Coventry, Brownington, Barton, Irasburg
Coventry, Brownington, Barton, Irasburg
This was such a lovely ride! Clocking in at almost 27 miles with 2,700 feet of vertical, it is all there! It boasts a covered bridge, a town green, and majestic grand views of the mountains and sky through farm country from a seemingly forgotten era.
Getting an early start, we parked on Route 14 / 5 in Coventry, in the pull off near the “Town of Coventry – est 1780” sign and Martha’s Diner, which was definitely hopping on a Sunday morning.
We unloaded our bikes and proceeded to cross Route 14, and made a quick right up a little hill on Coventry Station Road that lead to the widest and nicest gravel road ever.
This heads toward a state wildlife management area, and crosses the Barton River. We saw a road closed sign, but decided to try our luck.
We ended up riding through a very muddy construction zone, but were glad to stay on route.
We crossed over the top of Interstate 91, and turned south on Cleveland Road. This part was really beautiful with excellent views. We soon crossed the town line into Brownington.
In Brownington we turned onto Hinnman Settler Road. This was excellent farming country with great mountain views. We saw many signs to be careful of horse drawn carriages on the side of the road, and heard tales of recent Amish settlers.
When we got to the bottom of Hinnman Rd, we turned right. The road turned into Churchill Road and crossed Willoughby Avenue. We then climbed Hollow Road (great views!) past the Orleans Country Club into Barton village.
This took us into Main St. Barton, where we found a bakery with excellent oatmeal cookies. Then we rode through the other side of Barton village, past a lovely ornate brick church.
We left Barton, climbing on Elm St. It was paved at first but then became a wide gravel avenue busy with ATV traffic! This road became Burton Hill road and turned into Creek Road, right before Irasburg.
Irasburgh is very cute, with a village green and a sweet little village store. They even have free wi-fi on the green.
We rode around the park in Irasburg and then rode on Rt 14 about 1 mile until a left turn onto Back Coventry Road, another wide gravel road full of ATV traffic.
While still in Irasburg, on the Back Coventry Road, you come to the Orne Covered Bridge crossing the Black River. It is a beautiful example of the crisscross “Paddleford” truss design, but it unfortunately showed signs of some driver damage on the right side.
After we crossed the covered bridge, we went into Coventry Village and back to our starting point on Rt 5/14.