Southern Sojourn

 

Since everybody had enough hills last week I decided to do something much flatter this Saturday. I wanted to do something a little different so we headed a little further south than normal. This meant an hours drive south to Batsto Village. It was another good weather day with temps just below 70 and partly cloudy skies. I got Jack, Pete, and Bob to join me. Here is the route we did.

I like riding in this area because its easy riding and there are some interesting bridges and rivers mostly crossing the Mullica river. 

And of course there was a bridge out.

And it looks like the bridge is condemned because besides the barriers there were permanent guard rails across it. Of course that didn't stop us from getting over it and on to Smithville by the coast where we found a few ducks and geese. 

Then it was on to Oyster Creek for a view of the marshland along the bay. It's a nice scenic spot where you can see from the end of Long Beach Island to Atlantic City. The only problem is the green flies that attack you. However with the stiff north east wind we had today there were no flies around.

Once we left Oyster Creek we had a tail wind most of the way back. I made a few changes to the route to try and stay off the busier roads. This brought us through some retirement and residential neighborhoods as well as through empty roads named after German cities. 

When we got back to Batsto Village the parking lot was packed as after Labor Day there is no fee to park here and walk around the village and trails. There was even a bunch of MGs in the parking lot on their way to a car show. I got out of there and away from all kids running around as quick as I could. 

There are a lot of good places to ride in South Jersey so I may head down this way again if the weather stays warm.