Day 2 – Valley Forge National Park, PA

Day 2 – Princeton, NJ to Valley Forge National Park, PA

65 miles

Waking up to a blueberry bagel and a couple of eggs was certainly more than I had hoped for 12 hours earlier. After saying goodbye to James and his family, I set off for Reading a good 110 miles.

I always knew it was going to be ambitious, especially having to go through Philadelphia. The Journey started on another bike trail heading through Trenton.

However, the milometer seemed to slow down completely, five miles seemed to take hours as the traffic picked up and the traffic lights seemed to love turning red just as I arrived for each one. I was slightly disappointed not to venture into the centre of Philadelphia.

It was about 50 miles before I hit another trail, the Schuylkill River Trail. Once again the feeling of been deprived of continuous cycling really made me appreciate the trail.

At 7.00pm I started to think about where I was going to sleep that night, I was about 4 miles from Phoenixville.

I knew there were some hotels in Prussia but that would mean going back on myself by about 3 miles. After 45 mins debating my next move I thought a motel would be the best option so I cycled back over towards Prussia.

As I was coming off a bridge, a little tired and slightly out of control I nearly hit a gentleman on his bike.

After apologising many times, I got chatting away to him, his name was Tom and he was a mountain biking enthusiast who very kindly offered me a place to stay as his girlfriend had gone away for a couple of nights.

After being driven back to his home and with a much-needed shower, Tom drove me round Prussia to give me a bit of a tour of the place, he even offered to drive me to Philadelphia to show me around but I declined as I wanted to grab some dinner and get an early night.

After 20 minutes of deciding where to go, we eventually ended up in a place. I ordered a leg of Lamb which went down a treat.

Tom and I engaged in our love of skiing and what wonders five months of skiing had done to my legs on this tour.

I realised talking to Tom how lucky I have been so far with the people I had met, and how I had been overwhelmed by the American hospitality.

Day 1 – Princeton, NJ

Day 1 – New York, NY to Princeton, NJ

87 miles

The day hadn’t started well, with thunderstorms making the first 45 miles a bit of a start-stop getting out of Jersey City was hell, the long walks over the narrow bridges and sharing the road with the truckers wasn’t making the start of the trip much fun.

But maybe it was the deprivation I had suffered over those 45 miles that made me appreciate some of New Jersey’s bike trails.

The long stretches of lush green bushes, beautiful rivers and wide suburban roads made the ending to my bike journey all worthwhile.

 

It was hard not to be impressed by Princeton and the University as I rode up in the evening. I cycled through parts of the campus and the main street before settling down for some dinner in a nearby restaurant called Massimo.

It’s a bit of an odd thing pitching up to a place that you have never been to at 7.30pm in the hope that you would be able to pitch a tent in someone’s back garden.

Researching this trip, people had told me that this was an acceptable thing to ask people.

However, when a nearby policeman in Massimo informed me that this was not the case in Princeton and that people will call the police and he would have to come and pick me up, I began to fear the worst, especially as the only hotel in town was $300.

It was then my luck changed and I was greeted by some incredible generosity from a waiter called James.

After hearing of my predicament, he said he might be able to help me out. I wasn’t sure what to expect other than pitching my tent in his back yard, given we had only just met.

Upon arriving at his home, I was greeted warmly by his family and even to a bed, I couldn’t believe my luck. After a quick shower, I stayed up chatting to James and his family for as long as I could before calling it a night.

Pre Cycling – New York

Pre Cycling – New York

First thoughts

I wasn’t sure what my expectations of New York were: but whatever those expectations were, it hasn’t disappointed.

The city has a palpable sense of aliveness and fun. It has a similar feel to London in many ways but just on a larger scale. I thought a pretzel was the size of a crisp, but here it’s the size of a loaf of bread!!

It was a puzzling first few days, I was staying in Chelsea and was surprised to see how many gay stores there were.

The rainbow flag seems to fly above every store and men walked around in tight shorts and skimpy tops. I was then told that my hostel was situated right in the middle of the gay district of Manhattan and I had arrived on the weekend of the gay pride march…..

Brooklyn

After a few nights in Chelsea, I moved over to Brooklyn where my friend Isabel was living. She introduced me to some of the wonders of New York.

I took my first cycle ride around New York and through Manhattan and headed to Central Park. The roads felt about as safe as a Buffalo stampede, hopefully, the drivers will be more sympathetic to me outside the cities.

I also got a taste of some fine New York cuisine, my first restaurant experience was a Pizzeria called Nicoletta on 2nd Avenue.

https://www.nicolettapizza.com/

After giving our group more pizza than we could possibly eat, they brought out the dessert, it could only be described as an ice cream with French fries and sprinkles, a calorific sensation!

I figured any extra calories consumed in New York could easily be burnt off on my bike ride, so was always happy to indulge in New York’s finest cuisine.

Tomorrow I start my first trip down to Princeton a cool 80 miles to start me off on route to San Francisco.

I suppose I cannot write my first blog without mentioning the weather. New York has greeted me with some of the hottest weather it has ever experienced in decades.

The forecast for tomorrow, however, is rain and thunderstorms all day, which on the bright side means I won’t be short of water for my first trip.

https://www.911memorial.org/

 

9/11 memorial

Next: Day 01

https://www.zibaadventures.com/day-1-princeton-nj/

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