Morning - time for a good food start before reversing direction and heading to the south and the west.
Portsmouth has an abundance of (coffee shop) cafes, so finding breakfast was as easy as selecting the cafe with more of a food focus (rather than just muffins or scones!) and wandering in. Ah, that one looks good. My breakfast consisted of a bagel topped with eggs, swiss cheese, and fresh spinach, with a banana on the side for a good serving of potassium. Yum! Oh, you want to know the name of the cafe? Breakfast this morning was at the Works Bakery Cafe.
Fueled to start the day, it was time to roll down the road. I rolled past people clad in bright vests, waiting for a 5K road race to go through. I didn't stop to chat because my focus needed to be on staying out of the path of the runners. My wheels kept rolling. You know me though, they rolled for a while, and then I started my normal stop and go style of touring. Sometimes I wonder why it takes me so long to cover the day's miles, but I really know the answer. You know it too, don't you? I stop a lot - not because I'm tired, but to see things, to talk to the birds, to take pictures.
From the edge of Portsmouth, through New Castle, and then back to the coast with views of the ocean on my left, ponds and marshy areas on the right, sunshine, people rolling by on bicycle wheels, walking, running, wandering over the rocky shoreline, strolling on beaches. Quiet beauty...
Am I seeing things? Hey Rover - can you help me figure out what that guy is doing? Oh, it's new to you too? Well, he's surfing, but then when the wave subsides, he's still standing on the board and he's paddling. Rover couldn't help with my odd question, so searching the web was high on my list of things to do once I was home again. And yes, you guessed it, he was "paddle surfing", using a board that can surf the waves or that can be (at least partially) powered by a person wielding a paddle. Very interesting.
If you're interested in learning more, I found what appears to be good information on the site of Paddle Surf Hawaii. I think I'll wait for someone else here to try it and report on her (his?) experience!
A little bit further down the coast, I stumbled on a surfing contest. I was passing through the northern section of Hampton Beach, in an area where the view of the ocean was blocked by a concrete sea wall. I wasn't going to stop, but then I noticed a truck bearing a big sign shouting "Surfing Contest". I stayed and watched for a bit. I know that I would have stayed longer if I wasn't still so far from home. Even then, if I had been carrying my long lens I probably would have stayed anyway. Next time...
Bicycle wheels turning, I rolled through Hampton Beach, over the lift bridge into Seabrook Beach, across the state line into Massachusetts and Salisbury Beach. And then... then I turned to the west, heading back towards home.
Yesterday's detour was really unnecessary. I popped my head out to see what Denise was up to when the bike started heading uphill (from the Merrimack River) much too soon. She was behaving and following a detour sign, but I was sure that we could get through the detour on our bike. The road that hugs the north side of the river is closed where flooding in the spring of 2007 washed away the edges of the road. Funny, I would have expected that to be fixed by now. Anyway, I know we got through on our way home last year. I pulled out the map last night and checked for roads leading toward the river from route 110. Ferry Road was one option, but it crossed over the river and we would have needed to ride on the south side of the river. That's not a problem, but I knew that Denise wanted to ride right next to the flowing water, and to do that we needed to stay north of the river. I saw another road on the map, just before I-95 - and that little road looked like it would nicely lead us to the river-hugging road. Unfortunately the road wasn't marked well, and our bicycle rolled right past there without turning. Maybe next year we'll take that road. I guess I need to have Denise watch for it too; she doesn't always hear me barking since I'm riding behind her and the wind sometimes carries my voice backwards!
We turned down towards the river to cover more of that road than we were able to with our too soon departure point from the river yesterday. We were rewarded almost immediately with the sight of a dock that was being used as a perch for a big flock of cormorants and sea gulls. Beautiful.
The river wandered side-to-side, and so did the road. It rolled over small hills, and then - oh, look! There's a detour sign pointing up hill and away from the river. The next part of the road was closed to big vehicles, but there was an opening in the jersey barriers that was just right for bicycles to roll through. Wow! a road just for bicycles! I'm so glad that Denise listened to my suggestion to ignore that detour sign. I just knew it wasn't meant for us!
Home again... It was a short trip, and it was a good trip.
And now, it's time to dream again. Where to next?
Keep watching. One day soon, hopefully, we'll all know the answer to my ongoing mystery.
