By Dan Kennedy • The press, politics, technology, culture and other passions
Twenty-three-mile ride along the Charles out to Waltham and back. On the way home, I ran into about two dozen bikers from the Appalachian Mountain Club. I’m a member, so I’m going to have to check out their events. Anyway, I rode with them to Alewife Station before splitting off to head back. Great people, plus they showed me the best connection between the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway and the river.
The Rockery, part of the Audubon’s Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary. We stomped around earlier today — I hadn’t been there in years, and for some reason Barbara had never been.
We parked the car behind the Northshore Unitarian Universalist Church in Danvers earlier today and took a stroll along the Rail Trail and the Swamp Walk. Even after the recent rain, I have never seen it as dry.
Twenty-one-mile ride along the Charles to the Museum of Science and back.
Twenty-three-mile bike ride to Waltham and back. I believe this is the Waltham Watch Factory, which has been redeveloped as luxury housing and dining.
Midpoint, more or less, of a 23.4-mile ride.
I took a fairly short 13-mile bike ride this afternoon on the new, southern part of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, over the not-quite-finished Route 2 overpass and on to the West Concord train station, where the trail ended. From there I rode west on Laws Brook Road to the Acton line before heading back and then north to NARA Park, where I looped around before heading back to my car. Stretches of the path were technically closed, but we all ignored the signs and barriers and had a great time.
Along the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail in Acton on Sunday.
On Saturday I rode my bike from Soldiers Field Road, across from WBZ-TV, to the end of the Charles River trail in Waltham center. I hadn’t previously made it past Bridge Street in Watertown, so I had no idea that, as you keep traveling west, you’re largely in the woods, riding on dirt paths and elevated wooden sections. It was hot — low 90s by the time I got back — but mostly shaded and not that humid. I did a 15-mile loop; next time, I’ll try riding from home, which might bring it up as far as 25 miles.
I hadn’t visited the Middlesex Fells for several months, and it looks like I missed a lot. The town of Winchester is rebuilding the 147-year-old North Reservoir Dam at a cost of $6 million. The water level has been lowered considerably in order to accommodate the construction. Here’s a story about it from the Winchester Star, back when there was a Star.
