Day 6: Monmouth, ME to Searsport, ME

This was a bit of a mixed day - the worst morning riding by far, but a good afternoon, and it did finally get us to the coast. Here's the route as shown on Strava:



Derek started driving the van (good day to take his turn) and everyone else rode out from Beaver Brook campground together.

A giant boulder formed part of the firepit at Beaver Brook.

The route was fine for the first few km, but once we got on route 202 towards Augusta, traffic was extremely heavy, and just got worse as we got in to the city. The maps we'd consulted before starting only showed the major roads, and we'd had limited network coverage to allow us to do more detailed research of online maps - in hindsight we could have easily avoided the worst of it.

For most of this stretch we did have wide shoulders, but the constant noise of heavy trucks passing was pretty unpleasant. Mike also got hit with a little debris when a truck pulling a house blew a tire.

By the time we reached downtown Augusta, we were so stressed that we just couldn't wait to get out of it, and we entirely skipped the historic waterfront and the Maine State House. Some day we'll have to go back and see the nice parts of Augusta...

We did see a Tim Hortons on the way in, and when we met up with Derek we saw a Tim's cup in the van, so he evidently noticed it as well.

I didn't take any pictures of the traffic; these were snapped while taking breaks from the road noise...

A couple of km outside of Augusta, we stopped for snacks at a shop. They had fresh baked cookies and whoopie pies, but Mike was most tempted by the pigs ears. He was convinced to skip them (reluctantly) after the clerk told him that they were intended as dog chews...

After another hour of riding we met up with Derek at a restaurant in South China. Actually, he picked Rachel up a km or two earlier, when the hills were starting to be too much for her - good timing.

Most of us had the day's special of a massive deep-fried mixed seafood basket, putting any further desire for deep-fried food at bay for days. Mike was probably smarter in going for lobster.

Derek got on his bike after lunch, and Lindsay, Laura and the kids hopped in the van. Too bad we hadn’t flipped our normal routine so they rode the afternoon instead of the morning.

Since the pre-lunch ride had been just an ordeal to endure, I campaigned for a detour on to quieter roads. We rode on North Palermo Road and route 137 in two groups. (Gary and Laura wanted to do a slightly slower pace for a change.)

Route 137 is a bit hilly, but very quiet and scenic. We stopped for snacks at a shop in the village of Freedom that sold homemade jerky which supposedly sold out every day. The clerk seemed very excited to have Canadian tourists in her shop; apparently they've been rare this year.

When we reached Belfast we had to get back on the busy highway 1 for about 7km, to take us to our destination of Searsport Shores campground.

At first I thought Lindsay had driven out to the road to meet up with us, but it turns out that the group tent site is right next to that busy highway 1... Traffic did get quiet from about midnight through 5 am, but it was a bit disappointing considering the amount of road noise we'd endured through the day.

Otherwise the campground was very nice, with a beach far from the road, a rec room with games including table tennis, a garden from which one could pick fruit and veg, goats to visit, WiFi coverage everywhere except our group site, and a chalk board for a welcome message... And that group site had one great feature, with a large shelter to cover all our gear and several tables, handy with rain coming.

Steve T and Sean started working on the "Fundy Fondo Song" with their guitars before dinner.

After we'd all showered, we shuttled in the van to a restaurant in Searsport that was memorable only for having run out of most of their side dishes, then back for another late bedtime.