Day 68

45 miles hilly but lovely and I’m now a Moose.

We woke about 0530 as per usual. Porridge was heated up and eaten rapidly and then we were on the road. We planned to make it about half way to Bethlehem (the one in Pennsylvania) which isn’t too far really but takes into account the challenge of what should be about our last hilly day. 

Planning the ride:

We need to arrive in New York ON the 11th and not before. This is because we are meeting our friends Andy & Helen on the 11th and there is no point in sorting accommodation twice. 

We cycled through lots of mining areas though many pits have closed down over the last few years, much the same as the UK. 

We called at a superbly named petrol station. This was of course Tracey Hill’s name for the rest of the day – I never claimed maturity.

Turkey Hill:

We met many lovely people today and Tracey has written about them HERE. 

I will focus on the incredible group we met in Hamburg. 

We arrived here about 1730 and looked for a place to have s beer for the first time in A couple of weeks. 

We found what we thought was a pub called The Moose – not unreasonable, we have umpteen Black Bulls, Spotted Cows etc back in England. This however was the Hamburg lodge of the Loyal Order of Moose and what a place. Right from being signed in as guests by Buck we were treated like royalty:

I also met Mary Ann (ex US Navy) 

The welcome we received from Dean, his partner Karen and his daughter Heather with her partner Brad was amazing. I have sadly forgotten Deans title but it is possibly lodge president. We had drinks bought for us, introductions made and hands shaken. 

Towards the end Dean did a remarkable thing in signing us up at his expense as members of the Loyal Order of Moose. 

The poor chap above us was shot in the early 1900’s.

We could not have met a kinder, more welcoming group of people and I would like to thank everyone for making us so welcome. 

We left at 1930 and raced to a spot we could pitch the tent. A nice end to a good day.