| Start: | Tolchester Beach |
| End: | Betterton |
| Estimate Leg: | 16 miles |
| Actual Leg: | 16.4 miles |
| Estimate Cumulative: | 198 miles |
| Actual Cumulative: | 209.6 miles |
The benefits of staying at a place like The Inn at Mitchell House far outweight the detractions - one of which is that because you never want to skip a great breakfast, you never get on the water until about 10 am or so. When high tide was about 7:30 am, you know that the price you pay for breakfast will be working it off by slogging against a stiff outgoing current. So the day started out OK because I could hug the shore and stay out of the worst of the current, but then when I hit the large cove between Stoops Pt and Wortens Pt, I decided to just fight my way across rather than add the distance required to to stay next to the shore. Was able to maintain a little over 3 MPH, which meant that I was going against a 1–2 MPH current. Saw a barge lumbering past - not much faster than I was going - so I know that I wasn’t the only one that picked the wrong time of day to make headway up the bay.
Mike, our host for Day 1 and Day 2 had heard about some cliffs similar to the Calvert Cliffs further up the bay. As I got close to Wortons Point, I’m wondering if this wasn’t what he was referring to. In any case, the landscape has changed significantly from the southern portion of the bay: the shore at the foot of these cliffs are gravel, and strewn with huge trees that after centurys of erosion have tumbled over the edge of the receding land.
I called Ruth when I was about 45 minutes out - having made very slow progress against the current I wanted to let her know that I was OK but late regarding my initial estimate. She was having a great time looking for sea glass along the beach. I saw her when I came around the corner at Betterton, head-down staring at the sand right in front of her as she walked slowly. I came in to the shallows, pulled my boat up onto the beach, took off my PFD, and walked halfway towards her before she even looked up: “Oh! You’re here!” I don’t think she was very worried about me.
Late lunch at Lemon Leaf Cafe in Chestertown, then back to The Inn at Mitchell House. Ruth had a few hours that morning and early afternoon to explore Chestertown, with some prime thrift-store locations provided by our host Tracey. I reminded Tracey that we had a Prius, and that Ruth would need to reserve room for her husband and his boat. Ruth reassured me that she would not buy too much, but I figured I better be on good behavior if I expected to have a slot in the car from now on: the boat rides on top and probably won’t have much competition from thrift store fodder, but I ride inside the vehicle, and that is prime storage space.
Tomorrow: On To Havre De Grace MD!