The day after

Friday morning we had another nice breakfast at the Inn Victoria before heading out. We were a little sore from the previous day, but not to bad (the bath helped). We drove back to Weston to do some shopping we did not complete on Wednesday (didn't want to carry it on the road). We had a good time at the Vermont Country Store, particularly in the bargain area. After spending a little too much money, we we back to Chester to leave a thank you at the Popple fields house, and then stopped at a wood workers shop we had seen on the first mile of the first walk. He worked with chainsaws primarily, and had some great pieces. We bought a piece of wall art and a carved owl.

After this we made our way home, picked up the birds, had a rest from a fine vacation indeed.

These legs climbed Howard Hill

A repeat of the post I somehow lost yesterday morning...

For the final day of our walking tour, we again needed to be dropped at our staring point. We were given the choice between starting at the bottom of Howard Hill Rd., or being driven to the top, where there's a golf course and Pro Shop that sells cool drinks and has "facilities". We were on this tour with 2 other couples, a pair of sisters and their husbands: Karen and Dave and Janice and Tom. We'd not spent time with them on the road, but we did enjoy many a meal with them. It was fun comparing notes from that day's walk and plans for the walk ahead. We, of course, decided to climb Howard Hill; the other group did not.

Howard Hill Rd. is a dirt road; loose dirt and gravel as the pitch is steep and the rain loosens the rocks on the way down. The climb lasted for 2 miles with the first mile being the steepest. When we were about 0.5 miles up the road a car with the other party passed us. It was the first time that they were ahead of us all week, as they preferred a more leisurely breakfast. We were wiped out by the time we reached the top of the hill. We stopped at Tater Hill Golf Club, named for the potato farm that it replaced, and had a drink and a rest. Only 9 more miles to go....

Most of this walk was on Popple Dungeon Rd. The road gets its name from the Poplar trees that closely lined and shaded it, so that the darkness reminded folks of a dungeon. Most of that new growth is now gone, being replaced by maples; it must be stunning in the fall! Popple Dungeon Creek meanders close by the road for most of the walk, providing some beautiful walking music. I experienced an unfortunately timed call of nature about 8 miles into the walk. Happily, we were near the old Popple Fields B&B. It's closed now, but Conrad and his wife are still welcoming walkers in need (ie: me, that day) and we spent a lovely 40 minutes visiting and viewing the gorgeous reproduction home that Conrad built. I've never seen such a perfect and beautifully kept place.

Once we left their home, we faced yet another challenging hill on Dodge Rd. which also seemed to go straight up for at least 0.5 miles and then it just petered out. No, really, .. the road just sort of ended in a cul-de-sac, of sorts. We needed to then get really off road and hike through the woods for a bit to find Dodge Rd. again, which then descended, quite steeply in places, to the High St. After taking some pictures of the calves and alpaca's on High St. we were in the woods again to get to the swinging bridge that brought us back to Chester. A very tired, foot-weary pair of hikers entered Chester for their second stay at the Inn Victoria.

As we were walking down Main St. we saw the other 2 couples limp out of one of the local cafes after their late lunch. We were lucky enough to meet up with them at the Inn and wish them well before they began their journey home. We, on the other hand, went into the Inn to clean up before our afternoon tea. I'm so glad that we planned that evening's stay. We were exhausted from the hike and ready to just rest for a bit.

Ludlow to Weston

Wednesday's walk was shorter by design than the others and seemed like a piece of cake. We were transported from the Combes Family Inn to the starting point, the Weson Priory. We took a quick look at the chapel and as the gift shop was closed, started on our way along a back road into the Village of Weston. The day was beautiful, the best of the trip. We followed the road through the trees, past lovely landscaped cottages. We did run into more road construction, this time a backhoe shaping the drainage on the edge on the road. We had one touchy situation with a dog guarding the road on front of it's property, by we soon left it behind.

The best part of this section was going into town where there was a waterway alongside a park with little waterfalls and arched bridges, and even stone benches for a weary traveler.

