meeyauw: bike rides

Showing posts with label bike rides. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Northern Rail Trail, Potter's Place Section

View Northern Rail Trail, Potter Place Section in a larger map

Above: Potter Place Railroad Station, where we joined the trail after leaving home on the bikes. This ride was 12.54 miles (20 km). You can see these photos placed on the Google map above. Each of the blue markers on the red trail is one of these photos. A complete set of photos of Potter Place and its history can be found here and here. We took this ride on August 8. I have procrastinated posting this because of the length, details, and the problems I have had using a mouse on Google maps. But now it works!

Above: the first railroad bridge we encountered (over the Blackwater River)

Above: a view of Mount Kearsarge from the trail

Above: Keniston Covered Bridge (Bridge #15, built 1882)

Above: a view of the Blackwater River from the Keniston Covered Bridge

Above: An original railroad marker. They are spaced regularly along the trail. I never stopped to see what they said (what a mistake!).

Above: the Lawrence Street culvert tunnel

Above:

This project was completed by Peter N. Petras Cleopa, Eagle Scout, with friends & fellow scouts of Troop 489.

We dedicate this stairway in memory of James LaFiosca.

Laconia Citizen
Laconia, NH
9 February 2001

James Lafiosca

ANDOVER — James "Jimmy" Lafiosca, 74, of East Andover, died Feb. 7, 2001, in Franklin Regional Hospital.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Feb. 2, 1927, he was the son of Daniel and Concettina Lafiosca. In 1957, he moved to New Hampshire. He moved to Andover in 1959.

In 1945, he graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School.

He served in the US Navy aboard a destroyer in the North Atlantic.

Mr. Lafiosca and his wife operated an inn in Franconia for two years. Since 1959, he and his wife operated Orchard House, a real estate business, in Andover.

He was past master of Kearsage Masonic Lodge and a member of the York Rite bodies (32nd degree Freemason).

Mr. Lafiosca was an 18-year member of the Franklin Regional Hospital Board of Trustees, serving as president and clerk. In addition, he served as a commissioner of East Andover Fire Department and past president of Andover Lions Club.

He enjoyed woodworking and metalwork.

Above: Blackwater Park, Howard George Ballfield

Above: We almost stopped at our favorite (and only) pizza place — they put a spur on the trail for bikers.

Above: old railroad bridge over the Blackwater River
Wingnut on his bike; my bike leaning on the bridge.

Above: a geodetic marker at the bridge above.

Above: The Blackwater River

Above: the trail goes underneath Route 4 in Salisbury

Above: Horseshoe Pond
A causeway was built for the railroad that cut this pond in two.

Above: The Andover Town Garage

Monday, October 05, 2009

Wilmot Village Bike Loop

View Wilmot Village Bike Loop in a larger map

Wingnut and I loved riding bikes together. and this short (3.2 miles or 5.2 km) bike ride through this beautiful village is one of my favorites. The ride was about 5.4 miles (8.7 km) from our home and back. The roads are quiet and have barely any traffic at all. What does drive by is going very slowly and respectfully.

On Google Maps I have described this as “A delightful ride with rolling hills, village streets with little or no traffic. Historical monument, churches, ponds, livestock, great scenery. Paved road.”

In the middle of Wilmot is this beautiful Civil War Memorial. Every Wilmot citizen who has died in any war is listed here. Do you remember Billy Buskin, the Civil War horse memorialized in Wilmot? Billy was my Memorial Day post. At the Civil War Memorial is a memorial walk with paving stones memorializing various veterans. Billy Buskin is one of the stones:

We then rode past Tannery Pond (the opposite side from the swimming lessons. This bike loop actually goes around the pond (the long way.)

The final highlight of this ride is the Donkey. Remember him? Here, he is getting up after rolling on the ground. I want a donkey.

There are many beautiful sights on this ride and if you are in the area, I encourage you to bike this route.

_/\_/\_

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Campground Road - Route 11 Bike Loop

One of our favorite bike rides is the Campground Road Loop. We leave the house and get to Campground Road and go north until Route 4A. Above, you see Wingnut riding up Route 4A. This was just after he flew out of Camppground Road onto Route 4A in front of the only car on the whole road, nearly getting killed, and nearly killing me with a heart attack so badly that I dropped my bike. I rested until my heart rate got to normal levels and took this photo of him.

I made this little map on Google Earth. I wanted to make a tour for you but I couldn't load a demo Google Earth tour to see what a tour is. Sooner or later I will learn how. But you can use the ruler tool on Google Earth to see how many miles you have traveled. You can also do it on Google Maps (which has a better tool that follows the roads).

On Route 4A we travel east until Route 11. This is a wonderful stretch of rolling hills and a great downhill run (which, if you don't know what you are doing, can be dangerous). I only hit 21 mph on the downhill. Yup, I was chicken. Anyhow, the directions of my new speedometer/odometer are too tiny for me to read so I don't have my elapsed time.

I stopped at the intersection of Route 4A and 11 to take photos of the Cilleyville Bog Covered Bridge. Above, you see Wingnut riding up to it. This bridge was built in 1887. It is New Hampshire's Covered Bridge #16. I don't know, yet, what the 16 refers to.

If you want to see a better photo of this bridge, click here.

Below you see the view of Ragged Mountain from the Scilleyville Bridge on Rt 11 in the east. Ragged Mountain has hiking and skiing trails. And golf. Another all-year resort.

Finally, here is one of my favorite photos this summer of Wingnut on the bridge with his bike. The bike actually belonged to John's son but I got it all tuned up in town for Wingnut to use this summer. It's his first full-size bike.

This is a great short loop ride. It is 4.26 miles (6.9 km), with views of mountains, quiet roads, rolling terrain and an historic covered bridge. The next time I ride it and I have my camera fixed (more about that story in a future post) I'll show you the scenery that I completely failed to shoot this day.

Bike Loop: Campground Rd-Rt 4A-Rt 11 Set on Flickr