Here’s the thing about the Sea Latch Inn.  There were a couple of places in the vicinity with Vacancy signs, but we chose to go in there because they advertised “Free Hot Breakfast”.  Little did we know that this would be provided at the Lobster Cove, the very restaurant we’d gone to for lunch the day before, three quarters of a mile south of the hotel.  I’m not sure if you all can appreciate the degree to which Bob and I did not want to start walking south in the morning.  But breakfast awaited, so southward we went, and in the end I was halfway to my 10,000 step goal on the fitbit before we even officially set off for the day.

It was a gorgeous morning on Long Sands, but high tide was approaching, which led to the funny sight of a huge stretch of empty beach, with big crowds of people clustered together on the very upper fringe.  (Not much of Long Sands is around at high tide.)  We started our walk down on the beach, and caught a little of a surfing competition as we went by.

Even though it added substantially to our mileage, we set off down the Cape Neddick peninsula in order to see the Nubble Light at the end.  Lots of people here, too, and it gratified us to see that they were having trouble finding parking spaces.

If we thought Long Sands was crowded, that was nothing to Short Sands, on the other side of the peninsula.  It also seems to have a high-tide problem, and every inch of sand seemed to be covered in humanity.  Bob and I were getting pretty warm by this time, so we found a spare bit of rocks on which to put our bags and took a quick dip in the water.  By the time we got out, the tide was threatening that spot, too.

One highlight on Shore Road — the church where we got married 18 years ago. We elected not to visit the Cliff House next door, where we had our reception, because of the very long, uphill driveway.

The water, by the way, is…bracing.  Last time we went to the beach in NH it was surprisingly not-frigid, and checking in at the Sea Latch we heard the woman at the desk tell someone, “The ocean is really warm.  They measured it at 68 this morning!”  (This was not meant for sarcasm.  68 is in fact very warm for the ocean in Maine.)  But alas, by the time we got to the beach, the currents had changed or something and the ocean was back to its usual breathtaking, ankle-numbing temperature.  Still, though it was not entirely pleasant to jump in, it felt very good afterward — and gave us a little chilling that would last well into the walk.

Perkins Cove

The walk today was similar to yesterday in that the start was pleasant and fun — some beaches to swim at, a nice restaurant for lunch in Short Sands, lots of beauty around to look at — but then we ended up on a long slog on a rather boring road that was not made for pedestrians.  This time it was Shore Road leading between York and Ogunquit, and for most of its 4.4-mile length it proved to be similar to the dreaded Brave Boat Harbor Road from yesterday.  In this case, we were at least occasionally rewarded with scenic water views.

The end of the walk really shone today, though.  After coming into Ogunquit, we took a side street and footbridge into incredibly scenic (and again, incredibly crowded and hard-to-park-in) Perkins Cove.  We took a break to have drinks at a restaurant overlooking the Atlantic (and oddly, staffed entirely with young Eastern European women.  We would later find this to be the case with many places in Ogunquit.)

The last mile was down the stunning Marginal Way footpath, which winds along the rocky coastline.  And the best part was that we knew exactly where we were going.  After our debacle trying to find a hotel in York, we decided to book ahead in Ogunquit — and through some kind of tripadvisor loophole were able to book the last available room in a B&B that, like almost everywhere, typically has a two-night minimum.  It’s right in the heart of town and is lovely, with a porch swing looking out over a broad lawn and the busy (oh, yes, it’s incredibly crowded here as well) streets (and also a nice lady who gave us Band-aids for our blisters).  We sat there at the end of the day, eating our ice cream, after a pleasant stroll around town and dinner at a gourmet pizza & craft beer restaurant.

Total mileage (not including side trips): 11.2 miles