Day 6: Portland

Day 6: Portsmouth, NH

June 18, 2016

Miles: 61

Average Speed 10.1 mph
   
Portsmouth to Portland


We started our day early about 7:00a.  We were eating breakfast by 7:15a.   Our first breakfast at the Hampton Inn.  As you can see we started our day right!

 
We were on the road by 9:30a.  

We had an eventful day.  It was a long, beautiful ride that featured many different scenes.  Lots of oceanfronts, lots of bridges and lots of trails. We even had time to stop at a farmer's market and make a few adjustments to our bikes. 

This is Steve on the bridge that leaves Portsmouth.  Steve with a big smile on this beautiful morning.  The next picture taken from the same bridge.

The sun reflecting off the water was spectacular.

It wasn't long before we reached the NH and ME boarder.  Our third state in six days.

We met Chuck at the farmer's market.  He encouraged us to take the more scenic route that basically hugged the coast.  We were a little hestitant to backtrack to 1A, which we had passed about a mile ago.  We decided to take some back roads; we repeated about 1/2 mile. Not too bad!

Before we left the market we needed to do some maintenance on our bikes.  Steve needed to lift his seat and then he lubricated our chains.  We knew we would be taking the Eastern Trail for 30+ miles, which is a hard packed sand trail. 

Fourth adjustment to Steve's seat height trying to get it just right

Lubricating the Links

This is the first beach we encountered.  We were on Ocean Road so we saw the oceanfront from many vantage points.  The ride through this area was beautiful, a great place to ride.  Other than it being a little hilly, it was just perfect!

Steve being sneaky

This stretch of the route went about 10 miles with various oceanfronts.

Rock Beach

Sand Beach

A chilly breeze was coming off the ocean, so I stopped to put on a long sleeve shirt.

Another beach, but this time with many more people.

Mix Rocks and Sands

Still near the beaches, but moving toward the town centers.

Another big smile

 We stopped in Ogunquit for a nosh and iced coffee.

Happily in love

We stopped in Kennybunk for lunch about 1 hour later.  Steve ordered a roasted turkey breast sandwich with spicy mustard.  I ordered the same but wrapped in lettuce.  It was better and more filling than I thought.  I will be ordering this again!

Here's me having a bad hair day

We entered the Eastern Trail about 2 miles outside of Kennybunk.

  

The Eastern Trail reminded us of the Cady Trail in MO.  The trail that brought us to St. Louis.  We were almost expecting to see Michelle and Brian at the end of the trail, but they were no where to be found.  I guess we will just have to wait to see them in VT later on the ride :)

Still on the Eastern Trail.  Entering a very different scene.  This area of the trail was called the Scarbourough Marsh.

Di in the middle

Steve in the middle

Di in front

Steve in back

The view from the bridge.

We were closing in on 50 miles at this point.  It was a long day so far.  It was about 5:30p at this time.  We still had about 11 miles left to go.

We are just outside Portland crossing into the town.  The Garmin was acting funny saying we needed to make a U-turn, so I checked google map to make sure we were on track.

View of Portland in the distance.

We made it to the Hampton Inn at about 6:40p.  We checked in and took showers and relaxed a bit.  Then we searched for a place to eat dinner.  Steve wanted a place with live music.  It wasn't long before we came across the Long Wharf Inn. We enjoyed the company, music, food and beer!
 

A high protein meal

Steve stil hydrating

We are staying an extra day in Portland so we can explore the town and rest up for the next segment of the trip!

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there!