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October 25 Tuesday Bicycle touring from Vermont to the Fischer covered railway bridge still in Vermont A sign I read yesterday as we cycled into New Hampshire said the number of collisions with moose in New Hampshire is 211. Definitely not a good thing to run into while on a touring bike. The day started with a light sprinkle, just as we were getting ready to get up. It only lasted a few minutes -- just long enough to get the fly wet on both sides, the inside from our respiration condensation and the outside from the rain. We pushed our fully loaded touring bicycles through the bush and up a steep bank back onto Hwy 2. Our breath could be seen as we huffed along. I was hoping for a hill so I could warm up. And this being Vermont, I didn't have long to wait. We cycled to a store to buy groceries in Concord. The lady wondered where we were going to put a gallon of milk on a bike. I didn't have the heart to tell her I was already carrying a gallon jug in one of my rear panniers. It really is surprising how much one can put into bicycle touring panniers. We ate breakfast at the Wagon Wheel Restaurant in North concord. I had a ham and cheese omelet; it has taken me this long to get over the one we had in Saskatchewan. This one was much better. We cycled Hwy 2 through St Johnsbury. Just past there we were greeted with a sign which shows bicycles prohibited. We saw a woman -- in a van of course -- going the wrong way down the four-lane road. Maybe that's why they don't allow cyclists on that road. Too many brain-dead drivers. A road to North Danville is what we cycled. It was hilly, but beautiful as we pedalled our fully loaded touring bicycles along river and creeks. Best of all, there was hardly any traffic. We ate lunch at an old school in North Danville which is now the site of the library. There was a plywood haunted house set up near the picnic table where we were eating Raisin Bran with bananas. The scariest thing about the haunted house was that it looked like it would fall down if a sudden wind gust hit it. We started our covered bridge cycle tour by taking route 15 out of Joe's Pond. Traffic wasn't bad until Hardwick. Who makes up these names? What is that supposed to be anyway? Home of America's studs? Four miles later we came to the Fischer covered bridge. It spans the Lamoille River and was built in 1908. The special thing about this bridge is that it covers a railroad for the St Johnsbury and Lamoille county railroad line. It is the only covered railway bridge in Vermont that is still in regular use. It is also the only one with a full-covered cupola running the length of the bridge. The cupola was built so that smoke from the coal-fired locomotives could escape in the old days. I walked across the railway bridge. Regular use? There are gaps between some of the rail ties that are big enough to fall through to the lazy river twenty feet below. I took a picture through a tree in the pull out area. We set up our lightweight cycle touring tent beside the bridge in an information hut that has neither glass in the windows nor a door in the door frame. Talk about a fresh air experience. |
