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Vermont – a land of perpetual celebration and exploration – has inspired writers, artists, musicians and adventurers for centuries. The gentle hills, open spaces, cozy villages and friendly faces continually draw inquisitive visitors to rural New England. Perhaps it’s the silent challenge and breathtaking scenery of the mountains, the mysteries of the forests or the gurgling of a meandering stream …. whatever it is stimulates the senses and quickens the spirit. Vermont is beautiful in all seasons, not just in the fall, when the red, orange and golden colors cascade down the mountain sides. It casts a spell over you and invites you to slow down and enjoy life at the soothing “Vermont pace”. Visitors feel at home in Vermont and find it perfect for cycling and walking. Van Gogh Tours offers four short, 4 day / 3 night, self guided bike tours close to our home in Central Vermont. Each tour is focused in a charming inn, meaning no bothersome packing and unpacking each day. We also offer one longer 6 day / 5 night combination tour but of course all short tours can be combined into a longer vacation. All tours are available on request from May 1 to November 1 and can be started any day of the week. Please reserve your bicycle vacation early as the inns are small, in great demand and fill up quickly. Our self-guided tours are for experienced cyclists who can adjust and make minor repairs on the road and enjoy cycling alone or with a small group without a guide. We will supply you with bicycle maps, detailed route instructions and an outline of sights encountered along the way. You can cycle at you own pace, following the route instructions or take a spontaneous side trip. No sag wagon is provided. Lake
Champlain Loop: On this 4 day / 3 night tour you are the guests of Mary and Hugh Bargiel in the handsome 1834 Strong House Inn located in historic Vergennes. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, The Strong House is ranked as one of the finest examples of early Greek Revival homes in the area. Here you’ll find charming, comfortable rooms, all with private facilities. Enjoy six acres of gardens, pond, walking trails and mountain vistas. The Inn recaptures a wonderful period of a time gone by. In the evening you can sit quietly in the gazebo, sipping wine and watching an incredible Adirondack sunset. Dinner on the first night of your stay is included in this tour either at the inn itself or in a close by bistro in Vergennes. The other nights dinners are on your own. You’ll find a number of charming restaurants in Vergennes.
Vergennes is the oldest city in Vermont and the third-oldest incorporated city in the United States, being preceded only by Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut. At the base of Main Street in Vergennes are the forty-foot Otter Creek Falls that generated the wealth which provided the basis for the growth of the area. The Falls' basin is 7 miles inland from Lake Champlain and forms the only inland port in the state of Vermont. Points of interest in Vergennes include the Opera House built in 1897, the Rokeby Museum - a well preserved 1790s home on the Underground Railroad, the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum featuring naval exhibits and working displays of boat builders and the Bixby Memorial Library - another fine example of 1911 Greek Revival architecture.
After arrival at Strong House in the early afternoon, there is time for a warm up ride along Otter Creek, Vermont’s longest river, over easy terrain with very little traffic to Button Bay State Park where you can enjoy a refreshing swim in Lake Champlain and admire the Adirondack Mountains across the lake in New York. The next day you’ll bike through beautiful farmland and will cross the lake to NY for a visit to the historic town of Essex, one of the first European settlements on the west side of Lake Champlain. On day 3 you’ll bike with terrific views of the Green Mountains to the east and the Adirondacks to the west to Middlebury, one of Vermont's most popular communities - in no small way due its being the home of Middlebury College, one of America's most prestigious institutions of higher learning. Middlebury is not just a "college town" - it's a place of sophisticated shops and great places to eat. It is the site of Danforth Pewter and the delightful Frog Hollow Craft Center. Art galleries, rare book and pottery shops, the Vermont Folk Life Center and the Old Marble Works - they're all here in Middlebury as is the fascinating and lovely Morgan Horse Farm. Beer lovers can visit Otter Creek Brewing for a tour and yes …. samples. On your last day you could leave after breakfast or opt for a delightful ride to historic Chimney Point. Here you’ll find the Chimney Point Museum that chronicles the settlement of Lake Champlain's shore. Nearly 7,500 years ago, Native Americans came here to hunt and fish, and built their campsites. On arrival back at the Strong House Inn it is possible to take a shower ($10 charge per person) before you depart, taking wonderful memories of a fantastic vacation with you.
