillac Mountain. Beautiful sunny day. Biked about 35 miles.
Got passed by an Ebike going up hill. Show offs
Day 2 started in pouring rain. Yuk. It stopped in about an hour but of course we were pretty soaked by then. Went about 62 miles which was a good distance for the first day of touring. We spent the night in Belfast. Reminded me of Montpelier with all the 1800’s brick buildings.
Day 3 was a long tough day. 82 miles with too many steep climbs. Passed thru Camden, Me. Really cute town. We both started having trouble with our shifters. I lost my granny gear which I could have used every climb. Finished in Brunswick. Stayed in the hotel for dinner and several rounds of drinks at the hotel bar, watching the Phillies game. It was very nice of the hotel to have the Phillies game on TV for us.
Day 4 was another soaker. We got wetter and dirtier than we have ever gotten on any of our tours. The worst of it was on a gravel trail for 7 miles. We rode thru most of Portland, Me on a bike trail which was awesome. I must say folks in Maine are some of the most courteous drivers we have encountered. I did get my shifter fixed in Freeport at the L.L. Bean bike shop. It turns out my small sprocket was bent Today’s mileage was 56.
Tim and I biked much of the day in the rain, but at least it wasn’t overly hilly. At one point, though, it was raining so hard that it was difficult to see. Fortunately we were on a bike path at that point. Because of all the rain today, neither Tim nor I took any pictures during the ride.
We left our hotel by 8:30 a.m., stopped in Freeport for Tim to get his bike fixed, and then continued on to Kennebunkport, passing through Portland along the way. We used Google maps today, instead of the ACA maps, which really paid off! We made it to Kennebunkport shortly after 3 pm, at which point I took a quick shower, and then walked to the First Families Museum in Kennebunkport. After a few drinks at the bar, we took naps, and then went to dinner at a restaurant called the Boathouse.
Then after dinner, we returned to the bar at our hotel (The Kennebunkport Inn) for some nightcaps. Here is a photo from the bar.
Tomorrow we have a 7.5 hour ride to Tyngsborough, MA. Wish us luck!
Hi everyone! I’m sorry that nobody feels like blogging on this trip. Brian has a cold, Tim has been dealing with business stuff in the evenings, and I’ve retired from blogging these trips, as I get overly into it and it takes me too many hours and stresses me out. But I know people are clamoring for some content, so here is a quick update.
Everything is going well! Brian, Nancy and I made the 11-hour drive from Media to Bar Harbor on Saturday. Somehow those two found the perfect book-on-tape equivalent of all the middlebrow British detective shows they watch, and listening to it helped the time pass quickly. It’s called The Magpie Murders, and I think I know who did it.
Tim arrived early Sunday afternoon, and Tim and Dad biked up Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. They said it was a tough but rewarding ride. Mom and I accidentally got onto the wrong bus in Bar Harbor and ended up going into the park, too, so we got to see some of it.
On Monday the guys rode from Bar Harbor to Belfast. They didn’t complain about the ride so I guess it went fine, though Dad ran out of liquids and was dehydrated. He drank four Cokes at dinner, approximately 64 ounces of Coke.
Yesterday they had a grueling ride from Belfast to Brunswick. Tim got a flat and Dad ran out of liquids again. It took them around nine hours, and I felt a little bad that Mom and I were sitting on rocking chairs on the veranda sipping gin and tonics, flaunting our luxurious life of leisure, by way of greeting them.
We had a fantastic dinner at the hotel restaurant, then moved to the bar to watch the Phillies game, which happened to be on TV only because the Phils were playing the Red Sox. Nola pitched well, and they won 3-2.
We seriously tied one on, though, and I can’t remember paying the bar tab. Mom blacked out as well, as she can’t remember leaving the bar or getting back to her room. I also don’t remember this picture being taken:
Here are some other photos Dad and I have taken so far. Tim also has some good ones which he’ll probably make me upload at some point.
Read Brian’s blog for what we did today. Here are my pics from today.
Our first view of the Seine.
A barge coming down the Seine. Da
Inside Saints-Chappel. The first of three churches we visited today.
One of the stain glass windows in Notre Dame.
Lunch on our last day.
Our final church, St. Severin. It is right behind Notre Dame.
It was a bright sunny day but not too hot.
The Arc de Triumph. A French monument to its soldiers from many wars.
Just finished our last dinner in France. Au Renoir.