This ride has a twist in the tail – in the shape of a 200 mile detour to the north to visit the Adirondacks, Lake Placid, and Burlington. We had been to the latter on a family holiday in Vermont years ago, but Lake Placid had seemed too far to drive. So the obvious thing to do was to cycle to it years later …. across America! 

But it still took an effort of willpower to turn the bike north, up the steep side of the Mohawk valley and into the Adirondack mountains, when we could have rolled on down the valley and reached Boston in three fairly easy days cycling!

It’s been hard, but worth it so far. The Adirondacks have their own peculiar charm. This is a big granite dome – roughly circular and about 150 miles diameter. The average height is only about 1700 feet, but the area is anything but flat! There are no deeply cut valleys – the granite is too hard – but rolling, isolated hills and broad valleys. The whole area is heavily wooded, with poor drainage, and there are lakes and bogs everywhere. A local man told us that the native americans never settled up here – its too harsh. The european settlers were the first to try it, and many died. 

Luckily, we were just cycling through – stopping to photograph some of the beautiful lakes.

 Our 100 miles included nearly 7000 feet of climbing – our third toughest day. Somehow we still managed it in 6 and a half hours. Our reward is a room in the Adirondack Hotel on Long Lake. This is an old fashioned, wooden building with rocking chairs outside on the verandah. This is the view from our window – float plane and all.

   
 
More leg-sapping mountain roads tomorrow!