Day 68 - Freeport to Wiscasset - Two Far 2022 Reunion Bound (the long way around)

June 16, 2022

Day 68 - Freeport to Wiscasset

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We rode through the center of Freeport on our way to Wiscasset this morning. The home of LL Bean is now the home of a thousand stores. The main LL Bean store is set back from the road, but I got this shot of the Bike, Boat & Ski store. Oddly, I thought, when we were here in 2019, they did not allow bicycle parking in front of their stores.

Out in the country past Freeport, we saw this cool bicycle tire and wheel sculpture.

I only realized it was a mailbox when I uploaded the picture.

The next town after Freeport was Brunswick. It is the home of Bowdoin College and has a real college town feel. There are lots of interesting shops and restaurants.

We went into town to find this swinging bridge across the Androscoggin River.

From Wikipedia: "The Swinging Bridge is a pedestrian suspension bridge spanning the Androscoggin River between the Topsham Heights neighborhood of Topsham, Maine and neighboring Brunswick. It was built in 1892 for workers working at the Cabot Mill in Brunswick."

We walked the bike across the bridge. The movement was barely noticeable.

We rode the Androscoggin River Bicycle Path on our way out of Brunswick. It is a well-used trail that is marked for pedestrians and cyclists and offered nice views of the river. We saw lots of people walking their dogs on the trail, as the Merrymeeting Dog Park is adjacent to the trail.

Pedestrians on the skinny side, cyclists on the wide side.

We rode straight through Bath. We've spent time there in past years and have been to the big Maine Maritime Museum three different times. I told Kerry I was fine with skipping it this time through.

To leave Bath, we crossed the US 1 bridge over the Kennbec River. There was a very strong cross wind. Kerry walked the bike to the top and we rode down.

The current bridge, built in 2000, replaced the Carlton Bridge which was built in 1927. The old bridge had an upper deck for cars and a lower deck for trains. The lower deck is still in use. In this photo the bridge is raised to allow boat traffic to pass through. The rail deck is almost level with the road deck when in the raised position.

View of the shipyard - the Bath Iron Works. Naval vessels are built here.

We stayed on US 1 the rest of the way to Wiscasset. There were some big hills to climb, but they would have been a lot bigger if the road were not cut through all this rock.

Today's ride: 29 miles (47 km)
Total: 2,323 miles (3,739 km)

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