Rolling by the shortest coastline

Introduction

2009-01-17T00:11:00.001-05:00

On Friday, May 5, 2006, I made a snap decision, a traveling decision...

The clamor of my bikes, with Rover (my touring mascot) joining in... It's spring, it's time to wander, it's time to tour.

I've been spending some time dreaming of biking, and trying, trying, trying to come to a decision about where I want to tour later in the year. September feels like a good time to take a couple of weeks to wander somewhere with my bike. Right now I have three ideas percolating, but no decision yet. And that's really OK. It's good to dream, and I'm happy with my plans (or maybe I should call them non-plans) for later.

But - I'm feeling a desire to travel now. While a short trip won't remove my wanderlust, it sounds like a happy entry to this year's touring. And the weather forecast for this weekend looks promising. The forecasted temperature in the 60s is more than acceptable, and while there is a chance of rain for tomorrow, I'm hoping that it if it rains it doesn't bring an excessive amount of water.

Ah, that decision was easy to make, wasn't it? A weekend tour leaving from home... What direction? I'll be heading to the north and east, in search of the Atlantic Ocean. I'll hit the coast in Massachusetts, follow it through New Hampshire, and then cross the Piscataqua River into Maine. My home for the night will be in Kittery, and then I'll reverse direction the next day. Yes, I know that I don't have to do this as an out-and-back ride (along the same route) - but I really enjoy riding along the New Hampshire coast. And if you haven't already figured it out, New Hampshire has the distinction of being the state with the shortest ocean coastline, with 18 miles of coastline. (Well, I suppose the states with no coastline could qualify as having a shorter coastline, but I don't really think a coastline of zero miles should count!)

See, this camera is just the right size for me! I think I'll take pictures while you are pedaling.

OK Rover, I guess you want to ride in the TailRider so you have access to the camera and to the snacks. But I thought you were going to take notes for my journal. Oh, you'd rather take pictures?

If you haven't met him before, this is Rover. He insists on touring with me, and while he doesn't have enough weight to him to really help me pedal, he is happy to ride along, to take pictures(?!), and to eat chocolate at any time of the day.

The enchantment of wandering along the coast with a camera... nature-made plus a little bit of man-made thrown in too.

2009-01-16T23:45:00.000-05:00

For now, please use Blogger's list of posts in the sidebar to follow my trip in reverse sequence. I plan to flip this blog on its head so that the posts flow from oldest to newest (like the table of contents in a book), adding a real Table of Contents and a Page by Page sidebar entry, and adding (better) next and previous links at the bottom of each post.

I probably won't be able to make these changes for the next several weeks.

...Denise, January 16, 2009

Maps

2006-05-08T06:42:00.000-04:00

...in case you want to repeat my wanderings.

I'm one of those people who is addicted to maps. And while I could have headed out on this trip without any (since I was essentially wandering in my own back yard), of course I didn't!

For my route in Massachusetts, I used both my own memory and the Rubel Bikemaps - Eastern Massachusetts map. Believe it or not, I actually did use this map. I knew that there were three different bridges I could use to cross the Merrimack River. I didn't even consider the bridge in Groveland because at that point I wanted to stay on the south side of the river. And the bridge at the eastern edge of the state, crossing from the Newburyport area, is the bridge that carries Route 1. Bikes are allowed on that bridge, but it's a heavy traffic bridge. The bridge I was looking for was in the middle. The problem? I knew approximately where it was, but I needed the exact location. As it turns out I didn't really need the map to tell me how to find the bridge since contrary to the usual Massachusetts sign habits, the road to this bridge was very well marked! The map also steered me to the small roads that hugged the northern edge of the river as opposed to the busier numbered roads.

I have to admit that I really didn't need a map to find the road along the New Hampshire coast. After all, there is only one road! But I did take a map in case I needed (wanted?) to wander away from my planned path. The map was one from the New Hampshire Bike Maps set, the map of the Seacoast region. And by the way, if you are planning any wandering in New Hampshire I recommend getting the entire map set from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation.

Massachusetts

2006-05-07T17:30:00.000-04:00

The humming tree! It took a minute before I realized that the tree wasn't humming - the bees were. These wonderful pink flowers were just loaded with bees. I guess I was lucky that they were much more interested in gathering nectar from the flowers than in stinging me.

My mystery bird of the day! I was watching a flock of Canada Geese in a field when I realized that there were some other strange birds in the area too. And then a couple of them just pranced across the road in front of me.

It turns out that this bird is a Guinea Hen. These birds apparently are useful in tick control; ticks are a favorite diet item for them.

Can you see the bee?

A belted Galloway (I think!). And I think he wants to come out and play...

Home again. Yup, I'm a happy cyclist. Now I need to plan my next trip. Oh, you're right, first things first - time to wash my cycling clothes, me too!

