Cycle the City and the Emerald Necklace - July 10 , 2024

 RIDE REPORT

Wednesday, 10 July 2024, Cycle the City and the Emerald Necklace

Ride Leader:  Gary Williams

32.2 miles, 10:00 am start from South Boston, MA

 

Riders (8):  Gary, David Goldberg, Frank Aronson, Gene Ho, John Trotter, Mike Togo, Simon Lingard, and first-timer Jim Partridge.

 

We left Castle Island Park, on a warm, muggy morning, to explore Boston’s urban landscape.  We made our way through the Seaport, passing Fort Point Channel where the 1773 Boston Tea Party occurred, then shortly thereafter, the location of the infamous 1919 Great Molasses Flood in the North End.  From that point, we headed over to Charlestown where we climbed to the Bunker Hill Monument, site of the first stage of the Revolutionary War in 1775.  After, we descended to the Charlestown Navy Yard and stopped to visit the USS Constitution, the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat.  Nearby was the USS Cassin Young, a WWII-era destroyer.

 

From there we crossed briefly into East Cambridge and then back into Boston onto the Paul Dudley White bike path along the Charles River.  We cruised down Beacon Street in Back Bay towards the Fenway neighborhood where we entered the Back Bay Fens.  We continued through the Emerald Necklace, the Riverway, Olmstead Park, past Jamaica Pond, the Arnold Arboretum (halfway-point rest stop), and Franklin Park.  From there we made our way to Mattapan and the Neponset River Trail, through Pope John Paul II Park, and into Dorchester.

 

Our intrepid crew braved a short stretch along busy Morrissey Boulevard before entering UMASS/JFK.  Our last stop was a quick breather and a gander at President Kennedy’s sailboat. We then set sail for home, back at Castle Island, where most of the group enjoyed a delicious lunch at Sullivan’s.

 

Report by Gary Williams.