Fall Colors

For the third time in four weeks we had rain for part of the weekend. I had planned a fall foliage ride for Saturday but wind and rain made me move the ride to Sunday. I posted the ride on the blog and sent out an email to the usually crew but for one reason or another most of the crew could not make it so only Laura was able to join me.

Sunday was sunny but still very windy. When I got to Bulls Island the front parking lot was full as today was the annual Bucks County Covered Bridge ride. This was the second week in a row that there was a crowd where I wasn't expecting it. The plan was to head through Doylestown to Peace Valley. We did this route which is a keeper.

As we crossed the bridge to the PA side the fall foliage was in full bloom. We stopped for photos on the bridge and noticed how much the bridge was swaying in the wind. Then it was more pretty foliage as we went up Flecy Dale. Then uphill to  and through Doylestown and  more uphill to the top of Peace Valley.

I think the hills felt harder than they were because of the wind which was hitting us from the front and side. At Peace Valley we hopped on the bike path for a ride around the Lake stopping for a couple of more pictures.

The best view was from the dam looking towards the boats on the far shore. I zoomed to get a better picture but it didn't have enough zoom to get a good shot.

So we rode over and I got a close up shot of the bright red tree. which was not as bright close up as it was from the dam

From there It was our steepest climb of the day as we headed toward Perkasie. I didn't take the usual route which requires short climb up a 20% grade but instead explored some new roads which turned out to be traffic free and scenic. As we got into Perkasie we rain into a crowd of bikers on the Covered Bridge ride.  We took a break, in town, at the Down to Earth Cafe which is a hipster wana be place with decent food.

The ride back was easier after we shook off the Covered Bridge riders who seem to be stopping at inconvenient places along the road. There were still a few hills on the way back but we had a tail wind pushing us along.

As we road along the farmlands the sky and clouds really stood out so we stopped for a couple of pictures but still didn't capture what it really looked like.

The last part of the ride was back down Flecy Dale which is one of the prettiest roads especially in the fall so we took a few more pictures before finishing the ride.

This route felt a lot hillier than the 2400 feet that ridewithgps said we went. It was probably wind that make it feel harder but it was a scenic ride so this will be on the calendar next fall. I hope I can get some more people to join me next time.