New Hampshire

2006-05-07T17:15:00.001-04:00

Some rather jagged headstones in the Point of Graves Burial Ground, Portsmouth

I found it fascinating to see buoys sitting on this Coast Guard dock. It's very different to see the entire buoy rather than just the part that pokes up above the water.

Do you think the birds argue about who gets to live in this fancy multi-family dwelling? Wentworth-by-the-sea

Another quiet ocean day, but under a clear blue sky. A nice change...

I can't believe these cormorants allowed me the time to get my camera out and still get this shot!

One cormorant sitting quietly, one cormorant with wings spread, drying.

Little waves reflecting sunlight

A gust of wind caught this sea gull and really ruffled its feathers. It was quite a sight!

I had a nice conversation with this dog - and with his owner too.

Reversing course

2006-05-07T17:00:00.000-04:00

...in sunshine, with a bit of wind too

That wild wind we had last night did a really nice job of moving the clouds. I woke this morning to clear blue skies, with temperatures a little cooler than yesterday and with some remaining but relatively minor wind. It was a good day for riding.

First business of the day though was a good breakfast, served to all guests at a single table. Interesting morning conversations accompanied a wonderful breakfast. A dish of fresh strawberries and blueberries topped with a nice light sauce was a good start, as was the peach-mango juice. My main breakfast course was different than everyone else's since I had told my hosts that I don't eat meat. So my eggs were much enhanced with chunks of avocado. That went down well, as did the accompanying blueberry corn muffins. My stomach was happy, and definitely ready to ride.

I headed out this morning wearing both my knee warmers and wind breaker in addition to my normal shorts and jersey. Those extra layers stayed with me until the afternoon. Every time I thought I was getting too warm during my morning riding, the wind kicked up and reminded me that although the temperature was probably in the low 60s, it still wasn't that warm!

My ride started today as it ended yesterday, with a walk across the Route 1 bridge between Kittery and Portsmouth. There are sidewalks on both sides of this lift bridge, with the driving surface on the "lift" section of the bridge that hated metal gridwork, and stern signs on either side of the bridge instructing cyclists to walk their bikes on the sidewalk. Then I rolled onto the roads of Portsmouth, in search of Marcy Street - the road that would lead me onto Route 1-B and then to Route 1-A. Ah, mission accomplished. Oh - what's that? An old, old cemetery on the side of the road. I think I need to stop. That was typical of my ride for today... I'd see something interesting that I absolutely needed to explore or my camera needed to photograph. One example was the pair of cormorants that I think were posing for me. As I was riding along the coast, I could see one of the birds standing with its wings spread, a typical cormorant pose. I never thought I'd be able to capture that with my camera. After all, I needed to stop the bike, retrieve my camera from its home for the ride, focus, shoot. But that crazy bird waited for me. And in fact, the pair of birds even switched; at first the bird on the right was standing with wings out. But after I shot a few pictures, that bird pulled its wings in, and the other one stood with outstretched wings. Fascinating.

And then there was the humming tree... I was getting close to home, and I have to admit I was ready to be home. But I had to keep stopping - there were too many beautiful sights to capture with my cameras. I was standing under a tree just loaded with beautiful small magenta flowers when I started hearing a humming noise that seemed to be coming from the tree. It wasn't windy at the time, and at first I thought that I was hearing things. And then I looked a little closer... the flowers on this tree were absolutely loaded with bees, happily feeding and humming, humming. I didn't even think about stepping back since the bees were so interested in the flowers that I figured they wouldn't stop to sting me. The flowers must taste a lot better than a sweaty cyclist!

Between my frequent stops and the conversations I had with strangers along the way, it took me about an hour and a half longer to ride home today than it did to ride to Kittery yesterday. That's not a complaint though; it was again a thoroughly enjoyable ride.

I don't think I've ever ridden the New Hampshire coast and not encountered other people on bikes, but there were more cyclists than usual rolling down the coast today. My ride home coincided with a Tour de Cure fundraiser. Luckily for me, I didn't hit any sections with bunched up riders; everyone was spread out fairly well. I believe the folks I was passing heading south were on the 25 mile ride, while the longer route riders had apparently looped around in a different spot. I saw them further down the road, and heading north. The riders I was passing appeared to be occasional riders as opposed to experienced road riders. I'm a consistent rider who can go for hours, but I'm not fast. And yet I felt like I was flying by people, even on my relatively lightly loaded bike!

It was a good people day, starting with conversations at breakfast and continuing throughout the day. I stopped often to play with my camera, and I found myself talking with people who were fascinated by my bike. I had a long conversation with a woman who was sitting with her dog at one of the beach access points in Seabrook, NH. She was a psychologist who often counsels women that it is OK (even good) to do things alone, yet she only started following her own advice recently. My habit of traveling alone (well, not totally alone if you count Rover!) on my bike (or not!) was very interesting to her.

