The Hudson Highlands are a long way up the river, so think of this as the opposite end of the day: a quiet suburban finish after the mountain miles. It is a place that rewards slowness, with leafy streets, stone walls and the odd glimpse of an estate gate behind high hedges.
This was the Gold Coast. In the early twentieth century, the financiers and industrialists of New York built hundreds of mansions along the north shore, with ballrooms, polo grounds and private beaches, and F. Scott Fitzgerald lived nearby when he wrote The Great Gatsby, borrowing the setting for West Egg. Many of the houses are gone, divided into flats or turned into schools and museums, but some survive as public gardens. Old Westbury Gardens, a short drive away, is an English-style country house with formal gardens that are lovely in late spring.
Roslyn, a few minutes from the point, is among the best-preserved old villages on the island, with a main street of eighteenth and nineteenth century buildings, a clock tower beside a millpond full of ducks, and a historic grist mill. The pond is a tranquil place to stop, and the village has good coffee shops and small restaurants. It sits at the head of a harbour, and the hills around it are steeper than most people expect on Long Island.
As a ride, it is local and gentle. The roads wind between low hills, with oak, beech and tulip trees overhanging them, and the speeds are limited, with police who like to enforce them. Northern Boulevard and the Long Island Expressway carry the heavy traffic, so the back roads are a calmer alternative, though they can be narrow and are shared with joggers, cyclists and school buses. Watch for deer and for road surfaces broken by frost.
Fuel and food are no problem at all. Gas stations and delis cluster along the main roads, and the area is known for excellent bagels, Italian bakeries and, increasingly, good Persian and Korean food. Late spring and early autumn are the best seasons, when the trees are in leaf or turning and the air is clear.