5/20/23 Concord to Portsmouth, New Hampshire

What a day!  Yesterday the forecast for today was for rain all day and we deliberated about how to handle the situation.  By the time we went to bed the forecast had changed and it appeared rain would not start until the late morning. With that in mind, we decided to get an early start today. We were on our bikes by 6:45! It was a cool,  but no rain. First 7 miles were on quiet trails, with the exception of the many birds we were hearing. 

Once on roads, we were happy it was reasonably mellow Saturday morning. 
We stopped into a Dunkin Donuts for a pit stop and shared a sourdough breakfast sandwich. Honestly… we were impressed!  
Eventually another bike path with art sculptures along the way eventually took us over the Merrimack River by Newburyport.  
By 11:11 we had ridden about 45 miles, reached the coast and were almost at the boarder crossing.
 
A couple minutes later we reached the state line. 
The weather did not make for a good beach day, but we could see the boardwalk and shops around were just waiting for the sunshine. 
The ride along the coast was great, especially because the rain was holding off! 
We arrived in the very historic city of Portsmouth with the clouds getting heavy. Portsmouth  was first settled 400 years ago. 

We arrived at our hotel before 1:00 and before the rain! We were excited to clean up and put on our raincoats and set out to explore. First stop was Liars Bench Brewery for a flight and a lunch platter to share. 

Bundling up again, we made our way to the town, checked out some shops and another brewery…Earth Eagle Brewery ( it has a turkey on the logo) 



Upon checking out some more shops we met a longtime local artist Don Gorvett who creates wonderful fine art prints of nearby sites. It was fun chatting with him about his art and his cycling adventures.  We shared our current adventure with him and the gallery manager Vivienne and then told them why Portsmouth has special significance to us. 


Almost 23 years ago Tim and I met while riding across America with the company America By Bicycle. Needless to say, it was a very special and memorable trip that started in San Francisco and ended in Portsmouth NH!  We got married a year later.  In September we celebrated our 21st anniversary. Dinner tonight was at a special restaurant .. The Black Trumpet.  Wonderful small dishes and signature cocktails. A special evening. 


Today’s stats. 66 miles (before 1:00 😅)  1, 595’ climbing, one state crossing,  cool temperatures and we arrived before the rain.