June 7, 2023
Riding the Maine Coast
Wells to Portland
I stayed up until 10:30 telling bike touring war stories with my host Jim Smith. I slept pretty well in the barn. Jim had set me up with a single bed frame and a very comfy air mattress. I added my sleeping bag and inflatable pillow and the rest was Zs.
At 6 a.m. we convened in the kitchen for more tales over breakfast. Jim has had his share of bike touring calamities but remarkably things always seemed to work out okay.
I hit the road around 8 and made my way 5 miles back to the route. I mostly hugged the coast today. Moody Beach, Wells Beach, Kennebunkport, Cape Porpoise, Biddeford, Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Cape Elizabeth, South Portland, Portland.
The winds were variable. Parts of the day I had a strong tailwind. The terrain was gently rolling. The Mule and I booked along, often cruising at 14 mph. I was passed by two fit women on road bikes. I kept pace with them for a few miles until I started feeling like a stalker and backed off.
In Kennebunkport I stopped for second breakfast. Three pancakes, sausage links, and coffee. The pancakes were comically huge. I ate a bit more than half of them before taking the rest for roadside lunch. (I ended up throwing them out.)
Jim had warned me that the Bush compound in Kennebunkport was out of the way and unmarked. I never saw it nor did I see a single indication that two presidents had summered here.
Old Orchard Beach featured an amusement park on the beach. It was closed. The big action around here is walking. Most of the hotels had plenty of vacancies. Cool temperatures and rain will do that.
Did I mention rain? At 1, the spitting rain returned. And stuck around, on and off, for the rest of the ride. Darn good thing I brought my rain gear.
In South Portland I finally found an ice cream shop that was open. I celebrated 60 miles with a big cup of cherry vanilla chocolate chunk ice cream.
For the last 15 miles I was getting wobbly on the bike. Too little water and too many miles.
The Casco Bay Bridge into Portland was long and high. A good finish to my day.
I had tried to secure a Warmshowers host in Portland but no one responded to me so I booked a bed in the Black Elephant hostel. It’s very clean and they charged me $55 for a bed, half of what the online resellers like hotels.com were quoting.
An hour after I booked the bed, one of the Portland Warmshowers people contacted me about hosting. Too late.
Later in the evening I heard back from a host in Belfast, two days away. She and her husband are very enthusiastic about hosting me. I now have accommodations for tomorrow and Friday.
A place to stay in Bar Harbor on Saturday and Sunday is still up in the air.
Dinner was a chicken parmigiana sandwich with fries and a craft lager at a bar a block away. I am ready for bed and it’s only 7 p.m.
Miles today: 64.5
Today's ride: 65 miles (105 km)
Total: 891 miles (1,434 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 0 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |