Lawrence to Portsmouth

June 5, 2015

Another coolish, morning but bright and sunny. Today we saw Jerry off. We had picked our hotel so it was convenient to his car agency located across the state line in New Hampshire, not far away. He took off about 8:30 AM and rode his bike there with the plan to return to the hotel for his gear. That would give him 24 hours to drive home.

Soon after, Happy and I biked over to the Sunnyside Diner on Broadway in nearby Lawrence. Jerry would then meet us there before hitting the road south. The diner was crowded; there were only seats at the counter, and we wanted a booth. So we waited a bit and eventually got one. Very popular place even on a Friday.

After breakfast we said our goodbyes, and we were now two!

Today's riding was urban and country, river valley and beach, rolling hills and flats. A varying terrain with lots to see.

Today's ride to Portsmouth

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Note: My Garmin was off for part of today's ride, so I had to rebuild part of the route to add the missing 12 miles near the start. That also means some of the supporting data (speed, etc.) is screwed up. C'est la vie.

We started in Lawrence and made our way south to the Merrimack River, crossed it, and turned left. We would spend the rest of the morning in the river valley on mostly quiet country roads with rolling terrain that was mostly headed downhill toward the beach!

A lakeside road in the Merrimack River Valley.

And some wetlands and/or marsh areas. We see a good many of these, but I can't really identify what they are, but marsh sounds about right.

We pretty much followed Center Road and then Middle Road all of the way through the valley, arriving in Newburyport, MA around noon. Back at the ocean after many days spent pedaling through New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts!

In Newburyport, I missed the turn onto a short but interesting bike trail that Happy captured "on film." I made my way off of US-1 to avoid a bad underpass to the bridge over the Merrimack and then made my way to Salisbury Beach through Rings Island.

At this point, it was truly all flat riding, and we had a tailwind to boot! We hadn't seen wind like this since the Jersey Shore, and it pushed us up to 16-18 mph easy. And into New Hampshire!

I look happier but fatter here! I've lost weight. It's all in the jersey!

From there, it was an easy 15 miles into Portsmouth (and practically Maine). With a strong tailwind the whole way, the only thing stopping us was the scenery.

We rolled into Portsmouth around 4:30 and did a quick tour downtown before checking into our hotel.

This is pretty much the center of what is happening in Portsmouth.

Portsmouth reminds me of an east coast Portland. I should come back for a longer visit.

Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 2,386 miles (3,840 km)

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