June 18, 2023
Over the Notch
North Woodstock, New Hampshire to Thetford Hill, Vermont
I slept reasonably well in the hostel. I backtracked for breakfast at a place a mile east. I had eggs Benedict, home fries, toast, and coffee. The price was right but it didn’t sit well in my tummy.
After a bio break back at the hostel, I hit the road.
Up.
The first eight miles involved a climb to Kinsman Notch where the Appalachian Trail crosses my route for the fourth and final time. The climb steepened near the top. Add a headwind and rain, and this made for serious work. I had to stop about five times. It was not much fun. At least I had the day’s 1,600-foot climb out of the way early.
I zipped up my jacket, put on my buff under my jacket’s hood, and slid on some long-fingered gloves for the descent out of the clouds. Visibility was much better than yesterday so I could actually enjoy the ride down. It was big fun especially when my helmet started lifting off from my head. (The straps had worked their way loose.)
I had two more short, steep climbs in the next ten miles. The rain had let up but the gloomy overcast and headwinds persisted.
In North Haverhill, after stopping for a gas station food snack, I turned south and the wind became my friend. But for a few climbs away from streams it was a reasonably flat ride to Orland, where I learned the bridge I was planning on using to cross the Connecticut River was closed. After a chicken-finger lunch and a resupply of my food stores, I crossed the river not 100 yards from the country store I had stopped at.
Goodbye New Hampshire. Hello Vermont.
I turned south on US 5, a two-lane highway between the river and I-91. With five miles to go, the impossible happened; the sun came out.
I descended an 8 percent grade into East Thetford then turned west to begin the climb away from the river.
My campground was at the top of a hill naturally. (Just another one I don’t have to climb tomorrow.) The ground is a bit damp but my tent site is quite nice. I even get to hear the white noise of the traffic on the interstate through the trees.
Tomorrow looks very much like today but longer and in reverse. I hadn’t noticed it before but the climb over Middlebury Gap looks very similar to the one over Kinsman’s Notch. I have booked a classic 1950s Vermont motel for tomorrow night. I expect it will be a long hard day.
Today's ride: 50 miles (80 km)
Total: 1,468 miles (2,363 km)
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