I could have stayed for a very long time in New York City. There is nowhere quite like it. I took a day off and spent the whole day seeing just a tiny fraction of what was on offer. It was a steely, grey sort of day – not at all warm – but you could see for forty miles in every direction from the top of One World Trade Center, an experience I thoroughly recommend. Everything is spread out before you, far below. It is the tallest skyscraper in America and stands near the bottom of Manhattan Island, very close to where the twin towers once stood.
You realise quite quickly that New York is not just one high rise city, but several. Tall, new looking skyscrapers are grouped in several separate locations: here close to Wall Street, across the Hudson River in Jersey City, across the East River in both Brooklyn and Long Island City, and higher up Manhattan between midtown and Central Park. Any of these other clusters would look impressive on their own anywhere else. The overall effect is almost too much to take in at once.
And then there are the bridges, islands and the many boats scuttling back and forth across the broad stretches of water. From above it is a bewildering hive of human activity, too much by far to attempt to describe in detail. So I will stop there and simply say that it is a place you should experience. And today, a very good way to do that is by bicycle, for which an impressively comprehensive network of dedicated routes now exists, linked together by a variety of ferry routes. It is a unique world awaiting exploration, with interest and stunning views at every turn. You really should try it.
But in the end, I had to leave, and I did so by crossing the high level cycle and pedestrian lane of the Williamsburg Bridge across the East River, high above the trains, the traffic and the water beneath. The local residents fly across on e-bikes and other speedy scooters and the like, all in a hurry to get somewhere or make a delivery. But I had time to stop and take it all in one last time before plunging at speed myself into mile upon mile of endless suburbs.
I wasn’t aiming to get a long way today, but I was ultimately committed to crossing Long Island all the way to a ferry crossing at its eastern tip over 100 miles away, and I had the offer of two free nights of accommodation. I wasn’t to know it, but this was the start of a remarkable run of kind hospitality that took me all the way to Boston and the end of my trip. It all stemmed from a single enquiry made using the Warm Showers App that brings cyclists together around the globe. I have used it before, but wasn’t having much luck in the early part of this journey in the South, and I had almost given up. I’m so glad I gave it another chance.
So tonight I was aiming for the home of a cyclist in his mid seventies who could easily pass for sixty, and who was a part time model in healthcare commercials! This opportunity came about because his niece’s husband made a call on my behalf. It turned into that sort of adventure. Joel was a gracious host, and I was able to pay him back in a very small way by helping him with an early morning photo shoot in his back garden, for a modelling job application in the US Virgin Islands. The sun was shining brightly on the pink blossom and the birds were singing loudly. It was all rather perfect.
