A blog about travels and other stuff
Lots and lots of rain this morning. There goes my day at the beach. Instead I had breakfast, then somehow ended up on the internet until 2pm, and still in my pyjamas.
I had a quick lunch, then cycled over to West Tisbury and caught the bus to Vineyard Haven. I returned the bike, bought a book, then sat in a cafe reading for a while, before getting the bus back to West Tisbury.
Showered. Packed. Read. Internet.
The great thing about being here is that there is no rush in the morning. I’m up early and am one of the first for breakfast, but all the food stays out until about 11am, so I’m having two helpings. It was around 11.30am that I set off “Up Island” on my bike. Up Island is what they call the western part, where it is much less developed. It starts at West Tisbury, then includes the towns of Chilmark, Aquinnah and Menemsha. Not that you’re all that aware they’re towns.
Anyway…I reached Chilmark and found the Abel Hill Cemetery, where John Belushi is buried. His grave is the first one as you walk in, and set apart from the others, probably so Blues Brothers fans don’t go walking all over other people’s graves trying to find his. Still haven’t seen any sign of Dan Ackroyd’s house though…
There wasn’t really anything to stop me in the town itself, so I kept going towards Aquinnah. It is deceptively hilly: they look small and easy, but they really take it out of you. Especially if, like me, you only cycle once every two years or so! I followed the Moshup Trail around the coast to Aquinnah. Nothing to do with rock festivals: actually the name of a Native Indian legend.
I stopped at Philbin Beach and walked along it to the Gay Head Cliffs. They’re only about 100ft high, but they’re really colourful, hence the name they were given. I spent about an hour walking on the beach, then got back on the bike and headed up to the Gay Head Lighthouse.
I saw a sign for a bike ferry over to Menemsha, so followed that a few miles down the road. I hadn’t realised you could only reach Menemsha from this side by the ferry. And it wasn’t operating. So I had to cycle all the way back to Chilmark instead. By the time I could’ve got a bus from there to Menemsha, but I didn’t care that much. It might be were they filmed Jaws, but since I’ve only seen that once and very long ago, I wouldn’t recognise anywhere. So I went to the Chilmark Chocolate factory store and got the bus back to West Tisbury instead.
I’d cycled about 20 miles and didn’t feel up to the last 5 miles! I did cycle from West Tisbury to the hostel though.
I left the Boston hostel around 8am this morning, and managed to get on the 8.45am bus to Woods Hole. Fairly uneventful journey, but you feel like you’re really in New England on the drive: all the houses are just like you see in holiday brochures, and there is lots of greenery.
The ferry to Martha’s Vineyard left Woods Hole almost as soon as I arrived, and took 45 minutes to get to Vineyard Haven. I had to hang around a little, waiting for the right bus, but that dropped me off right outside the hostel. It’s a very nice hostel: purpose built back in the 1950s, and with a big garden. But it is in the middle of nowhere: the nearest ‘town’ is West Tisbury, which is a 10-15 minute walk, and there is very little there. It takes at least half an hour to get to any of the three big towns on the island.
Anyway…I checked in, went on the internet for a while, then walked over to West Tisbury, where I had some lunch and bought some groceries. When I got back to the hostel, I sat out on one of the sun loungers reading, and fell asleep for at least an hour!