A New Hampshire Fall Road Trip

Our New Hampshire Fall Road Trip is part of an itinerary which includes New York, Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts. You can find all of A Brummie Home and Abroad’s USA content here!

After a wonderful – if wet – couple of days in Maine, we pack up the Fletchemobile for the next leg of our trip. We have a final cuddle from Aysgarth Station’s resident cats, purchase the essential moose bottle opener/keyring combo, a lobster Christmas decoration, drive a final loop around Acadia and we’re off. 

From the coast to the mountains

We take Route 2 into the White Mountains. Whilst the leaves are just starting to creep with colour in Maine, they are a cacophony of reds, oranges and yellows here in New Hampshire. There are lakes, forests and mountains around every corner. 

After a breathtaking drive we find our guesthouse – the Riverside Inn. It’s a beautiful property, with a large lawn overlooking the river. There is a hammock. Of course, I have to test it out immediately. Although not particularly elegantly, I manage not to hit the ground or turn the thing upside down.  Our room has a huge fireplace, and a four-poster bed. If I look over the side, I get a severe case of vertigo.

Recommended by our hosts, we dine at The Moat Mountain Smokehouse. The portions are on the generous side. We’re full to bursting after eating just half of our food.  As tempting as it may be, I decide not to have my leftover meatloaf and mashed potato boxed up as take-out.

Not counting the Park Inn at Heathrow, this is the fourth hotel/guesthouse of our trip.  The beds are getting higher.  I am fully expecting a mattress suspended from the ceiling by Boston.

On top of the world

I loved New York. I really loved Maine.  And now I really really love New Hampshire.  And I love the Riverside Inn. Breakfast is a melon medley, followed by French toast, bacon and maple syrup.  We eat til we’re full but don’t stick around. After all we have mountains and valleys to explore. Valleys are known as notches around these parts.

Our first glimpse of the famous Kancamagus Highway.  It really is a glimpse as coffee refills at breakfast are taking their toll on Mr Fletche’s bladder.  A quick relief stop in one of the rest areas and we are back on track.

We proceed to the visitor centre at Lincoln to purchase our parking permit, and then we head to Franconia Notch State Park. The fall foliage here is stunning; reds, oranges, yellows and greens. The mountainsides look like patchwork quilts from down below.

We decide to get our fix of waterfalls, glacial boulders and covered bridges all in one go and visit Flume Gorge.  This is a 2-mile nature walk, and worth every penny; particularly the picture perfect view from Sentinel Pine covered bridge.

We purchase a sandwich, potato chips and a cookie and head off to the Basin picnic area for our picnic lunch.  After two days of picnics sheltering from the rain in the Fletchemobile, today we are finally dining al fresco. The weather is glorious, and as we queue for the post-lunch aerial tramway at Cannon Mountain our guide tells us that the summit is finally clear after a morning of being in the clouds.

The gondola takes us up the mountain following an off-season ski trail, and we follow the rim trail to the 4,080 foot summit. I’m on top of the world. We can see not only into Maine and Vermont, but also into Quebec. That’s a whole other country. The highway is snaking through the valleys below us, but up here it is amazingly peaceful. If a little breezy. We grab a welcome beer at the summit bar. This may be my highest altitude beer yet.

We descend, and then continue driving the ‘loop’ through Crawford Notch State Park, stopping off at scenic view points to peruse mountains, valleys and more waterfalls.  Every turn yields a new vista, and we don’t tire of this beauty.  However, daylight is fading so we head back to our new home.

Time for a quick brush up and change before dinner.  Practically next door to our guesthouse is Tuckerman’s Tavern – no more driving for Mr Fletche today.  There’s a short wait for a table but we grab drinks at the bar and are soon seated.  Mr Fletche has some sort of chicken and peach concoction, whilst I opt for the half rack of ribs.  If this is half, then I would hate to see a whole one.  Our meals come with the most divine waffle fries. We valiantly tackle our way through the majority of our food. It’d be a shame to waste any of those waffle fries.

On the short walk back we don’t fail to notice the amazingly clear night sky.  We can make out constellations and planets.  You don’t get these night skies back in Birmingham.

On top of the world (again)

Our first stop this morning is the Glen Ellis Falls.  A ½ mile hike and we are presented with amazing 64 foot waterfalls. Mr Fletche scrambles on slippery rocks to get the best photo opportunity, whereas I prefer to remain on dry land wherever possible. Standing overlooking the falls, beautiful colours all around, the sound of gushing water. This is my new favourite place in New Hampshire. Except the sound of gushing water makes me want to pee. Restroom break done, we head for our next destination. After the weather thwarting our plans in Acadia we are determined to finally get on our bikes..

Apart from a wobbly ride around a health spa’s grounds about 10 years ago with Ma Lee, the last time I was on a bike I would have been around 13 or 14. That bike had a bell, a basket and three gears which were never used. It was low enough that my feet could be flat on the floor, with my knees slightly bent. I did somehow manage to graduate from stabilisers at some point.  The extent of my cycling was to ride around the block past the house of a boy I fancied.

So when bike rental woman at Great Glen Trails is telling me all about the gears and brakes blah blah blah I understand nothing.  I am just wondering how I am going to get on the behemoth of the bicycle she is wheeling out for me. What do you mean, it’s fine that I can only reach the floor on tippy toes? This is a long way to fall. And fall I do, even before we have reached the start of the trails. I appear to have an inability to cycle in a straight line. Or stop. Or change gear.

Soon, however, I am happily careering down a hill, legs akimbo, not a care in the world. And then we hit another hill. This one goes up. I have reached a standstill and am in serious danger of rolling backwards. I decide that walking the hill and wheeling my bike is the best option. This becomes something of a pattern; I laugh and whoop going downhill, I curse and mutter obscenities going uphill. 

Despite everything (and even with severe inner thigh bruising despite the “Comfort” seat), this was SO much fun. We stopped by babbling brooks where autumn leaves softly drifted around us. A lake reflecting the changing colours. A meadow overlooked by the majestic Mount Washington.  And we did not see another soul on our entire journey. It’s a good job. I’d have probably run them over.

We stop for a sandwich at the café at Great Glen Trails. It’s the perfect chance to rest our aching limbs.  And then it is time for part three of today’s outdoor adventure, driving to the summit of Mount Washington. The Auto Road is 8 miles of sheer drops, changing terrain and spectacular views across the White Mountains. At the summit, 6,288 feet about sea level, we look down on the wispy clouds beneath us. Yesterday’s mountain seems like a tiny little hill compared to this one. Mr Fletche safely drives us both up and down the mountain. For this, I am truly grateful.

The afternoon is spent retracing some of our steps along Crawford Notch, Franconia Notch and Kancamagus Highway until the sun is setting. A quick rest back at the inn and then it’s back out to get some food. Except its Friday night, in a major tourist area, at Fall Foliage time. Everywhere’s packed. We decide to try last night’s haunt Tuckermans. Thankfully there are tables available. A couple of beers later, and some more of those delicious waffle fries, and we are leaving Tuckermans with half a BBQ Chicken Pizza in a doggy bag. That’s tomorrow’s lunch sorted.

We think about packing when we return back to our room, but that can wait until tomorrow morning.  New Hampshire has captured our hearts.  Vermont – you have a lot to live up to!!