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The week of August 22nd I bicycled in Vermont with the Bike Vermont
tour group. This is one of many bicycle touring companies in Vermont.
The tour that I took was a five day tour of the Proctorville area.
It is interesting to note that another Vermont touring company has this
exact same bicycle tour (same inns etc) for $799. Through Bike Vermont
I paid $655 for the five day tour.
In this note, I'll post my experiences during the trip.
The price included a room at the inns, (double occupancy) as well as
breakfast and dinner and sag wagon support.
The first night (Sunday), I arrived at the Okemo Lantern Inn in Proctorville.
It was approximatley a three hour drive from central Massachusetts.
I had expected to share a room with someone but had my own room with
private bathroom.
We (the group of 14 people) sat out on the porch for a few hours and
talked and then it was time for dinner. Dinner most nights was 7:00pm.
For dinner we had cream of asparagus soup, chicken with pepper pesto sauce,
green beans, homemade bread, lyonnaise potatoes and homemade blueberry
cobbler for dessert.
After dinner, we had a meeting. We received maps and complete directions
for the week's rides. Directions were very easy to understand with mileage
indicators for turns, scenic views etc. There were 14 people in the group,
some couples and some singles from Toronto, California, Ohio and
Massachusetts. There was one woman aged 21 however the average age of the
rest of the group was around 40. What amazed me was that there were three
people that hadn't ridden a bicycle for years and they expected to do
20 - 50 miles per day.
There were two tour leaders. One would drive the van and the other would
bicycle with the group (at the end of the group.) Note: We didn't have
to ride as a group, people could go at their own pace and stop at antique
shops, swimming holes, shops etc. You could have as much or as little
company as you wanted. The van would stop and help people that needed
repairs and pick up people too tired to pedal any further. The van driver
also filled water bottles and supplied us with snacks during the day.
The next morning the tour leaders woke up early, checked our bicycles,
filled our water bottles with water and loaded our luggage into the van.
For breakfast there was homemade granola, homemade muffins, homemade
breads, fruit, cereals, juice, coffee and eggs and sausage. We had a
brief meeting after breakfast to review the day's route in case people had
any questions. We waddled to our bicycles and started off. The mileage for
the day was about 24 miles with an optional side trip to a waterfall
and another optional 16 miles at the end. We had no time restraints, we
could do what we wanted during the day so long as we got to the next inn
by 4:00 - 5:00.
The weather was beautiful and the ride was very enjoyable. I stopped along
the way at several antique shops, took pictures of many scenic areas, i.e.
covered bridges, interesting architecture, animals etc. We stopped at
the birthplace of Calvin Coolidge. We all sat on the porch of the
general store and relaxed awhile. There was a cheese factory nearby so
people snacked on cheese and crackers. There was six miles to go before
the next inn (we had already gone over twenty miles). The last six miles
were downhill.
The inn we stayed at was the October Country Inn. It was beautiful. It was
on a dirt road on the side of a hill. There was a pool (the first inn had
a pool as well) and the innkeeper was the most hospitable out of all the
inns. I especially enjoyed the hammock tied to the trees with a view of
the flower garden. BTW - when we arrived there was juice, soda, tea and
homemade cookies.
I shared a room with a another woman. It was a huge room with three beds and
a private bathroom. She snored (like a grizzly bear).
Did I tell you about dinner??
Dinner had a greek theme, starting with the lemon egg soup, a greek salad,
homemade breads, an incredible spinach pie on phyllo dough, chicken with
cabbage in a tangy sauce, rice with veggies and dessert was a wicked rich
walnut torte.
The living room of this inn had more puzzles than I had ever seem before. It
was amazing. There was also a nice library with a large selection of books
and magazines. I curled up with a book after dinner and relaxed.
On a scale of one to ten, so far this trip was a ten. We were also fortunate
to have perfect weather the whole week.
The next morning we awoke and met for breakfast. The breakfast menu was
similar to the first inn and for the most part, breakfasts at the remaining
inns was the same quality and quantity. After breakfast, we reviewed the
day's itinerary and then went outside where our bicycles had been checked
and our water bottles had been filled.
Tuesday's mileage included covered bridges, back roads and a trip into the
village of South Woodstock, a very picturesque town with alot of unusual
(but expensive) shopping. Anything purchased was then stowed in the van so we
didn't have to ride with any bags. Later on we proceeded to some waterfalls
and had a picnic lunch. Then there was "Hysteria Hill" to contend with -
it was a killer of a hill. Later there was a stop for ice cream and then after
30 something miles we arrived at the Golden Stage Inn.
The rooms at the inn were very nice and the room I shared had a private
bathroom as well.
After lounging around the pool, we had a dinner of cornish games hens (sorry I
don't remember the side dishes) and then relaxed awhile. One of the couples
was celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary that night so the champagne
was running freely.
The next morning we were again spoiled by a breakfast of just about every
breakfast type food available. We reviewed the itinerary, went out to
our bicycles and we were off on another adventure. We stopped at
an unusual "juntkique" shop called Kendall's Barn in the village of Gassetts.
This place was amazing. If you like rummaging through old junk - this is the
place to visit. We then visited the (very small) town of Chester and walked
around. The mileage for the day was about 22 miles,
this was an easy day. We stopped at a swimming hole later in the day.
And then we met at the Vermont Country Store. It is a very large country
store that I guess is well known through Vermont. We had a picnic
of french bread and cheese and fruit and then proceeded to the Saxton's River
Inn. This was a huge old inn in a town that had a craft store and a
variety store. That was the extent of it. Oh, and there were mosquitoes
the size of small birds everywhere.
Dinner was off the menu so I had chowder to start and then flouder with
fresh vegetables. Dessert was tiramisu which was very good.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you the best part of the inn. This particular
inn had a masseusse so I treated myself to a massage. While this inn wasn't
my favorite, the massage definitely was a plus.
The next morning, breakfast was off the menu. And it was very good, however
there were no deviations from the menu so a couple of people in our group
were alittle dissapointed when that couldn't have one of everything!
Thursday's ride was into the town of Grafton, a very charming town with
horse drawn carrages and alot of historic buildings including a blacksmith
and livery stable.
We walked around awhile and the hung out in front of the general store.
The afternoon included riding past dairy farms and scenic roads and a
stop at a pond for swimming.
Our final destination was the Wethersfield Inn, truely the most beautiful
inn we had stayed at. My room had a canopy bed and some very lavish antiques.
It was really a beautiful place with a pond in front and walking trails in the
woods. Too bad the owners had a bit of a pompous attitude. This inn
featured "afternoon tea" in the tea room which included (besides tea) all
kinds of meats, cheeses and crackers, as well as pastries and breads. (YUM)
Dinner was incredible. We chose from the menu. I started with grilled
quail with sauce Robert, then garden salad (freh and crisp), fresh sorbet,
I had filet of sole stuffed with salmon mousse and dessert was a wicked rich
cheesecake. (BTW - during the meal there was a poetry reading as well).
We played board games for awhile and then called it a night.
The next morning it was fresh fruits, warm and cold cereals, french toast,
eggs, sausage etc. We reviewed our itinerary for the day. This was
the last day. We bicycled about twelve miles to the Okemo Lantern Lodge.
This was our starting point at the beginning of the week. (Our cars were
parked there). We used the showers to clean up - had some lunch and then
said our good-byes.
As a vacation, I'd rate this a ten. The weather was PERFECT. The tour
leaders were really excellent. The inns were very nice, the food was
excellent and the bicycling routes were well throught out. I am planning
on doing this again next year.
nmp
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