NEW YORK, NEW YORK

The night before I got to New York city, I camped in the woods practically on the border of Connecticut and New York states. Even in these built-up areas I somehow managed to find a secluded site to rest.

Then it was a case of running the gauntlet via New Rochelle, through the Bronx and Harlem. Finding a safe cycleable route through some of these areas was somewhat tricky. New York city seems to be largely a collection of islands connected by huge bridges, and eventually I found my way over to Manhattan. From there onwards the city seems a rather bike-friendly place, with lots of bike lanes, and I cycled all the way to downtown along the Hudson river greenway cycle route.

It was already dark by the time I got to the Brooklyn bridge, but a friendly lady on a bike showed me the bike route over the brige, and from there another cyclist took me to the street I was looking for.

In brooklyn I slept on the couch for 2 nights in Andy's apartment. I'd met him a couple of years ago in the South of Chile, while he was doing a bike trip across South America. He is still a keen cyclist, biking to work and wherever he goes in the city.

I left back over the Brooklyn bridge again, where I was surprised that there wasn't any serious crashes between the camera-toting tourists, joggers, and crazy bikers all sharing the same section of the bridge. I could then take my time through Manhattan, going through China Town, Little Italy, Midtown, and Central Park, where there are also cycle tracks.

I took my time through the city, back up along the Hudson river towards the George Washington bridge, which seems to have been the only way I could get across to New Jersey by bike.

It was a nice day with many locals and tourists out and about. Up to that point things had gone pretty well for me in New York city.

Daily distances cycled since my last post have been as follows:- New Haven 70 km; Norwalk 51 km; Greenwich 30 km; and New York city 71 km. The total distance which I've cycled so far on this trip is 117530 km (73456 miles).