Reversing course today meant just that. I rode the same roads as yesterday, only backwards. I'm still amazed that riding a road in the opposite direction is often enough to make it feel like I'm on a different road. I suppose that's a good thing, because I can see myself repeating this very short tour again at some point in the future.

Maine to New Hampshre

2006-05-06T18:15:00.000-04:00

...and back to Maine

Route 1 "lift" bridge with a solid road surface

Hmmm - I don't think I can get across the bridge right now...

Still waiting... actually think I probably waited about 5 minutes (or maybe it was 10), watching the bridge surface rise up and then rejoin the rest of the bridge deck.

By bike is resting

2006-05-06T18:00:00.002-04:00

...for the evening. Time for dinner & a little more wandering.

I arrived at my home for the night and was promptly greeted with a welcome snack (lemonade and chocolate chip cookies, yum!), and a home for both me and my bike. I'm staying at the Portsmouth Harbor Inn & Spa, which very nicely had one room available when I called yesterday. It's in Kittery, Maine - just across the river from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. And Portsmouth with a myriad of choices for dinner is just a short walk away.

My home for the night, a very welcome sight

A star to welcome me to the house...

One of the things that I asked when I called for a reservation was if there was a safe place for my bike to spend the night. I never ask if I can bring the bike to a motel room (I just roll it in if I'm staying in a motel or hotel - it belongs in my room, doesn't it?), but somehow that often doesn't work in a bed & breakfast. My bike was quite happy to stay in the entryway of the inn - inside the building, not on the porch. So it was locked in for the night. That works!

My bike is happy; a nice safe spot inside for the night.

I'm so glad I didn't need to carry my bike up this beautiful set of stairs. Beautiful, but very steep and narrow!

Ah, time to wander out into the yard to soak in the hot tub for a while. That was certainly a nice end to a day of riding.

Dinner tonight was at Flatbread Company in Portsmouth. Their reason for being? Fabulous pizza! I had the vegetarian special - pizza with fresh basil, tomato, mozzarella, and balsamic vinigrette. Awesome. As a solo diner, I was seated at a table near the cooking activity and just across from the open wood-powered oven. I found it interesting that there was a big log a safe distance away and across from the oven. And periodically diners would go sit on the log and watch the pizza cooking. Most of the log-sitters were kids, but there were some adults too.

Fabulous pizza comes out of this oven - and it was fun to watch this gal throw the pies into the oven and then retrieve them and toss them onto the work table to be sliced and served.

Walking across the bridge to re-enter Maine after dinner had two adventurous components - fighting the wind as it kicked up into a very serious blowing mode, and waiting for the bridge to be restored to a solid surface after opening to let a boat through. And then it was time to do a little more walking, chasing the sunset. Beautiful.

After I got back from dinner and a walk, I decided to sit in one of the sitting areas in the house as opposed to hiding in my room. There is a sitting room upstairs, and there are some comfortable chairs at the end of the dining room. I chose to sit there, and Nat & Lynn (the owners of the inn) came out to talk for a while. Talking with both my hosts and with other guests is one of the reasons I really enjoy staying in B&Bs or inns.

A good end-of-the-day helmet-head photo. Mirrors do a nice job of helping to capture these shots when you're traveling alone!

Nature's beautiful color combinations...

Photos: New Hampshire

2006-05-06T17:30:00.000-04:00

The first view of the ocean from the road, on the bridge between Seabrook Beach and Hampton Beach

I could stand and watch the waves for hours, even on days like today when the ocean is relatively quiet. But I really do need to get back on my bike, there are still miles to roll...

I'm so glad I get to tour with Denise! I was going to go swimming, but she convinced me the water is still a bit chilly.

My camera just kept taking more and more pictures of this fascinating mute swan. I felt like the swan was saying "Are you looking at me? Watch out, I'm going to come join you!"

"Wait, I'm going to take one more drink before I get out of the water."

Hmmm... dry land. What's that dry stuff? Do I have to step on it?

Ah, I really can walk on this grass.

Oh, excuse me - I have to take care of this itch!

Yup, that's me - a happy cyclist and photographer, just before heading slightly away from the coast.

Ah, finally - the bridge to Maine. Yes, I'm happy to walk across this bridge.

There are three bridges between Portsmouth and Kittery, only one of which can be traversed by a bicycle. The (Route 1) bridge I am walking across, and the closer of the two bridges in the background (Route 1A) - are lift bridges. The center section between the two high structures lifts up to let boats through. The arched bridge in the back carries I95 traffic, and is quite a bit higher than the two lift bridges.

Photos: Massachusetts

2006-05-06T17:15:00.001-04:00

Sights like this slowly unfurling leaf make me believe it's really spring.

