Saturday, October 11: Ticonderoga
to Williston
What a day! The 39 miles from
Ticonderoga to the Essex Ferry took 6.5
hours of biking! This snail pace is a
result to two factors: (1) terrain, road
surface and shoulders, and high traffic density; and (2) two flats on Diane’s
rear tire. The road was miserable –
continuous long steep hills, narrow to non-existent shoulders, and rutted
highway. New York calls this road “Bike
Route 9.” Ha! Our down time was an hour and twenty minutes,
due to (a) repairing the flats and stops for good air; (b) Diane’s need to walk
the remainders of two really steep hills; and (c) meal, rest, and comfort
breaks.
We arrived at the Essex Ferry
Dock just in time for the 4:00 P.M. ferry across Lake Champlain to the
Charlotte, VT dock, a twenty minute trip.
Concerned that nightfall would come on before we could bike the
remaining 24 miles or so to our hotel in Williston, Rob began an internet
search for public transportation options.
Turns out there were bus links that would get us close to the hotel, if
we were able to catch a 5:28 bus at a stop about 8 miles from the Charlotte
ferry docks, and if the bus had bike racks (and if Google Maps was correct
about Saturday service). We made
it!
The first bus was running a few
minutes late, but when it arrived we were happy to see it had bike racks, and
no bikes on them. That bus took us to
Burlington, and from there we transferred to a bus going to Williston. The latter got us to within 0.7 of a mile
from the hotel. It was quite dark and a
bit rainy when we disembarked and walked our bikes to the motel. When we got there, the receptionist and
manager both told us they had overbooked, so rebooked us to another hotel. We stood firm, and they relented, so we
settled in at 7:40 p.m. Rob had bike
maintenance chores – repair the two tubes, tighten the wheel bearings on Diane’s
front wheel, and general inspection of the bikes. Diane did the laundry, bottle washing, and
general prep for the next day. We were
exhausted but ready to take on another day.
Diane churns up of the many hills with no time to enjoy the fall colors.
Passing through small hamlets with interesting artifacts of the past. Such as this facility used water power to manufacture who knows what.
Leaving NY state by ferry under darkening cloudy skies.
With twilight upon us, smiling at last as we know we will make it to our motel.
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