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| Morning threading sky |
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| Donation Box |
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| After the hill |
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| Art in Northampton |
With a 70 percent chance of rain we hoped to start early and outride the storm. Fortunately, the rain never arrived. However, the unexpected hills were extremely steep and went on for miles. The total climbing was 5200 feet as compared to yesterday's climb of 4200 feet. I should have realized this was not going to be an easy day when I saw the sign "Welcome to the Berkshires". The only reward was the downhills and I clocked my top speed at 34 miles per hour.
Before the dreadful hills on MA143, we enjoyed a ten mile rail to trails bike path, the Ashuwilltiook Rail Trail. The beauty of the trail and the perfect riding surface made us vote this trail number one for the trip. I added a donation to the scenic painted donation box at the trailhead.
Usually we cycle through lots of small towns but today was different. The only towns were major, Northampton and Amherst. Unfortunately, we had no time to stop and enjoy the unique stores and food establishments in either town. I did stop to photograph the metal sculpture across a bridge in Northampton before entering another trail. Remember, I'm the bike fanatic photographer!
Our 70 mile day ended with 77 miles on my bike computer after getting lost twice. The extra miles did not matter because it did not rain and the extra miles were not on hills.
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