Made it to Maine! (June 6)

Well, we've made it into our last state!  Just 4 more days of riding after today.  We started out riding north from Hampton Beach along the ocean.  Wikipedia tells me that "The Hamptons" is on Long Island NY, but judging by the size of the homes we rode by today they would fetch a pretty penny on the real estate market too.  After about 5 miles we turned inland for a while and played "guess what street you're on".  Seems they're not big into street signs in this part of the country.  For a while we were on the bike route of a triathlon (mostly going the other way so we didn't interfere with them).  How nice of the police to stop traffic for us, though.  There were lots of towns and small cities along the route - Portsmouth, Kittery, York, York Beach, Oconquit, Moody Beach and Kennebunkport.    We crossed the Piscataguah River in Maine at about mile 14.

Lots of rolling hills today; the kind that you almost build enough speed going downhill to get back up the other side.  The road surface was mostly crappy, though, so sometimes it was difficult to build up much speed on the downhill.  No shoulder and a bit of traffic (being a weekend), but lots of other cyclists and the cars were mostly good with us sharing the road.
I stopped in at an old Fort along the way - Fort McClary.  The first fort was build here in 1689 and it was involved in both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, although it had been deactivated by the federal government in 1846.  I assuming that the blocks you see in the foreground of the second picture are from the uncompleted work on the wall in the mid-1800s.

Just one SAG stop today.  At about 27 miles was the picturesque Nubble Light House, so we stopped there.  Some folks made it a lunch stop as well with fresh seafood being served near the gift shop.

We rode through lovely York Beach on the way to the lighthouse and also through a residential area on the point.  Incredible ocean views these people have!

Some pictures from a nice old church along the way.

Then it was on to Kennebunkport.  If you recognize the name, apparently the Bushes (of US presidential fame) have places there.  I went down to the beach and cruised the main street before stopping for a lobster roll.

It was then a short ride to our hotel in Kennebunk.  May T (from CCST 13) joined us for dinner and will ride with us tomorrow.

A beautiful ride, often along the ocean.  We had a good mix of beaches and the more typical Maine scene of waves crashing on rocks.  The day was still a bit chilly at times but lots of people out trying to enjoy the beach in any case.

Stats for the day:
92 km from Hampton NH to Kennebunk ME.  2100 feet of climbing.  Mostly sunny and temps 12C to 28C.