FryeBurgh to Durham

August 19, 2022

Last night was the handing out of the Coast to Coast wall plaques which commemorate the 4300 mile ride from Seattle to Washington.  We all had supper in the food services building which is in the Fryeburgh fair grounds where we stayed.  It was followed by rider meeting and then Ken T. and Kevin  got up and asked everyone to step outside for a toast .  They had organized some beer, wine and ginger ale.  I had been asked to do the toast to Greg Walsh, which was quite an honor.  I was also going to present Greg with the photo album, I had prepared with all the signed rider photos I had taken.  Greg was just loved the photo album.  Aussie Bob toasted the support staff, and Ken T. toasted Dan Brown and his contribution to Cycle America.  The toasts and photo album were for Greg’s retirement from Cycle America.  We then retired to the grand stand where the plaques were to be presented, and although the plaques were not handed to each person, Greg went down the plaques reading each name and saying a few words about each person.  It was a great wrap up for the summer’s C2C ride and of his career with Cycle America.

Today was the last big day at 91 miles and 3642 feet of climb.  There was a hundred turns on the route sheet and I knew it was going to be a challenge to stay on course even with all the arrows on the road.  You look up for a few seconds and you miss an arrow.  So I was being extra careful not to miss any as it was going to be a long day and I didn’t need extra miles.   The forecast was for a little bit of rain in the morning but I never saw any and by noon the skies had cleared off.

The route took us along the Vermont- New Hampshire state line so we crossed into an out of New Hampshire several times during the day.  The route itself was mostly down very lightly travelled secondary roads which varied from brand new pavement to barely pavement but more like inter-connected pot holes.  I passed several small lakes and lots of the white steepled New England churches.

The highlight of the day was getting to GoLicks Icecream stand.   Ed W and I first discovered this place back in 2010 and I have been going there on every C2C.  I had met up with a couple of other riders so we rolled in and order up a regular sized cones.  Each cone had ice cream stacked onto it which was easily 4 inches across and 8 inches high.  As the temperature was now close to 80 F the ice cream was the best.

When I finally rolled into the Forest Glen Campground in Durham where we were staying it was a huge disappointment.  The place was an absolute pit.  There was no level ground to pitch your tents. There were no power outlets to charge your electronics. There was only two showers (one male, one female), only one toilet.  No place to do my blog.  

We were being shuttled into town for supper and rider meeting so by time we got home it was late.

I only went off course once and it cost me a couple of miles but it wasn’t bad.  

Tomorrow is the last ride day.

 

Terry