Saturday, July 8, 2017

North Coast Inland Bike Trail

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With the 4th of July holiday coming up, I had some time off work so we wanted to plan a few outings.  While researching things to do around Sandusky, we discovered that Cedar Point was offering free admission for active-duty military on July 1 – 4.  Nicolas wanted to be able to take advantage of that, so on Saturday when Bryce had a split shift (he was off from 2 – 7pm), we dropped Nick off at the park and he met up with Bryce.  They really lucked out that it had rained briefly in the morning, apparently scaring everybody off, so they had almost no lines for any of the roller coasters. 

They had a great time, and while they were riding coasters, Tom and I visited a local winery.

Wine Bottle Chandeliers

Firelands Winery

Brad, one of the other workers in the RV Park, had mentioned to Tom that he played music at the winery on Saturday afternoon, so we went over to taste a little wine and listen to some music.

Enjoying a nice bottle of wine

Musical entertainment by Brad

It was a nice afternoon with good music and tasty wine, and we enjoyed the company of Brad’s family!

Talking to some other campers, Tom learned about a bike trail that we could pick up a few miles south of us in the town of Clyde. From there, we could ride about 4-1/2 miles to the east to the end of the trail in Bellevue, or ride 7 miles to the west to Fremont.

Clyde Town Square

We arrived at the parking lot in Clyde, which is in the center of town, at on old railroad station.


Old Train Station

We had decided to ride the 7 miles to Fremont, which was fairly ambitious for a sunny afternoon with temps in the 80s.  The trail is on an old railroad bed, though, so it’s pretty flat and straight, so not too difficult.







We unloaded the bikes from Nick’s truck, and were ready to go!

Rails to Trails in Clyde, Ohio

Ready for a bike ride











We were off!

Getting started on the trail

The trail took us through the town of Clyde, past the Whirlpool Factory, and through the Ohio countryside.

North Coast Island Bike Path

As promised, the trail was flat and straight.

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It wasn’t the most adventurous ride we’ve been on, but still a nice trail.  We rode through cornfields,

Riding through the cornfields

and saw cows,

Cows watching us!










and even crossed a river at one point.

Shady spot for a rest break

Muddy River











There were benches along the trail, and one pit stop  complete with a shelter and porta-potty.

Pit Stop

Most of the benches were sponsored by local running clubs and cycling clubs, but a few by individuals.  Nicolas spotted this bench – and was curious to find out who Dickie and Ernie were . . . we had to take a picture on their bench!

Dickie and Ernie's Bench

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We reached the Biggs-Kettner Park in Fremont, which was our turn-around point for the ride.  The trail continues for another 15 miles to the west, but we’ll leave that stretch for another day.

We took a break in the pavilion, while Nicolas tried (unsuccessfully) to find a geocache.  Once everyone was rested, we turned the bikes around and returned to Clyde.




It was a nice day – a great one to spend outside, getting some exercise, but we were pretty much beat by the time we got back to the RV!  I think we need to get out and do some riding more often!

We decided to stay put for the rest of the summer, so we finally got our site set up . . . it looks like home now!

Our home for the summer


2 comments:

  1. Nice Bike ride!! Glad you found your Summer Home!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad you are enjoying your summer and finding plenty of things to keep yourselves occupied.
    Be Safe!

    It's about time.

    ReplyDelete

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