Included: Daily lodging in the Strong House Inn, 3 full country breakfasts and 1 dinner, detailed route descriptions and maps, free parking for your car, all taxes for your stay at the inn 2008 Tour price: $375 Single Supplement: $300 $50
p.p surcharge ($90 for singles) for special event weekends and
fall foliage season (Sept. 15-October 31) Bike Rental 21 speed hybrid bikes: $105 2006 Departure Dates: from May 1 – November 1, daily on request Request More Information Middlebury
Roundabout: On this 4-day / 3-night tour
you are the guests of Michele and Dan Brown in the prestigious
Swift House Inn.
The Swift House Inn was just admitted into the Select
Registry-Distinguished Inns of North America. It was built
in 1814 by Samuel Swift, Middlebury’s famous lawyer and judge
who wrote a history on his beloved town. The inn Middlebury
is one of Vermont's most popular communities - in no small way
due its being the home of Middlebury College, one of America's
most prestigious institutions of higher learning. Middlebury
is not just a "college town" - it's a place of sophisticated
shops and great places to eat. It is the site of Danforth
Pewter and the delightful Frog Hollow Craft Center. Art galleries,
rare book and pottery shops, the Vermont Folk Life Center and
the Old Marble Works - they're all here in Middlebury as is
the fascinating and lovely Morgan
Horse Farm. Beer lovers
can visit Otter Creek Brewing for a tour and yes....samples.
After arrival in Middlebury in the early afternoon
there is time to check out this lively college town and take
a warm-up ride around Middlebury. The next day you’ll
follow the Otter Creek to Vergennes,
America’s smallest city, famous for its role in building gunboats
that helped win the decisive battle of Plattsburgh in the War
of 1812. From here you have the option to continue riding on
to Kingsland Bay State
Park on Lake Champlain
for a picnic, rest and refreshing swim. Or you could continue
to the Maritime Museum in Basin Harbor to see a replica of one
of those gunboats and learn more about the lake’s 10,000 year
history. Or you might decide to stay in Vergennes and
enjoy a picnic at the dramatic waterfall on the Otter Creek.
On day 3 you’ll leave Swift House on quiet back roads
and enter Salisbury where you’ll pass by the imposing and somber
Shard Villa, a mansion that just “has to be haunted” and is
featured in the Vermont Ghost Stories book. You’ll continue
to sunny Lake Dunmore,
a perfect place for a picnic, swim or a short hike up the trail
to the falls of Lana. On your last day you could leave
after breakfast or opt for a delightful ride to Fort
Ticonderoga, a magnificently
restored fort, once militarily the key to Lake Champlain. In
July and August the Fife & Drum Corps offer lively and colorful
daily performances and demonstrate cannon firings. Riding through
the heart of “the land of milk and honey” you’ll encounter prosperous
dairy farms, apple orchards, grazing sheep and cows, always
with the Adirondacks as the backdrop. You’ll come away
from your visit with a deeper understanding of American history
from the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War periods
of the 18th century.
