Pomfret Preserves

My Challenge is to Walk -Your Challenge is here
Terrain: Road
Path: Barn Loop - not sure what roads
Time: 1 hour, 51 minutes  July 24, 2011
Mileage: 5.4 miles
Blister Count: Almost 1 -0

Double duty weekend. We walked Friday night, then Jill texts me to walk on Sunday night. The plan was to meet Becky and Baby A at the barn and do a loop around there. I had to meet Jill at her place at 4:30pm.

We rode up to Pomfret together. The barn wasn’t far from Becky’s place in Putnam, and I had some idea of where we were.

This time I remembered bug spray. Jill did too. We doused ourselves once we arrived at the barn. I also remembered a legit flashlight, but I left it in the car. Fortunately we didn’t need it. It wasn’t as late as Friday night.

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve seen Becky’s horses. She came out and gave me the tour. I met the whole clan, and couldn’t even try to remember all their names. They were massive. Their heads were the size of my torso and they stood shoulder to my head. The horses welcomed our presence and one kept an eye on our every move. The goats came out too, but they weren’t as exciting as the huge horses.

Once Becky and the baby were bug sprayed too, we set out on our walk. We had two choices: left, busting right into the hills; or right, finishing with hills. We went left.

The hill was gradual but large. I seem to power up hills. Maybe it comes from my hiking days when we were encouraged not to stop until we were at the top. A few more hills presented themselves to us and we took them on without any problems.

The only problem we had, mostly me it seemed, was the bugs. Or more correctly the gnats. I was ahead of Jill, Becky, and Baby A and they seemed to swarm to me.

My eyes. My ears. My hair. The gnats were all over the place. Becky had brought her bug spray with her and I reapplied at one point. It made no difference.

My arms were swinging above my head swatting the viscous bugs the entire walk. The next day it took me a little while to figure out why my arms were sore. Yeah. Becky said it added to the calorie burn, and Baby A got a big kick out of my walking style.

We rounded bends and corners. Traffic was a non-issue as we were in the middle of nowhere. But there were fake dogs on the yards and a telephone pole that was in This Old House apparently. 

The area was surrounded by land trusts, preserves, and just spotted with homes. On the last leg, we passed an orchid type area enclosed by a large hill. The sun was setting just above the crest and shined deeply on the greens below.

We were hot, tired from the day, sticky, and buggy. I looked forward to arriving back to the barn and going home. Anything to get away from the bugs! I also thought I might nap on the way home. However, we arrived back to the barn and my arms didn’t know how to hang still. On the way home, the cool breeze kept me awake and fresh.

After a quick shower, I slept the night away.

Watch Hill Walk - July 22, 2011

My Challenge is to Walk - Your Challenge is here
Terrain: Road
Path: Larkin - Ocean View Hwy - Shore - Watch Hill Rd - Bay St
Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Mileage: 4.8 miles

Friday nights are good for winding down from a long work week. People will do it a number of ways. We walked.

Becky and Baby A came down after feeding the horses, and I met Jill at our parents’ house. They had provided dinner.

Again it was a hot summer day. We decided to walk Watch Hill. Becky followed us down and we searched for parking.

Friday night on a clear summer night - parking is a premium in Watch Hill. Just an FYI. We found a few spots just off Larkin. After loading up the stroller we took off up Larkin toward Bluff Ave.

People passed us on the sidewalk after a day at the beach and the Ocean House bustled. Fancy cars and streams of people moved about. We walked on.

Baby A began playing games. Drop the Toy is one of her favorites, where she tosses the closest object and hope it lands outside of the stroller. If it lands in the footwell, she kicks at it until it’s out. Another favorite is Pass the Bottle. Baby A takes a few sips of her drink and puts in the cupholder. Then she takes a few more and passes it to whomever is near. That person is expected to hold the sippy cup until she whines for more. This kept on through most of the walk.

Dusk settled The bugs threatened us. We all had bug spray in our cars, but didn’t think to put it on. Fortunately they weren’t much of a problem. I think the sweat and pace kept them away.

As the sun set further, we were rounding Shore Road from Ocean View Highway making our way back to the car. Becky mentioned a flashlight. Another forgotten item.

Half way down Shore Road toward Watch Hill Road and after some cars came a bit too close, I remembered I had a flashlight on my phone. Albeit it’s a dinky light, but a dinky light is better than no light.

I kept the light on and pointed downward. It swung with my hand in the arm closest to traffic. I’d like to hope it made us more visible. We didn’t get hit.

But that fortune may also be a result of Becky’s serenading to soothe Baby A and keep the cars away. Watch Hill Road is busy and blinding at night.

For a tourist village there weren’t many sidewalks. The majority of our walk was on the road itself. When we could crossover to the sidewalks, they were crowded. Crowded either with bushes that wouldn’t yield, or people who also wouldn’t yield.

The moon reflected off the bay and the illuminated the ships in harbor. We came down Bay St. in hopes of the Public Restrooms still being open. They weren’t. But the ice cream parlor was busy and tempting.

It was past 9 at night and we were tired. Rather than unwinding and relaxing, we were exhausted and beat. We made our way up the rest of Larkin Hill to our cars and said our goodbyes.

I went home and slept the rest of my night away.

Walking Westerly

Terrain: Road
Path: Apartment to Cemetery, and back
Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes  July 11, 2011
Mileage: 6.35

Jill texted me other day to walk that night. I was free. She met me at my place. We had no plan or route set. 

The day was hot and humid. Work was stressful and I made it a point to leave on time to meet her.

She showed up at my place about 30 minutes after I got home from work. After catching up a bit, we decided to head out. We decided parking would be a premium near the beach. She left her car at my place and we went out the door toward town.

The evening was on the brink and downtown was just picking up. People were heading out for dinner or home from work.

We crossed by the Post Office and headed down Main St. It didn’t take very long.  Our perception was off. We expected it to be more than a mile to this point. So we kept going forward. 

At Beach St. we weren’t sure how to cross.  The intersection is more like a triangle than anything else, with an island in the middle. We ended up crossing Elm St. just before Beach and continued South.

We were going well. Jill made fun of me for taking a picture of Moore’s. I like the way greens grow on the textile building.

The sidewalk ended at State St. so again we crossed. Just up the road a bit, the sidewalk bulged up. Jill dared me to jump on it. In my flip-flops. When she realized I was game for it, we started discussing the legal/safety implications.

Once we got to River Bend Cemetery we decided that would be our turning point. Jill was certain we could go to the end of the cemetery and cut through to Margin St. I couldn’t figure out what she was talking about so I followed along. Curiosity piqued.



Of course, at the end of the cemetery is a house, with a fenced in yard. Oh and no cut-through to Margin St. “Maybe I have the wrong cemetery” Jill defended herself.

We headed back toward my place. On the way back, I pointed out St. Sebastian’s Cemetery to her as often as I could but she didn’t want to walk through that one. She had enough of cemeteries for the day.








We cut down Clark St. to Margin St. and walked along the river. The sun was setting over Connecticut and the boats at the marinas made a nice view.

It was weird to walk down Main St. again. A section of it is one-way and it seemed disorienting to go the opposite way. We strolled through downtown again and turned up Friendship.


After just over 6 miles we were back at my place and I was ready for dinner!