Today we head to Stowe and decided to start the journey by re-doing the Kancamagus highway as it is not raining today. We didn’t stop as often as we did last time but we did stop at a couple of scenic viewpoints that last time were in cloud but this time gave us great views across the range. We could also see the pass board this time, the information leaflet we had said that there was an optical illusion that made it look like the sign at the pass is not at the highest point which now we have driven it in ‘daylight’ we can understand. We stopped at a few more viewpoints that we hadn’t been able to see anything from the other day then went to Loon ski resort which was opened in 1968 and says it has the most visitors in a season in the state. We went up the gondola which actually seemed to be quite steep and is listed as being the longest scenic gondola ride in the state. At the top they have built an observation platform which gives great views of the surrounding mountains. After having a good look round we stopped for a hot chocolate – we had to really as we were in a ski resort, but they didn’t have any whipped cream so we probably wont stop skiing in Colorado just yet! We spoke to someone at the top that is a local and has skied this mountain every year since it opened, he was showing his sisters granddaughter round, she was from California and finding it all a bit strange. We then drove to the final scenic overlook in the white mountains which was Hugh L Gallen scenic outlook which we had visited the first day in the rain. To be honest I think the rain had caused a lot of the leaves to fall as it didn’t seem to be as colourful as I remember it being on Monday. Our plan had been to drive straight to Stowe, but we had picked up a list of covered bridges in White Mountain region so we decided to head off to see a couple of these on the way to Stowe, the first one was in Littleton which has a quite nice historic district. The Warren Truss bridge is new having been finished in 2004 as a tourist attraction, it is 352 foot long and connects walking trails across the river. We walked across it and had a good look at the river then set off for the next bridge, this was in Bath and called the Bath covered bridge, this was built in 1833 but they don’t know who by. It is 390 feet long and was originally three spans but in the 1920s a third pier was added to strengthen the bridge. It has been open to traffic almost continuously having closed briefly in 2013 for repairs. The third bridge was the Swiftwater Covered bridge which is the fourth on this site and was built in 1849, it is a single span Paddleford truss design and it one of only 20 of this type left in the world. The most notable feature of this bridge was that it has very few windows or open sides, I am not sure why but it gave it quite a distinctive look. The final bridge we visited was the Bath-Haverhill bridge, this was built in 1829 with funding from both towns, it is 256 feet long but is no longer used for traffic. There is a pathway which was not part of the original bridge but is now part of it, this is 6 foot wide and the roof on that side has been extended to cover the path making it look like it has a long pitched roof on one side. The bridge has survived a number of flooding events, most notably in 1927 when the lattice work was pierced by a tree trunk and a barn was carried into the structure! it was then time to drive into Vermont which if the first impressions are anything to go by is very nice, we passed a number of large farms with the traditional looking barns and quite substantial farm houses that I expected in other parts of New England. We passed another couple of covered bridges but didn’t stop until we came to a railway covered bridge, called Fisher Bridge, this is no longer in use but the sign board from 1968 suggested that trains were still running across it then. We walked up to the rail tracks, I think I know why it isn’t used anymore as the planks had a lot of gaps between them! It was built in 1908 and originally carried the St Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad over the river, it was the last covered bridge in Vermont to carry railroad traffic and has a vent in the top to let the smoke escape. We finally arrived at the hotel about 5pm and checked in to what is possibly the largest apartment we have ever stayed in! It may only be one bedroom but it has a table football machine in the lounge and we could probably do our 10,000 steps per day just walking from one end of the apartment to the other. Having got everything out of the car we went to the supermarket to pick up some stuff for breakfast then went out for something to eat, we finally got back to the room about 9pm to relax so that we are ready for tomorrow.