Included: Daily lodging in the Swift House Inn, 3 full country breakfasts and 2 dinners, detailed route descriptions and maps, free parking for your car, all taxes for your stay at the inn 2008 Tour price:
$425 Single Supplement:
$220 $60 p.p surcharge for special event weekends and fall
foliage season (Sept. 1-October 31) Bike Rental 21 speed hybrid
bikes: $75 2006 Departure Dates: from May 1 – November 1, daily on request
Vergennes-Middlebury Combo Tour For bicyclists that would like to spend more time in this beautiful part of Vermont (and who could blame you?) VGT offers a 6 day / 5 night combination tour. You’ll have 2 nights at the Strong House in Vergennes and then bike to Middlebury on day 3 for three nights in the Swift House. Day 4 you bike to Lake Dunmore and on Day 5 to Fort Ticonderoga. Tour concludes on day 6 after breakfast. Included: Daily lodging in the Strong House Inn and the Swift House inn, 5 full country breakfasts and 3 dinners, detailed route descriptions and maps, free parking for your car, all taxes for your stay at the inn 2008 Tour price:
$685 Single Supplement:
$395 Bike Rental 21 speed hybrid
bikes: $105 2006 Departure Dates: from May 1 – November 1, daily on request Request More Information Woodstock Round Tour
Woodstock is often called Vermont’s most “elegant” village or even “the prettiest small town in America”. Magnificent horse and dairy farms surround the village and the open vistas are exquisite. Woodstock was first settled in 1768. With its quaint covered bridge, stately Federal homes along the village green and no intrusion of electrical wires it is a synonym for timeless New England beauty. In Woodstock’s historic center you’ll find unique, tasteful shops, art galleries, artisan studios, fine restaurants, a magnificently restored public library and stately 19th century architecture. Close by is the Billings Farm and Museum, a working dairy farm and a living museum of Vermont’s rural past. The farm is still one of the finest Jersey cow farms in America. Adjacent to it is the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, Vermont's first national park. The park was created in 1992, when the Rockefeller Family gifted the estate's residential and forest lands to the people of the United States. Today, the Park chronicles the history of conservation with tours of the mansion and the surrounding 550-acre forest. After arrival at the inn in the early afternoon, there is time for a warm up ride before dinner. For a short section you can cycle on a bike path and then continue onto South Woodstock. The next day you leave Woodstock in the direction of Billings Farm and slowly climb up to Pomfret followed by a glorious 7 mile downhill glide to West Hartford, one of Vermont’s finest downhill runs. Next is Quechee to visit the Simon Pearce Mill, a 200 year old former woolen mill, now converted into a glass blowing studio and shop. There is a great restaurant here overlooking Quechee Falls and after that it is easy biking back to the inn in Woodstock. On Day 3 you’ll bike, often on a plateau with long and open views, to Barnard, where you can take a refreshing swim in Silver Lake State Park and then bike to Bethel for lunch or a coffee break before more beautiful afternoon pedaling “home” to the Woodstocker Inn. On your last day you can leave after breakfast or challenge yourself with a delightful “up and down” ride to Woodstock’s famous second covered wooden bridge before you say farewell to this quaint and charming village. Included: Daily lodging in the Woodstocker Inn, 3 full country breakfasts and 1 dinner, detailed route descriptions and maps, free parking for your car, all taxes for your stay at the inn 2008 Tour price: $425 Single
Supplement: $255 Bike Rental 21 speed hybrid bikes: $80 Level of difficulty:
Easy to Moderate 2006 Departure Dates: from May 1 – November 1, daily on request General Information:
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lovely antique filled bedrooms and an intimate pub. There
is also a sauna and steam room to relax your weary muscles and
comfy rocking chairs on the porch to enjoy some pre- or post-cycling
private moments. On most nights dinner is served in the
attractive cherry-paneled dining room and you'll enjoy fresh
innovative New England cuisine and Vermont raised products.
On
this 4 day / 3 night tour you’ll stay in the cozy Woodstocker
Inn, an 1830 style village home within walking distance from
“downtown” Woodstock. Thereyou’ll be warmly hosted by
the charming new innkeepers, Dora Foschi and David Livesley,
who will happily show you your lovely, country style room. On
the ground floor of the inn you’ll find the brand new library,
stocked with numerous interesting books and a self-serve coffee
and tea corner. On the side and in the back of the house
are 2 peaceful gardens for relaxing, reading or enjoying a cool
drink; and if you are energetic enough after biking, you can
hike up Mount Tom right from the back yard for a wonderful view
over Woodstock and its serene surroundings. Dinner on
the first night is included in an elegant restaurant in Woodstock.
The other nights dinners are on your own and you’ll find many
charming and excellent restaurants in Woodstock. 
The
air in Vermont was so clean. What a beautiful
state and nice bike routes. It was indeed
a biker friendly area. The tour of the Morgan
Horse Farm was exceptional. This was our 4th
tour with Van Gogh and you can’t beat the price
and accommodations.