Closing our loop: Vermont’s Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail

The final (half) day of our five-day, two-nation bike ride brings us back in the U.S.A.

D9A01894-89C6-438D-91EE-553ECF7FDA34The final leg in our 5-day, two-nation bike tour was the 26-mile Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail, which begins within a few miles of the border crossing in Richford, Vermont, and ends just north of downtown St. Albans.

This is a quiet, if perhaps underutilized, rail-trail — we counted just 23 cyclists, 2 dog walkers (each with one dog), and two women on horseback as we rode the entire length on Saturday.

Continue reading “Closing our loop: Vermont’s Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail”

Biking Vermont’s Champlain Islands from St. Albans to Alburgh

This is the start of a five-day bike ride from St. Albans, Vermont, through the Champlain islands, onto Canada’s Route Verte in Quebec and back to the U.S. and the Missisquoi rail-trail to St. Albans.

F564C3D4-81C7-48B2-91F0-D24347ADFBAAWe’re kicking off a two-nation bike loop with a day along the water.

Vermont’s Champlain Islands, which string through Lake Champlain, are a lovely area to bike in, with quiet roads even in July. We generally stayed off U.S. 2, the main road, reconnecting with it shortly before the causeways that let us hop from island to island. The flip side of that is we didn’t see much in the way of services, beginning with easy places to grab a bite, North Hero excepted, as well as our B&B that has a restaurant. And a supermarket? Didn’t see one. Continue reading “Biking Vermont’s Champlain Islands from St. Albans to Alburgh”