Leaving Maine was hard...

...but not because we didn't want to leave.

We had our bike booked in for a serviice today, and dropped it off at the BMW dealer near Falmouth at 9 am.

We then sat around until 2:00 pm when it was ready to go - with two new tyres and new brake pads front and rear. By that time the temperature was in the high eighties and climbing still.

Our plan had been to travel to Plymouth today, but Boston sat directly in our path. With the late start, it was obvious from the outset that getting to Plymouth was not going to be possible, so we reset our expectations and set a course for Salem on the northern outskirts of Boston.

From Falmouth we rode straight into troubles. A few miles south of the dealers, Highway 1 was closed at Portland for repairs. We didn't find out until  we had passed the ramp to the Interstate so we lost that option. Our GPS took us around the back of the city on a tortuous route that had many stop lights and was very busy with traffic. With the heat the slow going was most unpleasant. It was houses, motels, inns, stop-starting at traffic lights and an occasional view of a lake.

It seemed to take forever to pass Portland, and even when we returned back onto Highway 1 we remained pretty much in built up areas all the way. That meant heavy traffic and lots of stoplights continued to frustrate our progress. We diverted briefly onto Highway 1A, but that had very low speed limits because of suburbia, so we returned to Highway 1.

We had not eaten much all day - no breakfast at the motel, and only coffee and pastries available within walking distance of the Bike dealer's. It was around 3:30 pm when we found a diner in Biddeford and stopped for a meal and a break. There was a brick-a-brack nearby. It would have been nice to take one or two unnecessary items home. They were resisted.

We continued on, wishing we could just leave this congested part on the south coast of Maine behind.

We eventually crossed the border into Massachusetts. We continued through seemingly endless built up areas, with the traffic and stoplights as bad as ever. By the time we reached Rowley it was 7 pm and just as hot as ever. We stopped at a seafood diner initially just for drinks and decided to have dinner before continuing. We shared a serve of calimari, fries and cole slaw, and couldn't eat it between us - it was a huge serve and not very tasty. Sadly we have left the delicate eating of north Maine. As we were finishing a young couple sat at the table next to us, each with the same dish as we had. They seemed quite happy. We were refreshed at least and ready to contiue.

By the time we left the diner the sun was low in the west, and a beautiful golden hugh was filtering through the trees and bathing the fields with yellow light. The temperature had dropped 10 degrees and much of the traffic seemed to have gone, making the final leg of our ride towards Salem the most pleasant of the day.

Near Salem we checked the GPS for nearby lodgings, and settled for a motel in Danvers, about 5 miles away.