Route 30 South

It was a little sad to be saying goodbye to Bethanne, India and Isabelle this morning. I had only stayed for the weekend but it felt like it had been much longer. We didn't have much downtime. The bonus about being in the company of another blipper is that there is no difficulty or guilt about spending a few hours at the computer sorting through pictures and putting a blip together. That would seem very rude normally on a weekend visit to see a friend!

On the surface of things the weather wasn't great today for my big ride back to South Hadley in Massachusetts. It drizzled for almost the entire first half of the ride. But actually that was fine because the temperature was just right and it meant that I didn't get dehydrated. I stopped for a bit of lunch in Brattleboro and for a couple of hours the weather cleared and even offered up some watery sun - before the rain returned with a vengeance. I cycled the last 30 odd miles through a torrential cloudburst! By that stage, though, I didn't really care too much.

The highlight of the day was the traverse of the mist covered Green Mountains on Route 30. The Vermont roads are superb for cycling. The road surface is smooth and they have wide hard shoulders which might as well be called cycle lanes (not that I saw any other cyclists using them)! With the drivers (even the truck drivers) being very courteous, they were a joy to ride on.

I really love undertaking these long rides from A to B. There is a genuine sense of adventure when you only have your own body to rely upon. I've done lots of these journey rides in my time but they still provide a very strong sense of achievement. I love turning up at the final destination with all those miles in my legs, having followed a ribbon of tarmac the entire day, emerging with lots of stories to tell - and, nowadays, photographs in the camera.

The only problem I encountered on the ride today was the appalling signposting in this part of the world - which falls somewhere between non-existent and consistently confusing. And Massachusetts is worse than Vermont. That put an extra few miles on the distance to make it a 135 mile ride today. The legs held up well. The family laid a feast on for dinner, which was duly demolished. Combine that with Bethanne's wonderful food, I've been very well nourished on my trip so far.

Bethanne wrote some lovely words on her blip tonight. It's hard not to be lively and enthusiastic when people are open to the magic of the world. And that you certainly are. Thanks for everything.