1 – 6 July
Friday:
Since we didn’t get a chance to check out Burlington yesterday we decide to go and have a look around this morning. It’s a lovely town full of nice looking shops, cafes and restaurants. It’s situated on the banks of Lake Champlain and as the sun is out again we have a stroll along the waterfront. Conveniently enough they’ve placed big wooden swinging chairs along the front, perfect for whiling away some time in the sun.
I could stay here all day, but we’ve got plenty more to do. It’s about time we dust off our hiking boots and get some walking in. We’ve found some good walking about an hour away in Underhill State Park. The drive takes us through picture-perfect countryside. Vermont is all lakes, rivers, forests and mountains liberally sprinkled with red barns with white trim and villages of wood-paneled buildings.
The plan is to climb up Mt Mansfield to take in the views. It’s clouded over by the time we arrive but we set off anyway. The walk takes us through forest and it’s very muddy underfoot. It’s a 6.6m round-trip and so about 3 of those miles are uphill. It gets steeper as we go, with us scrambling over slick rocks. Finally we break the tree line for views of er, the inside of a cloud.
Never mind, it’s been fun anyway. Now for the hard work of getting back down. Back at the car we drive round the other side of the mountain to Stowe where we’ll be spending the night. Our drive just happens to take us past the Cold Hollow Cider Mill, so we pop in to sample the fresh (soft) cider. It’s delicious, and after all that hard walking we’ve done it seems we deserve a treat, so we try some of their famous cider doughnuts (more like round spiced apple cakes than doughnuts, but tasty).
Oh, it seems that the Ben & Jerry’s factory is along this road as well and they offer tours. It would be wrong not to have a look in. The factory is great and although Ben & Jerry’s is now a corporate giant owned by Unilever the story of it’s humble beginnings is fascinating. The tour does also include a delicious, wicked sample.
Stuffed full of treats we head for our little country motel right on the banks of a river.
Saturday:
And the treats don’t stop. We get breakfast at our motel and there are scrambled eggs! Sausages! Mini-blueberry pancakes with maple syrup! What bliss. It’s Independence Day weekend and we’re struggling to find reasonable accommodation in the places we want to be. A couple of hours this morning is spent desperately trawling the internet. Eventually we find something and we can get going. We’ve got some more walking planned for today, this time in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. New Hampshire’s motto is ‘Live Free or Die’ and by all accounts they’re somewhat anti-rules. For example, it’s not compulsory to wear a seatbelt while driving if you’re over 18. We decide to keep ours on anyway.
It’s about lunchtime when we arrive and it’s a hot, sunny day so it’s a pleasure to be out in nature. I’ve hastily picked a 9m walk and it’s after 1pm so we’ll have to put on a bit of pace. I’ve read that the walk is class 1 (fairly easy going), so it shouldn’t be a problem. Ha! This is up, up and then more up. After 2.7 thigh-quivering miles we break the tree line but we’ve still got another 1.1m to go to the summit of Mt Lafayette, the highest point of the trail. On the plus side it’s a clear day and the views are astounding. From the summit we can see for miles in every direction – layers upon layers of forest-covered mountains.
From here we walk along the Franconia Ridge, spiking up briefly to take in the summits of Mounts Lincoln and Little Haystack. Finally we start heading down. This is the easy bit right? Wrong. It’s steep and rocky and goes on forever. Just when we’re in serious danger of running out of juice the path meets up with a stream and follows it. We’ve got to scramble down alongside it, several times crossing the water using stepping-stones. If anything it’s even harder going, but the stream drops into a serious of beautiful waterfalls, which makes it all worthwhile.
Over 5 hours after we set off we finally hobble back to the car. It’s 6.30pm, but we’ve still got a 2 and a half hour drive ahead of us. We’re in moose territory and this is prime moose spotting time, so we’re hoping to see some along the way. No such luck, they’re all hiding. It’s after 9 by the time we get to our motel. We’ve bought some soup to have for dinner but this is the first motel we’ve stayed in that doesn’t have a microwave anywhere on the premises, so we’ve got to make do with bread and cheese.
Janet adds: Hard work, but so worth it. What a beautiful walk.
Sunday:
The motel we’re in is just outside of Portland, Maine. We have a slow morning resting our aching legs. Well, that’s only half the truth. Time for another dirty little secret: the Casey Anthony trial (not sure how much this has been picked up in the UK media – google it if you don’t know) is being broadcast live on telly. We’re hooked; it’s far better than any courtroom drama series. This morning the lawyers are giving their closing arguments and we’re riveted.
We do eventually tear ourselves away and drive into town. There’s plenty of history in Portland and it’s no hardship walking the streets and admiring the old brick buildings. We walk down to the old (but still active) fishing wharves, which are peppered with lobster shacks and various other fishy things. It’s no good for either of us but we have a coke and enjoy the views anyhow.
