September 13, 2021
Day 105: Bath to Whitefield
A Reunion on the Ammonoosuc Rail Trail
“Look who just arrived,” Patrick says as he’s getting out of the tent. Robert and his wife Julie are parked across from our campsite. We are just starting to pack up, and we meet them back at the office area. We sit under the covered area to eat breakfast.
It’s so good to see Robert again and to meet Julie! They will cycle with us to Littleton on the Ammonoosuc Rail Trail. We cycled with Robert for about 10 days at the beginning of our tour. This is an excerpt from Robert’s journal, as he says it best. (Cycling the Northern Tier with a Purpose)
“It felt like reuniting with years-long friends even though we met only 3 months ago and shared only a few days together. Bicycle touring will build friendships fast through shared interest, shared suffering and shared joys. It was a magical day, mostly due to the reunion, and also due to the Autumn-like weather the day brought to the party.”
We set off for a few miles on route 302 to Bath and cross the covered bridge to find the trail. The fog is beginning to lift and sunlight hitting the Ammonoosuc River, we look back to the bridge for a great view. The trail has some good sections, some not so good, and some that makes us wonder if the trail is worth riding, and then the trail returns to good again. Just not having to worry about traffic and being able to have conversations with friends while riding make up for the occasional bad sections.
Patrick navigates us off the trail and through Littleton to The Coffee Pot for a second breakfast. Then the time has come to part ways once again and we say goodbye to Robert and Julie. We return the message Robert wrote in his journal to them “tail winds until we meet again.”
We head east on route 116; there is a good shoulder with one big climb and downhill into Whitefield. We are again seeing logging trucks. Our Warmshowers host, Jennifer lives on the other side of Whitefield, she gave us good directions in finding the house. We set up our tent under the back patio due to covid precautions for Jen’s mom. Jen takes Patrick back to Littleton to find seam sealer for the rainfly. The forecast is for more rain and the rainfly is getting old. Later when Micah arrives home from his work of repairing wind turbine blades, we all go back to Littleton to the Brewery for dinner.
Jennifer has given us very specific directions for tomorrow’s ride finishing the Cross New Hampshire route to Bethel Maine. Then we will continue north to Newry for another warmshowers stay.
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3 years ago
Today's ride: 32 miles (51 km)
Total: 4,110 miles (6,614 km)
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