Day 92 - Martha's Vineyard to Plymouth MA

Friday May 24, Biked 70 miles. Total mileage by end of day: 4863. 

Warm & sunny but some headwinds.

Many thanks to my sister-in-law Anne for letting me use her family's cottage in Oak Bluffs for the night.



Heading back through Oak Bluffs there were many pretty little houses all around a walk/bike only courtyard.

Martha's Vineyard has many great bike paths next to many roads.

Greta Thunberg's Fridays for Future had listed Martha's Vineyard Regional High School as the location of a climate protest at 9am. I dropped by there to say hi.

But soon learned that the high school and middle school had arranged a Youth Climate Summit a couple of miles away that day.

So off I went to find the summit at the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary.

And I found them! Here I talked to a group who were talking about sustainable shopping and another group about waste reduction. What a fantastic group! These are our climate leaders today and tomorrow! I was so lucky to stumble on this summit and become an impromptu guest speaker.

Jonah Maidoff, one of the local teachers, was instrumental in setting up this Youth Climate Summit.

After the summit, I found a pretty single track bicycle trail back out of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary.

Then onto the ferry from Oak Bluffs back to Woods Hole.

On the ferry I had a great conversation with an organic farmer who is car free and bikes everywhere like me! Yay! Alas, I don't remember her name :-(

After the ferry ride, I headed down the Shining Sea Bikeway. It was beautiful!!

Pleasant woods.

Shining sea and beach.

More verdant vegetation and smoothly paved trail.

Bike repair stations along the way.

This cyclist had done the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon a number of times.

We need more bike paths away from cars. This path was great!

Here is a rest stop with benches next to a peaceful pond.

Had a second breakfast at the Village Cafe and talked with Rebekah there. They make awesome tasty sustainable local food and served it to me on reusable plates with real cutlery.

Alas the trail ended not long after. There were lots of strollers and walkers on the trail in addition to bicyclists.

Now on a road again, I passed the Cape Cod Dance Center with a pretty blue morpho butterfly door.

This house had its own old style windmill.

The Bourne Bridge was jam-packed with slowly crawling traffic heading onto the cape for the weekend. I whizzed by them on the bike path.

My RideWithGPS directions as well as Google Maps said I should be able to get to the Cape Cod Canal Bike Path this way but it had locked gates and no way for bikes to get through.

I had to take a sketchy detour including this rough road with large rocks that I walked my bike through.

Glad to make it onto the paved Cape Cod Canal path once again -- re-riding the section I had just ridden a few days ago. This picture looks back at the Bourne Bridge.

Biked down the path toward the Sagamore Bridge with a steady headwind. 

Glad someone painted some pretty murals on a retaining wall along the path.

This fisherman had just landed a big fish that was gasping on the trail.

Here is the Sagamore Bridge.

Back on regular roads, I passed this pretty house with a full set of solar panels.

And lots more lilacs whose sweet smell wafted over the country side.

The route to Plymouth went down Long Pond Road. I biked down this road during my very first loaded self supported bike tour in 1981 from Harvard to Hyannis and back.

In Plymouth, the skies had become cloudy.

Olivia enjoyed seeing Plymouth rock!

Then I hopped onto to the Grace Trail with big rocks and little rocks all with graceful messages.

There were colorful flowers along the way.

And some unpaved but safely graveled portions.

A bit further and I arrived at my Warmshowers.org host for the night. Barbara and Loretta were wonderful hosts! Alas I missed getting a picture of them but later on I saw Barbara again at the end of my ride at the New England Aquarium.

If you are reading this, please also see ZeroW.org and donate to my Climate Ride! I'm living Zero Waste and bicycling 5000 miles across the US to talk with people about saving our planet. All funds raised go to 4 bicycling organizations and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Real science gave us all our modern miracles and is crucial for our survival. Thanks!