Year 2 - Day 2 - Stamford CT to Linden NJ

 


We got some semblance of dry last night. Still some things that are not totally dry, but we can get to that tonight. 

The hotel had advertised continental breakfast, but upon checking in there was a sign indicating no breakfast! Just another reason not to stay at the Choice chain of hotels. 

We left about 8 a.m. and shortly through Stamford stopped at a local doughnut shop. Looked similar to a Dunkin but was a private company. We all had some version of egg sandwiches! Very quick service and tasty food. It was a hopping place.

We played leapfrog with I95 down along the coast, through Cos Cob, Greenwich, Port Chester, Rye, Harrison, Mamaroneck, Larchmont, New Rochelle, and Pelham Manor. At Pelham, we got on a trail that took us parallel to the Pelham Parkway all the way to the Bronx Park and the New York Botanical Garden and then the Van Courtland Park. Exiting the Park, we climbed up to Manhattan College. Who would have thought that Manhattan College is in the Bronx!  

We stopped at the Tippett Diner for lunch. Special was tuna salad sandwiches! OMG, there must have been a can of tuna on each sandwich! If you are ever in the Bronx, stop in for a hardy meal!


We were headed toward the Hudson River to go toward the south end of NYC. Ironically there are two trails separated by about 30 feet and I chose the wrong one. After a couple miles on the wrong trail, it dead ended. Backtracking, we quickly located the correct trail, the Hudson River Greenway, which will take us into Manhattan and to the ferry terminal at Battery Park. 

The trail runs north and south along the Hudson River for about 12 miles due south immediately along the Henry Hudson Parkway. I was surprised by the elevation changes in NYC. I had assumed it was a rather flat island. There were areas along the trail where a large rock and built stone wall, with doors, loomed above us!

The biggest hazards along the trail were the operators of the E-Bikes and E-Scooters! Those little buggers fly!  We were continually approached from behind and from oncoming traffic by both. They scared me with how fast they were moving, and I wasn’t even riding them!

We purchased ferry tickets, 4-minute wait, loaded, next thing we knew we were in Jersey City! We made our way to Liberty State Park. We saw Ellis Island and the back side (maybe the best side) of Lady Liberty!

We traveled down through Bayonne and Bergen Point where we crossed the Bayonne Bridge back into New York State, Staten Island. Imagine our surprise when we saw NY license plates again! What a climb that bridge was! Biggest climb of the day! We climbed, and climbed, and as we were nearing the top of the bridge, here come a lady on an electric motor bike kind of thing and she passed us! How frustrating!

Passing through Staten Island, we exited Staten Island via another large bridge, the Goethals Bridge, with a very similar climb as the Bayonne Bridge back into New Jersey.  

We shortly arrived at the hotel after a long day of urban riding. Urban riding and trail riding, as strange as it may seem, is more challenging than riding the open roads! 

Attached are some photos of the George Washington Bridge from the bottom, Two towers in NJ from New York, the ferry, Ellis Island, and the rear of Lady Liberty!














After today, we will have traveled 130 miles on this year of our journey! We will have climbed a total of 4,584 feet! 

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