Vermont Bike Tour – 2023

26 Tuesday Sep 2023

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Champlain Memorial Lighthouse, Fort Crown POint, Middlebury, Vergennes

September 25, 2023

Cycled 53 miles

Off on another day of cycling in the beautiful Vermont countryside. There’s still just a hint of fall colors in the trees. I learned that the colors start to change up north and then move south.

At mile 16 we made a slight detour across Lake Champlain into New York

to look at the Champlain Memorial Lighthouse located at Crown Point. The Lighthouse was originally built in 1737 and then converted into a memorial to Samuel Champlain. We climbed to the top for a 360 degree view of the lake and surrounding countryside.

We also explored the remains of Fort Crown Point, a British fortress built in 1759 to defend against the French forces.

At mile 32 we stopped to visit the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum

where we saw the biggest ice boat ever.

Down the road aways we came to the town of Vergennes (which we passed by yesterday on our way to Middlebury). Check out these waterfalls.

Here is the same site in 1871.

Here are a few photos after the sun came out and the typical scenery of the day.

And the Pulp Mill River Bridge – first built in 1853.

And back to our “home”. Here is the Swift House Inn building we stayed in

and the Carriage House where we had Fizzie Time and our ride meetings for the next day. (Right next door to our building.)

Tomorrow is our last day in Middlebury and a day to explore the town of Middlebury. Then it’s off to Essex on Wednesday.

Vermont Bike Tour – 2023

25 Monday Sep 2023

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Middlebury

September 24, 2023

Cycled 45 miles

Our ride started under cloudy skies with the threat of rain.

At mile 16, near the Town of Charlotte, we crossed the Holmes Creek covered bridge built in 1870. It’s 41 feet long, 12 feet wide “to allow the passage of a load of hay, high and wide.” It’s also the shortest covered highway bridge in use in New England.

At mile 23 we stopped at Fern Bridge Farm where Kelly Otty, owner and shepherdess raises Shetland sheep for their wool. A very fun visit ’cause we got to go into the pen and pet the sheep. These small sheep are called Primitive sheep as they have been “unimproved” by the introduction of other breeds.

The sheep farm is very close to Ferrisburg. (My maiden name is Ferris.)

This will give you an idea of what the countryside looked like on most of our ride today. They had a very wet and rainy summer here and everywhere you look you see lush green fields.

We are now settled in the quaint little town of Middlebury.

Vermont Bike Trip – 2023

24 Sunday Sep 2023

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Burlington Vermont, Grand Isle Vermont

September 23, 2023

Cycled 58 miles ( that’s 54,849 smoots)

Finally our official start to the Tour and our last day in Burlington. Our ride started heading north along the shore of Lake Champlain. At mile 7 we headed out on a very long, gravel rails-to-trails path 3 mile out onto the lake.

At the break in the cause where the trestle used to be we boarded a little ferry

and cruised the 200 foot gap (about a 3 minute ride) to the other side.

See the little black line on the horizon in the middle of the picture? That’s where we boarded the little ferry.

Then back on the causeway for another mile where we reached Grand Isle, the largest of the four islands in Lake Champlain. Here we circumnavigated the island. (25 miles)

Here are some photos of the scenery we biked through today.

Then it was back to the hotel. Tomorrow we’re off to Middlebury for more cycling.

Vermont Bike Trip – 2023

23 Saturday Sep 2023

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Burlington Vermont, Ethan Allen Tower, Old Spokes Home, Tallest Filing Cabinet

September 22, 2023

Cycled 16 miles

It’s a beautiful day in Vermont. We spent the morning assembling our tandem. At 1:00 we met up with about 8 tandems to do a “shake down” 16 mile ride. It was great fun. At mile 4.5 we stopped, parked our bikes and hiked up a short steep trail to the top of the Ethan Allen Tower

where we had a 360 degree view of the surrounding country side and Lake Champlaign.

At mile 7.5 we stopped at the “Old Spokes Home” bike shop.

What a wonderful spot. I encourage you to read about their history here. https://oldspokeshome.com/shops/history

At mile 10 we biked through the University of Vermont’s campus. What a beautiful place, lots of huge grassy green lawns and very old red stone buildings.

Our last stop was to view “the worlds tallest filing cabinet”.

Later we all walked across the street from our hotel to the docks where we boarded the Spirit of Ethan Allen III for a dinner cruise on Lake Champlaign

where we ended the day with a lovely sunset.

Vermont Bike Tour – 2023

23 Saturday Sep 2023

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Burlington Vermont, Zero Gravity Brewery

September 22, 2023

A leisurely day. After breakfast we rented a car and drove four hours to Burlington, Vermont. It was a beautiful drive and seemed like a corridor of trees the whole way. Mostly oaks. Fall colors are just barely getting started if you look really hard.

We settled in to our hotel late afternoon. Here’s the view from our window.

Lake Champlain

We walked a mile and a half to a great brewery for dinner. I love their logo.

And this beautiful mural on the wall.

Today we walked all of 4.5 miles.

Vermont/Boston Fall Colors Ride – 2023

21 Thursday Sep 2023

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I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that we walked over 10 miles, just exploring.

Today we had a great breakfast at Evergreen Eatery then walked from Jamaica Plain to the MIT Museum in Cambridge, about 4.6 miles. The museum is amazing. Many exhibits were related to AI and genetics. We highly recommend a visit if you are ever in the neighborhood.

