| Scamp 'n' Rascal Cycling Adventures Amish Back Roads Tour Day by Day |
Day 1
- We look forward to meeting you this evening as we gather at our host hotel, the Microtel Inn and Suites in
Hamburg, Pa. If you think you'll get here a little early you can follow the cue sheet we'll have sent to take a
really super ride to work the kinks our. Dinner is on your own but look for when you get back. We’re planning
a little get together in the evening. We hope you’ll join us.
Dinner on your own
Optional milage 20 miles
Day 2:
See an Overview Map
- This is a gorgeous day of rolling hills, open farmland and quiet canopied roads. You’ll want to take your time.
Be a busybody. Poke your nose in all the strange places you won’t find at home. Explore the remarkable
miniature world of Roadside America. Soar back a hundred years or more among the antique planes at the
Golden Age Air Museum. Ask questions. Take pictures. Indulge your curiosity. Count the new born foals and
the one room schoolhouse. Our destination is the Hershey Hotel. You'll love it!
- Breakfast, Dinner
Mileage options: 50 miles / 3180 feet of climbing
Additional miles are possible.
See an Overview Map
Day 3:
- Rise and shine. You’ll want to get moving. There’s so much to see and do. Today we leave the shady
woodlands and find ourselves spinning freely through the lush vistas of the Pennsylvania Amish farm country.
Spend some time in one of America's earliest religious communities, the Ephrata Cloister. Imagine attending
one of the one room schoolhouses where English is taught as a second language. Buy fresh fruit and Shoo-
fly pie from a road side stand. Eat lunch in a mom and pop store passed down from generation to generation.
We’ll catch up with you in Intercourse (hmmmmm...) at our hotel for the next two nights, the luxurious Amish
View Inn and Suites
Breakfast, Dinner
50 miles / 3400 feet of climbing
Day 4:
- Whether you join us on one of our optional Chesapeake Challenge loops or go your own way, today is a great
day to explore. There’s so much to see and do in the area. Strasburg is famous for trains. Visit the National
Toy Train Museum, or see the real thing at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Pedal back to Intercourse
for some sight seeing, shopping and museums. Spend half a day figuring out where you’ll eat lunch and the
other half trying to ride it off. This is your chance to spend a leisurely day on your own if that's what you want.
You may decide to take the Chesapeake Challenge, a hilly 90 mile route to Charlestown on the Chesapeake
Bay where you can have a fantastic lunch at the Wellwood Yacht Club. On the way, snack at the Bartville
Store, where the local Amish farmers frequently stop. You don't have to ride the full 90 miles ,there are
shorter options, all of which will let you experience a countryside bus tourists never find. You'll know you're
riding "foreign" roads when the electric poles simply stop. Gaze over valleys carved by meandering streams
and look down on a slate roofed covered bridge. The kids are barefoot, the smiles are genuine and you’ll pass
more buggies than cars. Whatever route you choose today, we bet you have a blast.
Breakfast, Dinner
Planned Mileage options: 25, 46, 57 or 91 miles
Local touring 0 - 15 miles on your own
Day 5:
See an Overview Map
- If you rode to the Chesapeake, you can think of today as your recovery day. The route is gentle, with only one
ridge between you and a restful afternoon. It’s a day full of charm as we ride past the quaint villages of Bird-in-
Hand, Intercourse, Paradise and of course Blue Ball. (We’re saving Virginville for another day.) There's a stop
at our favorite Twinbrook Winery along the way. Stop in at one of our favorite bicycle shops, highlighted in
Bicycle Magazine as "Simply the Best". We've even had tourists buy new bikes on the tour!
Breakfast, Dinner on you own
45 miles / 3400 feet of climbing (Shorter distances possible)
See an Overview Map
Day 6:
- Today we leave the bucolic byways of Lancaster County and head north.
Learn about the early American iron industry at the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site. Take a tour
through the late 1700’s house where Daniel Boone was born at the Daniel Boone Homestead. Slurp home
made ice cream in the stunning beauty of Oley Valley. Spin your way beside the stream on the only hill Karen
likes to climb as you make your way to the Lehigh Valley. Our route takes us past to T-Town, home to the
Valley Preferred Cycling Center where world class professional and Olympic cyclists come to compete. A lot of
stars are born here. You can even take a few laps around the "concrete crater".
This is our back yard, and we can’t wait to share it with you. We think these roads are as pretty and the riding
as great as anyplace in America. We love it here. That’s what you’re going to say about our inn for tonight, too.
We’ll be staying at the …perfect…Glasbern Inn. We often have riders get back to their cars and return to the
Glasbern to extend their vacation another day or two. Most of them tell us they catch a night of racing at the
Velodrome too. We can certainly see why!
Breakfast, Dinner
56 miles 3100 feet of climbing
Day Seven
See an Overview Map
- As often as I’ve made this journey I’m still unable to tell you which day’s route is the most beautiful. They are
each unique. Each spectacular. Each worth doing again and again. Today’s route takes us through the rolling
hills along the the Kittatinny Ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. The vistas are stunning! Take a tour of
Crystal Cave where the temperature is always cool. Stop by Pine Creek Pottery, visit with Willi Singleton, the
potter. His unique wood fired Japanese kiln is really cool (unless he's firing pots!). Enjoy the quiet roads,
soaring hawks and stunning scenery as you make your way back to Hamburg. You can even throw in one final
challenge, a strenuous climb up Hawk Mountain.
It’s hard to believe this week has gone by so quickly. Every day the miles have spun out like silk as we’ve
woven our way along these back roads. The fields, forest, hills and valleys, vistas and panoramas have
created a tapestry forever stitched in your memory, as you have become stitched in ours. We hope you come
back and join us again.
Breakfast
Mileage options:27 miles, 34 miles 40 miles, 46 miles / 2800 feet of climbing
See an Overview Map
Things are a bit different around these parts. Life moves slower. It's quieter and somehow
more gentle. You feel the differences as you ride along, occasionally waving to a farmer
behind his team or to a family in a buggy. The fun part is the shock of seeing the teenagers
on roller blades hanging onto the back of the buggy as the family goes to town. That's what
we love about riding in Amish country. You never know what you're going to see. You just
know it's going to bring a smile to your face.
more gentle. You feel the differences as you ride along, occasionally waving to a farmer
behind his team or to a family in a buggy. The fun part is the shock of seeing the teenagers
on roller blades hanging onto the back of the buggy as the family goes to town. That's what
we love about riding in Amish country. You never know what you're going to see. You just
know it's going to bring a smile to your face.
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