Entering the Eastern Trail.
Last night, snug in our top-floor aerie at our B&B in Kennebunkport, we listened to rain pattering on the roof and watched lightning flash out the windows. This morning, we awoke to a gray drizzle. But happily, by the time we finished our enormous breakfast and packed up our stuff, the sun was shining again.
Biddeford seems OK so far.
We debated a few different options for the day. Heading all the way to Biddeford/Saco via the coastal route was a bit daunting at 15+ miles, especially since my knee had been giving me trouble since the previous day. Going straight there was a more manageable 10 miles, but on not-very-appealing roads. Finally, we settled on a third option — making another use of the handy shuttle bus to go back to Kennebunk, then walk to Biddeford on a route that was largely an off-road rails-to-trails bike path (the Eastern Path). It was about the same distance, but seemed like it would be a much more pleasant walk. (Google identified this path for us, so I was confident that it was in fact a real path unlike yesterday’s situation.)
Unimpressed with downtown Biddeford.
All went well and we made good time, despite frequent stops for me to ice my knee with a bag of ice that I’d brought from the inn. We rolled into Biddeford around 3pm, without a firm plan for the evening.
Our usual M.O. in these situations is to find a place to have a drink and/or snack and use the free wifi to figure out our next move. This proved to be more of a challenge than expected. No offense to any Biddeford readers out there, but Biddeford is kind of a hellhole. We wandered, dispirited, through downtown, unable to find a cafe or non-sketchy-looking bar in the whole place. The skies were darkening ominously. We came upon a brewery with a tasting room but it was closed. So we developed a single-minded mission: Get the Hell Out of Biddeford (GTHOOB). With that in mind, we headed toward the train station, located across the river in Saco.
We had a wish to get out of Biddeford. And then, Sh-Zoom! Our transit wishes came true!
Fortunately, Saco proved a substantial step up, greeting us immediately with the Run of the Mill brewpub, which provided us with excellent beer, snacks, and free wifi. We used the latter to determine that we could GTHOOB by catching a shuttle right down the road at the train station and take a shortcut to our final destination, Old Orchard Beach. (We also learned that in fact we could have taken the shuttle from right where the Eastern Trail ended, thus allowing ourselves to GTHOOB a few miles sooner and avoid all the strip malls and disreputable businesses.)
Triumphant arrival in OOB.
Old Orchard Beach provided its own challenge, that of finding a hotel room. We put on a lot of steps wandering back and forth. The train goes through right along the beach, which is convenient for those of us relying on public transportation — but inconvenient for those who just want to walk to the beach and are blocked by train tracks that require large detours to get over. The skies were also still threatening, although we’d miraculously avoided getting rained on thus far.
Threatening skies
In the end, rather than pay a fortune for a sketchy-looking hotel, we decided to hop on the 7:30pm train home. This gave us time for a walk on the beach and a margarita, which was about all we needed from Old Orchard Beach. And the two-mile walk home from the Durham train station felt like nothing at all. (As walking connoisseurs, we saw it through new eyes, and looked approvingly upon its wide, comfortable sidewalks, finely manicured lawns, and attractive buildings.)
Total miles walked today: approx. 14
