Washington D.C to Maine: - A road trip and cycling adventure.

The USA has some of the best off-road cycle paths in the world, thousands of kilometres of them, and we are on a mission to cycle as many as we can - well David is, I'm just along for the ride. Each year for the past few years we have flown our bikes over from Australia (don't get me started on the hassle of flying with bicycles), or sometimes bought cheap ones at Walmart, and set out to explore bike trails in different parts of America. Not being total masochists we also hire a car. Did you know it is possible to fit a car bike carrier into a duffle bag  - neither did I until we started this madness.

This year we are on a road and cycling trip from Washington D.C to Maine. Over the next six weeks our plan is to drive to a new area every few days, cycle as many bike paths as we can find - mostly rail trails and canal trails - and then move on.

David and I are in our autumn years, rapidly closing in on 60 - D is a bit closer than me! Cycling every day for six weeks might just about finish us off so we are interspersing the cycling with scenic drives, sight-seeing and indulging David's love of history and my love of flowers, by visiting some of north-eastern America's historic houses and gardens.

Historic Houses and Gardens

You may have noticed I have recently published posts on -

• Mount Vernon - The home of George Washington, America's First President -  Click here to read the post.

Living history in the grounds at Mount Vernon.

• The Market Fair at Claude Moore Colonial Farm - We went back in time to 1771 to visit the fair. Like so many American living history events it was tremendous fun.  Click here to read the post.

A day at the Market Fair at Claude Moore Colonial Farm.

• Gunston Hall - The home of George Mason, a contemporary of George Washington and a fascinating, lesser known historical figure. Mason was one of the few delegates to America's Constitutional Convention who refused to sign the final document.  Read why - here

Inside Gunston Hall

In the coming weeks you can expect posts on -

• Tudor Place and the Gardens at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington D.C. - Tudor Place was one of America's first National Historic Landmarks. We visited it and the Gardens at Dumbarton Oaks by cycling the Mount Vernon Trail along the west bank of the Potomac. One of the first of many long, long bike rides on this trip. Just so you know - there are perfectly good roads which lead to both places, although parking is a bit tricky.

Tudor Place

• Winterthur Garden - Winterthur, in the Brandywine Valley, was created by Henry Francis DuPont.  Pierre DuPont created Longwood the site of my next blog post. We got the impression the DuPonts were in competition with each other to see who could build the most magnificent house and garden. With 175 rooms the mansion at Winterthur wins on the basis of sheer opulence alone. 

Winterthur

• Longwood Gardens - Longwood, created in the 19th Century by Pierre DuPont has more than a thousand acres of gardens, meadows and glass houses. David and I first visited Longwood in 2009 and have wanted to return ever since. The photo below shows the water lily garden. The lilies are magnificent saucer-shaped plants, several feet in diameter when they are at their peak. 

Longwood Gardens

• Chanticleer Garden - Of all the beautiful gardens we visited, Chanticleer was my favourite. It may not be as large or well known as Longwood or Winterthur but Chanticleer had flowers blooming in almost every corner. David and I spent hours there exploring. If you go there, don't miss the ruin. It is not a ruin at all but built to look like one because the head gardener at the time claimed 'You can't have a garden without a folly' - and what better folly than a ruin.

Chanticleer Gardens - Does anyone know what these flowers are? We have seen so many of them growing wild at the side of the road.

• The Elms - The Elms is one of the ostentatious French Chateau inspired mansions in Newport Rhode Island. The mansions were built early in the 20th Century, as summer 'cottages' by the ultra-weathly New York elite. If you are a fan of Downtown Abbey you will love The Elms. Not only did we get to peep inside the grand public entertaining areas and the only slightly less grand private apartments but we also took The Elms' Servant Life Tour and saw how the 'downstairs staff' lived and worked.

• The Mount - Edith Wharton's home. Edith Wharton was one of America's greatest writers and the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The Mount is one of the few National Historic Landmarks in America dedicated to women.

Rail Trails, Canal Trails and Cycling Paths

As well as posts on historic house and gardens there will be lots of cycling posts sharing the trails we have discovered. So as not to bore my non-cycling readers to death the cycling posts will be separate from the historic houses and gardens' posts. I promise only to talk about bike trails in my general posts when we actually cycle up to an attraction, and even then I will try to give you the edited versions. I will list the cycle paths here as I write them up: -

• The Island Line Trail, Vermont - Burlington to South Hero Island including the Burlington Bikeway and Colchester Causeway.

I will publish a new post every Thursday/Friday (depending on your time zone). If you want to follow our travels check back each week or enter your email address in the 'Follow this blog by email' box in the right hand sidebar just below my profile picture.

For all the posts in this series so far click - here