Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Family Ride to Bedford Swimmin' Hole


I don't know how I neglected to blog this when it happened, but there you are. A few weeks ago, the family did a bike excursion that I'd been wanting to do for ages. Last year, we discovered a wonderful swimming spot in Bedford in Springs Brook Park. Complete surrounded by woods and fed by a natural stream (apparently), it's an odd combination of pond and pool, with a mostly sandy bottom and a cement zero-entry bit on one side. There's also a great spray park right there, which is easily as good as our usual spray parks in Belmont or Brighton.

It later occurred to me that it's not too far from the Bedford end of the Minuteman Path, so I started thinking that we could bike there as a family. By that time, it autumn last year and we had to postpone that ambition to this year. And in the meantime, I also started riding the Narrow-Gauge Rail-Trail that starts just across the street from Bedford Depot and goes all the way to Billerica. It's mostly unpaved, but the surface is fine a commuting bike or our Christiania.

So, if you follow that after the Minuteman path and turn off at Springs Rd, just follow Springs Rd for less than a mile and you're at the swimmin' hole! It's about 9 miles from Arlington Heights to Springs Brook, almost entirely traffic-free! Fantastic.

The girls did great on the ride, and Elsie slept for most of the ride home.

It's getting a bit late in the season now, but I really hope we can do the ride again this year and get some more swimmin' in!

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