Day 57 - North Haven to Old Saybrook - Two Far 2022 - Reunion Bound (the long way around)

June 5, 2022

Day 57 - North Haven to Old Saybrook

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Fun again! After two days of too many hills, we had a more pleasant ride today. The weather was perfect, and a tailwind most of the day made it even better.

We've been seeing many of these pink flowering shrubs. There are two different shrubs here. They seem very popular for landscaping.

I feel like I should know the name of this, but I can't think of it.

In a change of plans, we headed south out of North Haven to pick up US 1 - the Boston Post Road. It was moderately busy on a summer Sunday, but there is a good shoulder in most places. I was very happy to deal with some traffic in order to cut out over 700 feet of climbing from our original route for the day. As we appoached Madison, Kerry took a detour off US-1 to ride down to waterfront. In a detour of the detour, we saw a sign for a public parking lot and beach at West Wharf and decided to go check it out. We had a pleasant time walking out on the rocks and talking to several local residents.

Faulkner's Island and lighthouse in the distance

Tuxis Island, just offshore from the wharf. If you really zoom in, you can just make out Long Island in the distance.

We found Ted checking out our bike and it turned into a mutual bike appreciation event. Ted was riding a Waterford, and told us it was his retirement gift to himself a few years ago.

More waterfront houses - very expensive, I'm sure, but not the huge ostentatious houses we see on so many beachfronts.

The flowers and shrubs are in full bloom

The walkways to the beach are across the street from the houses.

There were a lot of cyclists out today enjoying the week-end. We had one large group of 30-40 go by, but I didn't get the camera out in time to get a picture of them.

Madison cyclists. That's Ted ahead in the yellow vest.

East of Madison, we crossed the Singing Bridge which spans the Patchogue River in Westbrook . Opened in 1925, it got its name from the sound car tires made rolling across the steel grates. (We don't sing when we ride across steel grates on the bike - we roll slowly and carefully.)

The Singing Bridge - a Westbrook landmark

As we approached Essex, we saw several signs telling drivers to ignore their GPS and follow the signs for Thomas parking. We had no idea what they meant until we rounded a corner and saw a large crowd waiting to boad this excursion train. Kerry got a quick glimpse of the blue Thomas the Tank engine, and I was quick with the camera this time.

Our last stop of the day was in Essex to visit the Connecticut River Museum. Essex appears to be the quintessential New England tourist town. It was too crowded to get off the bike to walk around, so I didn't get any photos of the town except for the one below.

Lighthouse in Essex. We believe this is a replica of the Essex Reef Light, originally built in 1889, but we didn't stop to verify.

The Connecticut River Museum chronicled the history of the Connecticut River and its evolution from a colonial-times industrial river to its present use as a recreational river. (In the past, I've written a lot about 18th and 19th century shipbuilding, so I won't add details this time around.)

The advent of outboard motors gave rise to the sport of hydroplane power boat racing. Racing was popular on the Connecticut River in the 1920's and 1930's.

This was the most interesting thing in the museum. We had never heard of the Turtle before, but it is a very cool story.

Connecticut River at the museum in Essex

We're in a hotel in Old Saybrook for two nights and I am really looking forward to a rest day tomorrow!

Today's ride: 40 miles (64 km)
Total: 1,991 miles (3,204 km)

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