Biking in the BIG City
We went biking the other day, north this time. There are bike lanes, unprotected and some a bit more protected, that will guide you through the traffic all the way over to the West Harlem Piers. Here there are no cars to fight with, and instead there is a bike path that sometimes is shared with pedestrians. I once got hit by a car while biking in Madison, so I really appreciate the bike path. It is so green here, and relaxing even though you have the cars to the right of you, behind a bunch of trees. If you go south on this bike path you can continue all the way down to Battery Park, maybe not completely on a separated greenway but still.
The Little Red Lighthouse
I had one goal for this bike trip, to see the little red lighthouse. As we came closer to George Washington, or GW bridge which many people refer it to, we saw these stacks of stones that someone made along the shoreline. And before we knew it we were already by Fort Washington Park and standing under the GW Bridge. The same bridge that we traveled over endless number of times to get to Palisades and our jobs. Now it has been more than 2!! months since we crossed that bridge on a bus. And there, right under the bridge is where you will find the little red lighthouse. The first time I saw the GW bridge from the Manhattan side I was so mesmerized, it looks as if its going straight into a deep forest in New Jersey. And if you drive towards Manhattan you can see how much green space Manhattan and NY overall has along the water.
Fort Tryon Park
We continued north, and this time the bike trail took us right next to the highway, which was less pleasant. But at least the traffic isn’t as bad as it used to be. We ended up by the path that would take you towards Inwood Hill Park, but we had other plans. W had found an awesome Venezuelan restaurant that he wanted to check out, for take out of course. But, before that we spent some time trying to figure out the best way to get into Fort Tryon Park, and to get a brief look at the Cloisters. We finally got to the entrance that took us up, up, up and up. Who would have thought that the cloisters were on a mountain. Or so it felt. So we continued. At the top we sat down and watched some boats floating by on the mighty Hudson.
We didn’t really stay long in Fort Tryon Park, and almost got lost trying to find the way out. But there are a ton of trails there too, and stairs. I know because we carried our bikes down numerous steps. But there are several gardens there, and a stone arch…somewhere. We missed all of this because we got hungry and continued towards Cachapas Y Mas. We continued our bike ride, crossed Manhattan again, and slowly continued along the Harlem river. We past yet another park before we finally sat down on some benches overlooking the river, and had our delicious arepas. They were so good that we didn’t even get a chance to take a picture of them. From there it didn’t take long until we were in our old stomping grounds, and home. The bike ride was about 12 miles in total, so not too long. It was definitely refreshing to see something new after being inside for two months. When we have been venturing out it has been to Central Park or Riverside Park. We had never been that far north, but it has always been on our to do list, like so many other things that the pandemic has taken away from us.