We’ve pretty much seen Portland and it’s still early, so we take a little drive up the coast. We find ourselves in Falmouth, a somewhat unlikely shopping mecca. It’s only a small town but the streets are lined with outlet shops. We’re acutely aware that our trip is coming to an end and that the suitcase full of shabby t-shirts we’ve been wearing for the last 9 months is probably not going to serve as much of a wardrobe when we get home, so we’re not going to pass up the chance to grab a few bargains.
Shopped out and unable to face another night of cheese sandwiches we drive back into Portland for a beer and some food. The bar we find ourselves in wows us with its extensive beer menu – over 340 different bottled beers with another 40 or so on tap. It doesn’t make deciding what to have easy. And what better way to cap off the evening than to go for a curry. Aah.
Monday:
The prosecution is giving their final rebuttal this morning so that sets us back a little bit. We’re not going too far today though so we can afford to take it a bit easy. We take a slow drive down the coast, stopping off in Kittery for lunch and a bit more bargain hunting. We’re staying in Portsmouth tonight, which is just across the river (but confusingly back in New Hampshire). It’s still early though and it’s hot, hot, hot so we decide to head for the beach. We back track a little to Ogunquit and manage to luck out on a parking spot. The beach is beautiful, long and packed.
We stroll down a way and find a spot to squeeze in. We strip down to our swimmers, lather on the factor 30 and then this happens:
If you’re not quite sure: yes, that is a nasty storm brewing, complete with ominous rumbles of thunder. We’re thinking about manning it out, but just about the entire beach has taken it as their cue to pack up and get the hell out of there. We reluctantly follow suit and only in the nick of time – as we get back to the car it starts pelting it down. So much for our afternoon on the beach. We drive back to our motel - by which time of course the sun is out again.
It’s the 4th of July – Independence Day. Various joyful, happy celebrations are taking place nearby but Nick is stubbornly refusing to take part or even be associated with any of them. He’s planning to sulk in the room with some soup. But this turns out to be the second motel we’ve ever stayed in that doesn’t have a microwave, so it’s a trip to the diner for us. Ah, and the internet at the motel has gone down too. We need to find somewhere to stay tomorrow night, so we swing by McDonalds. We haven’t had a cup of tea in about 2 days so we figure we’ll get some tea and use their wireless. Just one problem: the McDonalds does not serve hot tea. Does. Not. Serve. Hot. Tea. Shocked and appalled we retreat back to the car to use their internet anyway.
Janet adds: I know it’s meant to be the other way round but Nick is way better at shopping than me.
Tuesday:
It’s hot and sunny this morning and we decide not to mess about: it’s straight to the beach for us. This time we head south to Hampton Beach – another lovely wide stretch of sand.
We have a little bake in the sun then head in for a swim. The water is a little chilly, but we’ve had colder. We warm up in the sun and then decide to call it quits before we get fried. We eat our lunch on a bench overlooking the sea and then get back on the road.
We’re heading for Boston but decide to take a few detours along the way. First up is Salem – infamous for the 1692 witch trials. It’s a pretty seaside town that is taking full advantage of its witchy past: there are about 4 different witch museums and plenty of spell shops and psychics. We skip the commercial nonsense and walk to the old graveyard (a Mayflower Pilgrim is buried here).
Behind the graveyard is a memorial to the victims of the witch-hunt. It’s simple and quite touching.
We finish our whirlwind tour with a walk along the waterfront and then head back to the car. We have one more detour: Cambridge. Neither of us realized that Cambridge is basically a suburb (and a bustling, busy one at that) of Boston. Our sat-nav is acting up and the traffic is a nightmare so it takes a while to find ourselves and get parked. Once we’re rid of the car Cambridge is much more pleasant. We take a walk into Harvard Square and admire the library (its steps instantly recognizable from countless films).
We buy ice-cream cones (yum) and eat them on the way back to the car. We’ve booked a motel on the outskirts of Boston so we won’t be doing any sight-seeing tonight. It is, of course, a dump. We’ve seen quite a few of those lately. It is also (you guessed it) the third motel we’ve ever stayed in that doesn’t have a microwave. We head up the road to a restaurant both to escape our dank room and fill our bellies.
Wednesday:
We’ve booked a hotel a little closer into town for tonight so we drive over this morning and dump off the car. It’s right near the metro station so in no time we’re in downtown Boston. We’ve decided to walk the Freedom Trail, so armed with a map and with Nick playing tour guide we set off. The 2.5-mile trail starts on Boston Common and finishes at Beacon Hill. It walks us past 16 significant historic sights, including the Old State House. It was from the balcony of this building that the Declaration of Independence was first proclaimed on 18 July 1776.
There is also a goose-bump inducing Holocaust memorial. We’re done by mid-afternoon and we feel like we’ve had a good introduction to Boston, so we decide to head back to the hotel and get checked in. It’s only a Holiday Inn Express, but after the places we’ve been lately it feels like extreme luxury. Everything is clean! And doesn’t smell! There’s a laundry so we can get clean clothes and a fitness room. We had fully intended to head back out into Boston for the evening but somehow our plans fall by the wayside. Besides, there’s a microwave in the room so our long-suffering soup can finally get eaten.
No comments:
Post a Comment