As we entered town, we immediately came upon the shops, incluDing the famous Vermont Country Story. We shopped for a bit than stopped for lunch at the Bryant Houst Restaurant. After a little more shopping we continued on our walk to the Colonial Inn. Some nice views presented themselves, and there were some nice photo ops.

The final stretch of the walk was alone a busier road, but we completed or walk in good time, Patti looking for more. -Mike

Day 2

Yesterday's walk, though of shorter duration, did have some memorable points. We walked along a river/creek that look like it would have been nice for canoeing. There were also views of a small lake, and several babbling streams. We passed a small cemetery that was 15 feet above the level of the road; you had to climb a set of old stone stairs to get up to it. There was a cute little state park on the afore mentioned lake where we took a bio break. And shortly before we reached the inn, views of Okemo mountain. The final stretch of road had hundreds of moths of it. These little orange moths would skitter in all directions as we walked. They were all over the wild flowers on the sides of the road as well. It was fun watching them dance around. We got a better look at them once we were at the inn, as they were fluttering around the plantings, and us as we sat on the porch, and seemed particularly fond of the thyme plant, which they covered. It turned out quite a pleasant day despite the dire predictions of hail, lightning and heavy downpours. - Mike

Half a day off

We awakened to a dark and humid day that quickly turned stormy....and the extended outlook was not promising. The weather map showed a long line of thunder storms headed our way that were not predicted to clear until 6 or 7 PM. That was a bit disheartening. At breakfast the first of the storms broke with impressive lightening and thunder. That really took the wind from our walking sails. After looking at the map and really not wanting to give up the opportunity for at least some walking, we decided to have the inn keeper drop us at the 1/2 way point and take a chance. 

We got caught in 1 or 2 light showers and then the sun came out....and stayed out. Once we reached the next inn, the weather forecast had completely changed and all of the predicted rain moved off to the south. We could have walked the entire route after all. Oh well. We're sitting and relaxing on the porch of The Combes Family Inn; this evening's accommodations. I guess a little extra rest is never a bad idea!

Walk 1

Mike insisted that I post this evening, even tho' I'm full of amazing Japanese food & sake.....soooo sleepy.

We completed 9.5 miles today in warm, sunny weather with decreasing (thank God!) humidity. It was a hot one, folks. We didn't see any wild life, only a wild road-grader that passed us several times; making the dirt roads safer for fast cars. Hurray? 

It was a pleasant walk, in all. We enjoyed each other's company and had the most amazing Japanese meal at the Old Town Farm Inn. I (Patti) was in Yokohama last October and did not have food this good on that trip. The woman who runs this Inn is an amazing chef! The inn itself is cute, but not remarkable. There's a cute little pond in back where we spent some time relaxing after the walk, until the sun drove us indoors. Cute, cute, cute,.....

Tomorrow we're off to the Combe Family Inn. It's about 20 miles from here, so we'll be dropped off at the starting place for our walk. We'll still walk about 10 miles, tomorrow. We've been taking pictures all day & I'm working on posting them. It's not as straightforward as I would hope. Stay tuned....

Setted in

So we've settled in. Our room came with a spare bedroom, the Prince Arthur room, with a very high bed. The inn is a great old Victorian house with lots of antiques. We had a very nice dinner of steak, roasted potatoes and green beans, with ice cream for dessert. All the food was excellent. We met the other two couples that will be walking the same hike as us. Seems like there may be a bit of trepidation with them as well. I'm not worried about tomorrow, but maybe the third day of walking. But we brought extra shoes and spare socks so we should be fine, hopefully we won't need spare legs or feet, because those are in short supply.

Breakfast sounds like it will great starter, coffee cake, pancakes and bacon. We'll be starting With plenty of fuel for the walk.

While it has rained almost all day, except when we first got here and had a chance to check out some of the local shops, tomorrow looks to be a fine day in the 70s. So it's off to bed to rest for the coming challenge. -Mike