There's A Moose! Loose! About This Hoose!

Word of the week: Melodious

Another day, another State capital. Another night, another Youth Hostel.

Dead end in Maine, and a couple of lads with the right idea.

From Portsmouth I headed north East to follow the coast towards Portland and then onwards to Brunswick. Being New England, all the towns have stolen their names from well know English seaside towns: Portsmouth, Portland, Yarmouth, Scarborough, Freeport, and the well known sea-side town of York. Most of these are like cycling through Scarborough with the beach and sea-front tourist shops and restaurants, except for Freeport which is more like cycling through Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet Village.

From Brunswick I essentially followed the Kennebec River up to Augusta which looks a little like this...

Kennebec River, Maine

I got Hugin working so that I can stitch photos together for panoramic scenes. But, I made it up to Augusta for State capital number 9. Not too much to say, but the racoon (roadkill) on the wildlife list can be replaced with racoon (alive). Also, the cycling is beginning to take its toll on my body. The roads are pretty cracked and all the vibrations coming through the front wheel are turning my forearms to jelly. I had a really nice roast crispy duck the other day and had to eat it like a toddler because I just can't hold a fork properly. I think I'm getting close to having to sign my name with an 'X' too. I've got no idea how I managed to control two very short straws this morning to use them as chopsticks to have a pasta salad for breakfast.

There's one youth hostel in Maine at Bethel. Surely I could make that in one day. My average is hovering around 40 miles a day with the most I've done so far a solid 60 miles through Delaware. Delaware was flat. The 65 miles between Augusta and Bethel goes into a mountain range and isn't anything close to flat. Plus, there's nothing there apart from wildlife (I saw some more deer and I think I saw a porcupine, but it was a bit flat to know for certain). Some nice views though...

North Pond, near Bethel ME

Heed the warning - beware the moose with three legs

Tonight, I was in Bethel for some food and a beer or two. About to start the 5 miles or so back to the hostel but there's a bit of a thunderstorm brewing and me legs are actually killing so call in a lift off the guy who runs the hostel. The mountains look incredible being lit up by lightning. We also saw another entry to the wildlife list. Moose trundle across roads similar to deer, but at a quarter of the speed, maybe less. They're also all legs and then a tonne of moose meat at windscreen height. Probably the closest I've come to death for a while.