A fiddlehead fern, with some stalks in "fiddlehead" state, and some starting to unfurl

I've never seen a fiddlehead fern unfolding before - and I have to admit it took me a few minutes looking at different plants before I realized what this was!

These two horses definitely look like they are having a serious conversation

Sometimes I wonder what makes people post strange signs like this one. (Of course, it did make me stop, look, and photograph...)

Rover poked his head out of his traveling home to watch me take some pictures. He told me he was very happy to be on the road again.

An interesting approach to covering the tree's trunk - what appears to be shedding bark. The type of tree? It's a shagbark hickory.

Calm river on a rather gray day

To the coast

2006-05-06T17:00:00.001-04:00

Not too far from home, but what a nice change of pace!

It seems quite novel to leave from home on my bike with no intention of returning home the same day. I've only done this once before, and that was on my cross-country trip back in 2002. I guess part of the reason is that I'm usually thinking of traveling on my bike in terms of a vacation as opposed to just a weekend away. I have a feeling that after this weekend I won't forget that short trips can be fun too.

This wasn't the first time I've ridden most of the roads I rolled over today, although it is certainly the first time I put them all together in one ride. There was one section that was totally new though, and I'm sure I'll be repeating that section again - and I don't just mean on my return trip tomorrow! That was a sweet section on the north side of the Merrimack River that hugged the edge of the riverbank. Unlike many places in Massachusetts along the water, this stretch didn't have any houses on the water side. Nice. I have to admit that I had to stop and ask for directions on this stretch. Because of the propensity of towns in Massachusetts not to place street signs on many corners, I was afraid that I would miss the road leading up to route 110. Actually, it almost looked like I was going to meander back to the south side of the river! I stopped at exactly the right point; it turned out that the road I wanted was just one house away from where I was standing at the time I asked.

I'm a warm weather tourer, and a warm weather commuter. While I do try to ride my bike year-round, my winter rides tend to be relatively short - and only on the weekends so that I can ride in daylight. It's only May, and in reality it is still fairly early in my riding season. I think I've just managed to break all of the rules (recommendations?) about adding mileage slowly. Last weekend was my first ride of 40 miles. I almost repeated that yesterday with 39 miles as the my first (bicycle) commute to work of the season, and today I jumped to 54 miles. Oh, and you know I'm going to have to repeat that again tomorrow just to get home!

My least favorite section of the road along the New Hampshire coast is the town of Hampton Beach. That's probably because it is a busy tourist-type town, with the road through the center of town lined with lots of what I would consider junk businesses, and lots of cars... Today, throw in a traffic jam too. I have no clue what was going on, but traffic was just inching through town. That included me too, since there were cars parked on the side of the road and there was often not enough room for even a bike to slip between the parked and the moving cars. Luckily that very annoying traffic didn't last for too long and I was back to rolling along and enjoying the ocean off to my right. I really can't complain though because except for that stretch through the town area of Hampton Beach and a short stretch on (very busy) route 110 in Massachusetts, the roads were very pleasant. And I think I may be able to miss the section on 110 tomorrow. I just need to remember to check my maps to see if the alternate route I am thinking of actually makes sense.

Past Hampton Beach and into Rye... coastal curves, sideways, and a few rollers too. The beauty of the ocean, quiet today, but there are still waves and birds to watch, people too. True beaches, plus very rocky areas...

I had a short visit with one of the mute swans that I first saw back in January. At that time, I was walking and playing with my new camera when I saw two mute swans among all of the sea gulls. (Yes, you're right - I wouldn't have had a clue about what these birds were without a conversation wtih a stranger, a photographer who had been following these birds.) I wonder why I only saw one today. There were two before... This big beautiful bird was paddling along, fishing and drinking too, on the salt marsh (not the ocean) side of the road. I stopped and pulled my (big) camera out, and just followed that bird as it swam along and then waltzed up onto the shore, walking closer to me - but not that close.

It was sunny early this morning, but by the time I headed out on my bike there were patches of clouds. The temperature was probably in the upper 60s when I left home, and it was noticeably cooler along the coast. And hey - what do you suppose that wet stuff is coming out of the sky? I have to admit that I was pretty lucky from a weather standpoint. The forecast went from a rainy Saturday and an OK Sunday to two nice days. That was when I decided to go ahead with my non-plans and head out on a bike for the weekend. When I looked at the forecast this morning it said there was a 30 percent chance of showers. I decided to believe the 70 percent chance of no showers and headed out anyway. I did get hit with a couple of bouts of sprinkles, but nothing too bad.

The wind was a constant presence, but for the most part, it was pretty reasonable. That is, except for a short stretch right before before I hit the coast, and it came back at the end of my ride too. Oh, and when I was walking back from dinner, the wind was absolutely howling. I was really glad I was walking and not riding at that point!

Ah, it was a good riding day today. Here's hoping that tomorrow is a repeat!