June 7: Front Royal, Virginia to Frederick, Maryland
We picked up two more states today. West Virginia and Maryland. I rode north out of Front Royal on some country roads.
Shortly outside of Front Royal, I crossed the Shenandoah River. The bridge was only wide enough for one lane, so I sat there for quite a while enjoying the view and waiting for all the other cars to pass.
There was plenty of scenery in the morning. I had been riding in the mountains for nearly two weeks and now I was back into flatter, rolling hills today…at least for now.
By late morning, I crossed the border into West Virginia. Pat and I planned to meet for lunch at Harper’s Ferry. The Harper’s Ferry area turned out to be fairly congested and the road narrowed to a shoulderless one-lane in each direction. So, we decided that I would hop in the car and pick up riding on the Maryland side of the Potomac River. We took the first left turn after the bridge onto a Valley Road.
During lunch, we decided to head towards Middletown, Maryland. Pat would take the direct route and continue on Valley Road. I rode back to a bicycle rental place that I saw before lunch to ask for their route advice.
She suggested a route that I hadn’t even considered. She asked if I had a Maryland Bicycle Map which is basically a Maryland road map, but the highways are color-coded as to their suitability for bicycle travel. I had seen this map online, but never in print. She was kind enough to let me have her copy. We reviewed a route that would take me north ten miles or so on highway 67 and then over a mountain range on something called the Gapland Road. She said it was very steep and she wouldn’t want to do it on bicycle. Well, I didn’t have much choice, really. It was the only reasonable way to get to Middletown.
I can’t resist the country roads, so I took a side road that kept me off of highway 67. But it was very hilly. Back in the mountains again, I guess!
Gapland Road was steep too, but at least it was short. The last tenth of a mile was, as she said, very steep. So steep that I did it standing up while in my very lowest gear. At the summit, I was rewarded by a nice shaded area, an intersection of the Appelachian Trail and the War Correspondents’ Arch. Civil war journalist George Alfred Townsend constructed the arch in honor of all war correspondents.
The person at the bicycle rental place also mentioned that the Gapland Road is haunted. On the part of the Gapland Road that I would be descending, she said there’s a stretch where a car, in neutral, would roll uphill. Now that would be worth seeing. She said it was the ghosts of Civil War Union soldiers who had spent their last days pushing cannons up to the ridgeline and are still pushing their cannons uphill today.
June 7th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Oh, Pete… the wonderful memories. This is the area where my father grew up … and much of his side of the family still live here. I wish that you and Pat could have had lunch in Harper’s Ferry as you had planned. That is one of my favorite towns — right were all three states come together. It just seemed magical to me as I grew up.
Love to both you and Pat!
June 8th, 2006 at 7:01 am
You always seem to find the hills, Pete! Do you feel that you are in the best shape of your life at this point?
You guys must be getting a greater understanding of Civil War and (soon) Revolutionary War history. I’ve been enjoying the snippets of local history of the towns you pass through.