Batsto, Beach ride and Birds

Last week I had a couple of unique rides. On my Wednesday off I road from Belmar up to Long Branch along the beach. I did the ride early in the morning so there wasn't much traffic. I rode through Asbury Park through Deal and then to Long Branch which has a nice paved bike path along the beach. There is also 7 Presidents park and monument dedicated to the 7 presidents who visited Long Branch starting with Ulysses S. Grant who had a house here and declared Long Branch the nations best beach.

It's not much of a monument but Long Branch itself is probably one of the better beach towns at the Jersey Shore. I had a pretty stiff north wind fighting me on the way north so it was an easy ride back. I did an inland loop in the way back around one of the bays with some nice view of a couple of marina's. I ended up with 27 mile. This is not a ride I would do a lot but it was a nice ride along the beaches that is fun for a change of pace.

This past Saturday the with decent weather I got the posse to join be on a southern sojourn down to Batsto in south Jersey. We a route along the Mullica river out to Smithville and back. The roads down by Batsto are flat and almost traffic free. There are also a couple of interesting sites along the way so it is a scenic ride. 

We did this route and got a good number of the posse to join me including a new addition Jeff. Jeff asked if there would be any dirt roads in the route which prompted a laugh from a few of the regulars. For some reason most of my rides involve a bridge out and some dirt along the way so they don't bother asking anymore. The group was still complaining about dirt in their cleats from our journey up Stony Brook where we had walk across Zippy creek.

We started our ride by going through the woods around Batsto before crossing over the Mullica River where we stopped to talk to the bridge operator. We didn't hit much traffic as we cruised towards Smithville. We moved along at a good clip with the slight tail wind we had. We had our first bridge out as we got to the town of Port Republic. This was the same bridge our we encountered the last time we did this ride 3 years ago. At that time they were just about to tear down the bridge. This time the bridge was just about finished so it wasn't a problem getting over. 

When we got to Smithville we stopped at a bakery in the shopping village. The last time we were down here in 2020 this was all closed so we had to stop at CVS. The bakery made a much better stop. After rest stop we headed out to Leed's Point which gives you a good view of the inland waterway and a distance view of Atlantic City. We usually get attacked by bug here but it wasn't bad this time. We stopped for some pictures like the one at the top of the post then headed back west towards our start. 

We did have a flat tire to deal with but otherwise it was trouble free ride back to the starting point. There was some minor traffic at a few spot but for the most part it was a quiet, flat and scenic ride. We did have two more bridge outs on the way back so it was the rare triple bridge out ride but we were able to easily ride over both of them. 

After the ride I headed home but stopped at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge to take some pictures of birds. I had wanted to come down here for a while but never took the time so I figure since I was close I would check it out. There were a lot heroins, seagulls,egrets and  other birds I couldn't even name. Also the bugs that were usually at Leed's Point were here instead and attached me as soon as I go out of the car to take a few pictures.

 I got a couple of good pics with my point and shoot camera

but want to go back with my real camera to get some better pictures.

When I was on the beach last Wednesday I did get a few good bird pics with my DLSR camera.

 

 

These are with a new telephoto lens. After I learn to use it better I should be able to do even better. 

 

When I got home that day I was actually able to capture a humming bird going after a sun flower on our patio.

 

 It was a lucky shot but with the flowers we have on our patio the humming birds come by a couple of times a day so hope to get a few more before the flowers fade.