Day 1: Friday,
Madbury,
NH, to Ogunquit, ME – 45 miles
Once in Maine we
mostly followed Route 103, taking a few side roads to follow the river, through Eliot and into downtown Kittery.
Most people
head to Kittery for the discount outlet stores on Route 1; they don't know about Kittery’s
little downtown only a mile walk across the new drawbridge from Market Square
in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We’ve ridden through it often enough, but have
been hard up to find any place to stop and refuel.
That’s changing. We rode to Kittery on the second of our training rides this
spring and found several places open on a Sunday morning, with bicyclists and
pedestrians lingering outside on the sidewalks. Our destination was Lil’s (lilscafe.com), a new coffee shop I’d read
about. The line – almost out the door – seemed a reliable testament to the quality
of the baked goods, and the crullers in particular caught our eyes. They caught the eyes of the customers in
front of us, too, and we watched as the last two disappeared before our turn
came to order.
After 20 miles Lil’s
would have been a fine place for a stop, but I had another plan. Last year, on a ride to York Beach, some
friends and I discovered an Italian pastry shop that I was eager to share with
Rob. So we breezed through Kittery and
saved a second visit to Lil’s for another day.
We arrived in York Harbor first- just another 5 miles where Rte. 103 runs into Rte. 1A – and
stopped for lunch at the town park with a large grassy lawn overlooking the ocean. We pulled in and found this really cool sculpture that can only be described with a photo.
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| We stopped for lunch in York Harbor. |
It was getting on near 2:30 and I began to worry that the pastry shop wouldn’t
be open when we got there. Pastry shops will sometimes close as early as 3:00.
Rob, on the
other hand, was already scouting about for a place to spend the night. I
figured we’d eventually stumble across a campground when we were ready to
stop. But Rob had other
plans. It was our 32nd anniversary and he had decided - without consulting the budget czar (that's me) - that we should recreate our Martha’s Vineyard honeymoon with a
night at an inn and a lobster dinner. When he spotted an inn across the street
he went to check it out. But I would have none of it. I wasn’t ready to stop.
And, besides, I hadn’t given up hope yet for that pastry shop .
The ride from
York Harbor to York Beach – less than four miles – can be dicey in the middle
of summer. The road runs past several
beaches with cars parked alongside the beach; there are campgrounds, rental properties, a playground, and an
arcade. It can get busy. But we flew through on a quiet day before the
season ramped up. The weather had been
cool so, even though it was the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, evidently people were not
flocking to the beach.
Then we hit the loop around Nubble Point to Nubble Lighthouse. The
point where you look over at the lighthouse stands is lovely, certainly worth stopping
and gazing out over the cliffs, but the fun comes with the ride along the
northern stretch of the point back to York Beach. Stunning views of the ocean on one side,
beautiful homes on the other, as you sail downhill.
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| The best part about the ride to Nubble Light is the ride back to town. |
When we arrived
at the pastry shop, it was not only open, but a large selection of treats still
remained. I ordered a pastry with a
ricotta cheese filling; Rob picked an apple strudel. I placed them gently in my
handlebar pack to save for our next rest stop.
From York Beach
we hopped onto Shore Road which provides a quiet and scenic alternative to
Route 1. After 10 miles we took the turnoff to Perkins Cove - hardly big enough to call a town, more like an enclave - filled with tourist shops, art galleries, and restaurants. Touristy but quaint,
with a quiet harbor filled with boats and yachts on one side and waves crashing
on rocks on the other.
We stopped at Todd Bonita's Gallery.
I’ve taken a few classes from Todd and wanted to say hello, especially as he
was celebrating his official opening for the season later that evening. Todd is a terrific artist, working to
revive the art colony (see ogunquitartcolony.com)
that once thrived in the area. The quality of his paintings – as well as the other artists’
works – inside such a small gallery probably makes that space the most valuable
piece of real estate on the coast of Maine.
Next we found
tea and a place to watch the waves while we ate our Italian pastries - every bit as good as I'd anticipated - and
discussed our options for the rest of the day.
It was getting on after 5 o’clock. I was on for riding some more, seeing
as how we’d only ridden 45 miles and were pretty fresh, it being our first day,
and likely had a fair amount of daylight left. But Rob was not to be disuaded
from his plan of a romantic recreation of our honeymoon. Ogunquit, only a
mile further, seemed the perfect place to stop for the day.
I figured it
was Friday night of Memorial Day Weekend, good luck finding any vacancies, and
even better luck finding something affordable – I wasn’t going to agree to
anything much over a hundred dollars for the night. And even if we did find a
place to stay, the restaurants would be crowded, it
being Friday night of a holiday weekend. We wouldn't sit down to eat until 9 o’clock.
But Rob was determined, so I waited while he checked out one place and then another.
Surprisingly we saw quite a few vacancy signs but, not surprisingly, the rooms available were over our budget even when Rob tried to convince the innkeepers
that they should give us a discount. As our options dwindled he rode right past a vacancy
sign. I called him back and he walked down a hill to The Terrace by the Sea while I stayed with the bikes. We didn’t have to go any further as the price was right and
the place was actually quite nice - right in town, overlooking the ocean, and a
short walk to the beach.
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| Terrace by the Sea in Ogunquit... |
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| .. and the view |
Even though it
can be touristy and the beach gets crowded in the middle of summer, Ogunquit
can be a fine destination, especially in the off-season. The beach stretches
out for a considerable distance, and there is also the Marginal Way, a paved
walkway hugging the cliffs that connects Ogunquit with Perkins Cove. Benches
scattered along the way encourage stopping to soak up the drama of the surf
crashing against the rocky coastline. And if the surf doesn’t grab your
attention, then you can admire the million-dollar homes on the other side of
the path, Maine's answer to the mansions lining the Cliff Walk in Newport,
Rhode Island.
After storing
our bicycles in the hotel’s laundry room and cleaning up, we struck out on the
Marginal Way in search of our lobster dinners. Summer evidently comes to Maine after Memorial Day, as we didn’t have to fight any crowds to get a seat outside
with a prime view of the surf at the Oarweed
Oceanside Restaurant and Lobster Pound. We enjoyed a
beer and bowl of steamers before it got too cold and we retreated inside to tackle our lobsters, as
we reminisced over our honeymoon so many years ago.
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