The morning sky on Monday, last day of March. The sun rises and begins to light up the western mountain trees.. I was encouraged at the start of the day. However, it quickly darkened, the wind picked up and brought with it, hail and snow the remainder of the day.

Sunday, the 30th, was a beautifully sunny day-- cold but a strong sun with not a cloud in the sky. Perfect for our now traditional Sunday trek. We saddled up and headed out, well layered from toe to head.. Today we traveled through 3 towns- Springfield, Chester and Lower Bartonsville (part of the township of Rockingham). Across the snowmobile bridge again. Then up an icy Stellafane Road, over Breezy Hill Road and down Pleasant Valley Road to our destination.

Rushing brooks on either side of us, very pretty. You can see the roads are ice every where. Not much trotting until we get into Bartonsville.. where the road turns to tar and the sun is very warm. Almost to the bridge-- our goal for the day.

Here's the Bartonsville covered bridge, built in 1870. It is what is called a town lattice covered bridge and 159 feet long spanning the Williams River. It is one of the longest in Vermont. The longest is south of here- 277 feet. The Windsor covered bridge is the longest covered bridge still standing in the US-- but technically it belongs to New Hampshire. It spans the Connecticut River between Windsor, VT and Cornish, NH. I think there is a law that you must dismount and walk your horses across the bridge.. an old law-- but we opt to stay in the saddle and take our chances on being ticketed and fined :)

Here you can see why it is called a lattice construction.

As we exited the bridge on the other side, there were some professional photographers who had traveled to Vermont to snap some sights-- they were so excited to have the photo opportunity of having horses crossing the bridge for their photographs ! They were intrigued also by the "fuzzy" horses.. which they had never seen nor heard of. We exchanged e-mail addresses and hopefully they will send the photo's they took of us !

Train tracks on the other side of the bridge, running along the Williams River.

Having accomplished our "bridge crossing" -- we head back onto the other end of Green Mountain Turnpike, which in colonial times was the main road from Boston to Montreal. Along the road are many old large homes that once were stagecoach stops. This road is a nice ride on horseback, a muddy bumpy ride by car. Traveling by stagecoach on a long trip would tire me out. The town of Chester is on the right, town of Rockingham on the left.

Again -- we missed the train by minutes... it passes us on its way.

Along the Green Mountain Turnpike is one of my favorite barns. I am always hoping someone will at least put a new roof on it to preserve it.

On the way home, we find fat pussy willows on a tall pussy willow tree... I am not sure you can see them in the sun--- there is a sign that spring is nearing. I also spotted a phoebe during the ride. First one of the season.. another sign of spring. Now Mother Nature needs to get the drift that it is, indeed, time for spring. Is She mad or just plain confused ?

Enjoy your day ~