Day 7
Thu 9th Aug 2012
- Start Time8:11
- Finish Time18:28
- Time Spent Moving5:52
- Miles Done62
I was woken by the airplanes starting up again in the morning. I packed away and was back on the road by 8am. I was soon on the Pelham parkway bikepath which took me through The Bronx and then I was riding through The Bronx park. It was quite pleasant and not really as I thought The Bronx would be, I thought it would be quite run down and not really a place to ride through - I did have several routes planned out but didn't need any of them.
I crossed the Harlem river and was following the Harlem river drive down into Manhatten. I stopped at the first McDonalds I found to update some website pictures and it turned out I was on Broadway, quite far up, but was on Boradway all the same. It felt quite surreal with all the bustle feel of the big city and the elevated railways. I was soon on my way and reached the Hudson river where I chatted to a couple of cyclists on their luch break. There was another greeway bike path that followed along side of the Hudson right down into the bottom of Manhatten, this path was very busy with other riders and people out walking.
At around midday I passed the ferry terminal where I was to leave New York so I stopped to check the times of the ferries, there was one at 2:45pm and one at 9pm. I figured that if I took the 9pm one then it would be dark and difficult to find somewhere to stop for the night at the other end. So it was the 2:45 ferry which gave me about 2 1/2 hours to explore.
I reached the bottom of Manhatten and stopped in Battery Park where I had a hotdog, it was quite a measly hotdog but I bought it in Battery park - in Manhatten!
I then just rode aimlessly around the streets for a while taking in the sights, Wall street with the stock exchange and the surrounding streets. I found it very easy to ride around - there was a lot of bike lanes on the streets and where there were none the traffic was slow enough not to be a problem. I stopped at a small pizza place on Broadway and the pizza was so good I went in again for some more. I started to wander back towards the ferry terminal and had about 15 minutes to wait for the ferry. The fare was $25 (about £15ish) which I thought was very good, I was expecting a bit more.
I was not so impressed with the way they handled bikes, it was out in the elements at the front of the boat! but I had power for my laptop and it had wifi so all was well again, I was chatting to a few people on the way out of the harbour in between taking pictures of the Statue of Liberty and the skyscrapers.
I reached Belford, New Jersey after about an hours ride - again no state sign for me here. It was a total shock as I was riding along quiet country roads just an hour or so after riding round Manhatten. After a few minutes riding on the roads I joined the Henry Hudson bike trail which took me through some small towns and open countryside. I stopped in Keansburg for some supplies and looked around the town for a bit - I was on the lookout for a bike shop for some new gloves but no luck!
It was getting around 5pm now and I was looking for a place to stay, I asked a couple out walking their dog and they suggested an old abandoned airfield just up the trail. I reached the airfield and found some old sheds where I had some shelter. I only put up the inner of my tent as it was far to hot for the whole tent and I only had to keep the mosquitos away. I had some young lads using the old runway to play with their cars for about half an hour but I was well hidden and was not disturbed.
