Sea level tonightAn early night yesterday made it much easier to open my eyes this morning. My panniers were ready to jump on the bike even before I headed down for a blueberry pancake breakfast. Even so, taking time for a good relaxing breakfast gives me the right start for my day. Funny - I was the only person staying at the inn last night who was from North America. The other guests (at least the ones I spoke with this morning) were from England, Germany, and Switzerland.
Quiet road, trees, lakes, rivers
Water, lighthouse view
Today was a quiet riding day on a quiet road. It continued to be fairly empty, although I was passed by more vehicles today than yesterday. The lumber trucks that passed me yesterday were all empty, and the trucks today were all full. I wonder why...
The ribbon of road continued to undulate over hills, some ups, some flats, but ultimately the road pointed down to sea level. There were sections with houses, but most of the ride was through trees, green leaves with an occasional patch of red. Lakes and rivers were sprinkled through the trees, occasionally jumping out in front of my camera. The quiet morning again morphed into an afternoon of changing winds.
I rolled into Liverpool at around 2 o'clock and headed to the visitor center to get some suggestions for a home for the night. The owner of the B&B that sounded the most interesting wasn't home, so I headed out to see a few things in town. The women who staffed the visitor center told me they would keep calling while I was out wandering.
The first stop on my mini tour of Liverpool was the lighthouse. It was again one of those short structures - only three stories high - and one that is no longer in use. It is in the inner harbor, so its reach was only about 8 miles where it was running. (Hmm... did I really hear that in miles, or was the woman at the lighthouse talking in kilometers?) The lights that are still operating are those on the ocean, and those have a reach of about 23 miles (or kilometers if I heard it wrong). Either way, those distances seem a bit unreal to me. The first set of stairs was steep, but still felt like stairs. The second, climbing to the level of the light, was more like a ladder. I happily go up stairs like that, but then I wonder why I did it when it comes time to head down again. The view was worth the climb, and I treated the stairs like a ladder, descending facing in as opposed to out like a normal traipse downstairs. I was very glad there was a good railing. My next stop was the town museum. I'm usually not much of a museum-goer, but this museum had an exhibit that struck my fancy - a whole room dedicated to outhouses. That just sounded so odd to me that I had to see it. There were two outhouses (reproductions, I guess), and no, they didn't have the non-working parts. But there were also shelves of miniature outhouse models, and a wall of photos of outhouses too. Very funny, and well worth the visit.
Enough wandering for today, time to head back to the visitor's center and find a home for the night. This time Joan was home, and she was happy to accommodate me at the Geranium House B&B. I headed to the house and got settled in, showered, cycling clothes of the day washed. A nice plus is that on this rather windy day there is a clothesline out back that I was able to use. No worries about things not drying overnight here since it's already dry!
I joined Joan on the deck for a cup of tea. We sat and talked and watched the wonderful creatures visiting her garden. Joan had a handful of peanuts that she was feeding (one at a time) to a pair of red squirrels. I sat with my camera ready to capture the crazy animals. The birds visited too, chickadees, a blue jay, and woodpeckers.
Off for an early dinner... It was time for a change from what seems to be my standard dinner of scallops so I headed out for pizza and a salad. Back at the house, I found that my hostess had started the (electric) fireplace to warm up the living room. I've been perched on a chair next to the "fire" since I got back, a nice place to relax.
Tomorrow it's time for my bike to head in a new direction - west. I'll be traveling on a combination of two roads, 103, and 3. And I've been warned that there is at least one fairly large hill on my route. What that really means only time will tell.
