Day 1: New York to Philadelphia

An 8am start today. Blake had to get to work so I walked with him to the bike hire station (a similar system to the Borris bikes in London) and followed him up 1st Avenue for a bit until we went separate ways and I went over to Time Square for a few photos.

I then cycled all the way down to Battery park on the Southern tip of Manhattan. There I found out that bikes are not allowed on the liberty  island ferries, so my plans for a few selfies with the big green lady were out of the window. I had to cycle back uptown a bit to catch another ferry that went directly to liberty state park and the start of my planned route. The ferry I caught had a bunch of young school kids on who were going to launch air rockets in the park as part of a science trip.

I got to the state park at exactly 11am, a lot later than planned! After a couple of photos, I was on my way. The day was a 3 state day, New York where I started, the state park which is actually New Jersey, and my finish which is in Pennsylvania. Once I had managed to navigate through Newark, I found a gravel path that was quite rough in places. The path was the only thing that ran between two rivers, and the shade and cool breeze were very welcome,  allowing me to catch up a bit of time where it was smooth enough.

After riding the length of the path, I emerged onto a highway that took me through Trenton and nearby towns. I followed the road pretty much all the way down to Philly, stopping on the outskirts for a 'hoagie' when hunger set in.

Because of the late start, I arrived at my accommodation for the night after the sun had set and had to ride with my lights on for the last few miles. I'll hopefully leave earlier tomorrow to avoid this again, though it is also a shorter ride. Tonight I'm my host is Viraga, an electrical engineering student at Weidner university here in Philadelphia. His student house is just round the corner from the enormous Boeing factory complex, which I cycled past on the way in. We watched some American tv and chatted about various differences between the way America and England do things (and how rugby is American football but for real men!)

Time to rest those two tired legs!

Miles today: 110