Biking the Venetian Waterway Trail

We arrived in south Florida last week, just in time for cooler temperatures to move into South Carolina!  We’re supposed to get some rain tomorrow and be a little chilly on Sunday, but next week we’ll be right back up in the mid-70s.  Last week started out HOT, in the 80s, but we suffered through it and cooled off in the pool! 

We arrived at Pleasant Lake RV Resort on Friday, and after a couple nights on a temporary site in the front of the park, we moved to our site for the month of January – D16 – on Sunday.

We lucked out and got a site on the perimeter of the park, with a wide concrete patio and driveway.  It’s a pretty nice setup! 

We’ve been walking the two loops of the resort every morning (1.9 miles), and again in the evening after dinner, and riding our bikes sometimes, too.  Today we decided to load the bikes onto the Jeep and take them down to Venice to ride the Venetian Waterway Trail to the beach.  Our new friends, Bill and Linda, new fulltimers previously from Lansing, were interested in riding too, so they loaded their bikes onto their Jeep and joined us.

It was a beautiful afternoon for a ride!

The bike trail runs along both sides of the Inter-Coastal Waterway. 

We took the trail along the west side, past the High School and the Airport, and around a few neighborhoods.  At the turnoff for Caspersen Beach, we stopped for a short break.

There were a few fishermen along the water,

and these guys waiting for scraps!

 

 

The Waterway Trail ended at Caspersen Beach,

where we got off the bikes and walked for a bit.  There were quite a few people enjoying this beautiful day, even though it was beginning the cloud up.

From the beach, we picked up the Island Loop Bike Trail, which took us north on Harbor Drive, following the ocean towards Venice Beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were getting hungry, so we put our name in for a table at Sharky’s, and took a walk out on the pier while we waited for our  pager to light up.

The sky was really starting to look like storms were on the way, so we were hoping we’d get through dinner and finish the ride back to the Jeeps before it hit!

 

 

 

After a few minutes, our table was ready and we enjoyed a delicious dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our original plan had been to continue on the Island Loop Bike Path through downtown Venice, but with darkness and potential rain approaching, we decided to take a shortcut across Airport Rd. to the Venetian Waterway Trail, and back to the Jeeps.  We made it back without getting rained on, and had the bikes loaded before it got dark.

Success!  It was a great day!