Day 3: Noyan, QC to Little River State Park near Waterbury, VT (short version)

Sorry, I'm getting even further behind in posting. We're often lacking nearby power as well as connectivity at these campsites, so managing electronic devices is tricky. So... Here's a report on Saturday, even though it's Wednesday now.

I took a long turn driving and shopping for most‎ of the day, so I can't really describe most of the ride. I also took no pictures this day, so all the photos are from others.

‎Here's Steve T.'s Strava record of the day's ride (sorry I can't embed it properly): https://www.strava.com/activities/344083723

Here's my abbreviated ride section:

Lindsay and the kids started in the van, planning to drive to visit friends at a cottage on Holiday Point on North Hero, then stay overnight and get a lift to pick up the van in Waterbury.

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Wearing the official jerseys for the border crossing

The US border and Alburgh, VT were only about 20 minutes of easy riding away from the Sleepy ‎Hollow campground in Noyan. We breezed through the border check, making sure that the cyclists crossed just ahead of the van.

We rolled through the main village in Alburgh, then along West Shore road past Isle La Motte‎. It was a good taste of the mostly excellent road quality we'd experience in Vermont - I suspect that road maintenance budgets in the Champlain area are partly set with an eye to keeping cycle tourists coming back.

The cottage on Holiday Point was just a few km off highway 2 after crossing over the bridge to North Hero. We found a warm welcome (and tasty baked treats) from Gillian, Dave, Sophie, Emily and Robbie.

All the riders had a quick swim in Lake Champlain before continuing on the journey, most on their bikes and me in the van, with Lindsay and the kids either lounging or trying to set up Big Momma (their inflatable floating trampoline) as we left.

I know that the riders stopped at Hero's Welcome for sandwiches and rolled through Grand Isle (after waiting for a drawbridge to lower) the islands mostly along the roads on the west shore where they could avoid highway 2. They crossed the causeway and bike ferry from South Hero and then followed the bike paths to Burlington.

Hero's Welcome

Waiting for the drawbridge

This women wanted a photo with the crazies

South Hero Bike Ferry

Apparently Mike got cut off at the Zero Gravity Brewery in Burlington, thanks to Steve F. whispering in the bartender's ear that it would be irresponsible to serve him more than one with a lot of riding left to do.

As for myself, I drove from the cottage back to and along highwa‎y 2, which I took through and off the islands to I-89. I then made the mistake of driving to downtown Burlington to visit the Ski Rack shop - I planned to buy a part for a broken bike carrier on the trailer. Two mistakes really...

Downtown Burlington is very pedestrian and bike friendly, but tricky for a car, and very tricky with a trailer. I had to park a couple of km from my destination, which is a long hike with a broken toe. I arrived to find that Ski Rack doesn't stock such parts, which a quick phone call could have determined earlier. Apparently nobody in Burlington stocks them, which I worked out after calling some others.

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At least one of the staff members had advice on where to buy craft beer nearby, so I didn't return to the van empty-handed. I also had a few things to buy at a camping supply shop, but I'd learned my lesson and went to suburbia, the land of strip malls and large, trailer-friendly parking lots.

I then got back on the I-89 to Waterbury, then out to Little River State Park,  along a rough dirt road for ‎7km or so.

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I'd planned to leave the van and ride back to meet up with the rest of the riders but the shopping trip had taken far longer than expected, and this was no longer feasible.

I made contact with the riders ‎to form a plan of going to buy food to cook, but on my way back into Waterbury I encountered the Prohibition Pig brewery, and a new plan was born...

The brewery's food menu is limited to little more than‎ a selection of Mexican-style tacos (not Tex-Mex) but they had a lot of beers to choose from to wash them down. The riders went directly to the brewery and we shuttled back to the campground in two trips in the van.

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