Rollercoaster ride to Boonville

9th August: Fulton to Boonville

Odometer: 113 km, Start: 9.15am, Finish: 5.15pm, Avg: 20.5 km/h,
Weather: Hazy sun and humid, storms late PM, Temp: 19-30°C
Road Conditions: GPS route on assortment of country roads, mostly traffic free. Hilly. Services at Camden (65km). Ascent: 1060m/900m.

I’m not sure what “special ingredient” went into my Fettuccini Alfredo last night, but I had good legs today for the rollercoaster ride to Boonville. It was my first really hilly day since the Rockies and that was too long ago!

Rollercoaster road

The humidity was beginning to creep back. It was only really moderate (about the same as a “hot and humid” day in Southern England) but enough for it to be troublesome with all the short sharp hills to be negotiated, especially during the afternoon when the sun came out.

I let the GPS take the strain and find me the shortest route as I was cutting across country with no obvious main road routing and I didn’t want to map read all day. It meant countless small country roads (lanes), sometimes a bit rough and definitely with the steepest hills around. Great! It was very quiet all day. Some of these little roads had no traffic at all.

Old barn and rising background hills

After lunch in Camden, the hills kept coming and it was hot. I took it easy and enjoyed the peace and solitude of the countryside, mostly dense old woods and grassland by this stage. I was gaining altitude slowly, with the steep downs slightly shorter than the steep ups. I was near 500m at one stage, although I lost some of it on the run in to Boonville.

During the late afternoon the storm clouds were rolling in. I could hear thunder all around but stayed dry until West Leyden with about 10km left. I sat out a heavy shower there and had a couple of cakes. I made Boonville only a little wet and found a great old hotel just before the storms started properly. It rained very heavily for the next couple of hours. It was glad to be indoors.

Boonville Hotel

Boonville is the last town on my route before the Adirondack Mountains begin. The scenery should be good tomorrow. I can’t wait.