Here are a few highlights of some of the interesting sites we saw today as we wandered the streets of Boston.

This is on the Boston University campus. It’s the new Center for Computing & Data Sciences and nicknamed the Jenga Building by many.

The two protrusions are really just painted on a flat surface. I think they are amazing. I can not make them look flat for the life of me.

Ever hear of a unit of measurement called a smoot? It’s equivalent to 5’7″.

Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of the actual smoot markings on the Harvard Bridge so here’s the story behind the unit of smoots according to wikipedia.

The smoot is a nonstandard unit of length created by Oliver R. Smoot, a student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In October 1958 he lay down repeatedly on the Harvard Bridge between Boston and Cambridge so that his fraternity brothers could use his height to measure the length of the bridge. (See photo above.)

One smoot is equal to Oliver Smoot’s height at the time of the prank, 5 feet 7 inches. The bridge’s length was measured to be 364.4 smoots +/- 1 ear. (And according to Chris the distance to the sun is 8.828 X 10 to the 10th smoots.)

On another note, in case you’re keep track, we walked 12 miles today.

And, tomorrow we’re off to Vermont!

Vermont Fall Colors Bike Ride – 2023

20 Wednesday Sep 2023

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September 18, 2023

We’re off on a little adventure this time just for the heck of it. We flew in to Boston Monday afternoon to spend a few days here visiting my brother Jeff and his wife Anne before we head for Vermont. We’re staying at a great airbnb in Jamaica Plain (100 Sheridan Street).

We’re in the lower left corner.

We arrived the day after Hurricane Lee passed by leaving heavy rain and wind behind. Lucky for us this was a travel day. After we settled in, Jeff biked over to join us for dinner. This is my little brother Jeffy; arriving with a rain jacket over a big yellow poncho which looks like he’s wearing a dress. Note the bike he’s riding. He named it Crusty. And the pedals are from an old exercise bike. He says they have a good platform for riding in flip flops. (For those who have not met Jeff he’s a real character and he’s owned a bike shop in Jamaica Plain for over 40 years.) FYI he was also wearing a helmet.

September 19, 2023

Today Chris and I walked and walked – over 8 miles just exploring the Jamaica Plain neighborhoods. The highlight of our walk was exploring Forest Hills Cemetery. It was founded in 1848 and has over 275 rolling acres of forested and manicured land. As a horticulturist, the founder, Henry A.S. Dearborn brought in trees and plantings from around the world. This is a very beautiful parklike setting and a lovely place for walking.

Main entrance gate (Photos are not allowed without prior written permission.)

We topped off the day with dinner at a sushi place with Jeff and Anne. We are definitely not in Japan anymore.

Spain Bike Trip – Day 31

26 Friday May 2023

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San Sebastian, Spain

May 25, 2023. Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France to San Sebastian, Spain. Distance. 50 miles. Elevation 3,180

!!!WE MADE IT!!!

We had a wonderful last day of riding – no rain, no rain gear, no long-fingered gloves, no warm caps under our helmets, no wool socks. Just a beautiful perfect day for cycling. A few short steep climbs and lovely long descents. Lush, dense vegetation, mostly quiet, small two-lane roads.

Mid-morning we stopped for coffee and a croissant. Then around 12:30 we stopped for a sandwich where I had a Basque Coke.

Then instead of tackling the last mega climb getting in to San Sebastian most of the group took the train the last 15 miles. It was an interesting challenge getting our bikes on board – but we did it.

From the train station we had another 3 miles to bike to our hotel. Our ride along the Atlantic, the Bay of Biscay, was amazing. It was so great to be back on the coast.

Eventually we got to our Hotel Barcelo Costa Vasca for a grand celebration of a successful trip. We have so many new friends and happy memories.

Spain Bike Trip – Day 31

25 Thursday May 2023

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Saint Etienne-de-Baigorry, Spain

May 24, 2023. Pamplona to Saint Etienne-de-Baigorry, France

Not much to report today. It was very cloudy and the rain that was predicted did not materialize. The ride up the mountain was wonderful as we rode along the banks of the Rio Arga which was a babbling stream heading back down the mountain. The dense green foliage was beautiful.

We were well into the clouds at the summit as we looked out at where the amazing view would have been on a clear day.

We got to our Hotel Juantorena around 1:45

and learned they stopped serving food at 2. So we went straight to the restaurant at the hotel and got the meal of the day. Took a walk around this tiny village and discovered an amazing chocolate shop. People were raving about the hot chocolate. It was very good.

Back to the hotel for Happy Hour/meeting then group dinner at the hotel. Finally back to the room by 10:15. Tomorrow is our long ride back to San Sebastian. The last day of our ride.

Here’s the view from our window. As you can see this little town in France is very different from all the towns we visited in Spain. And look how lush and green everything is!

Do you see a couple of sheep grazing about half way up the hill?

Spain Bike Trip – Day 30

24 Wednesday May 2023

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Pamplona, Spain

May 23, 2023 Estrella to Pamplona. Distance: 36 miles. Elevation. 2,880 feet

Today we climbed up and over another mountain range. Here’s a view from the top looking down at where we’d been. It was a long slow climb with lush vegetation along the way.

Here’s a look at where we’re headed – down down down the other side.

You can see part of the long descent below that rock wall.

This rock formation is very popular with rock climbers. Here are some of the routes (I took this from the last night’s Happy Hour/meeting presentation.