Little Silver occupies a neck of land between two tidal rivers, the Navesink and the Shrewsbury, in the comfortable heart of Monmouth County. It is an old place by American standards, settled in the seventeenth century, and the river shores around it are lined with marinas, big houses and marshes where ospreys nest on platforms in summer. Red Bank, next door, is a lively small town with theatres and restaurants, and it was the birthplace of the jazz bandleader Count Basie, whose name is on the town's grand old theatre.
The riding is gentle and pleasant rather than exciting. Roads curve along the rivers, cross low bridges and pass through leafy towns, with water views at every turn. Heading east, Rumson Road runs past grand estates towards the ocean at Sea Bright, a narrow strip of sand between the Shrewsbury River and the Atlantic. To the north, the Highlands rise surprisingly steeply above the bay, and the Twin Lights, a castle-like pair of lighthouse towers, look out over Sandy Hook and the approaches to New York Harbor. On a clear day the Manhattan skyline is visible across the water.
Sandy Hook itself, a long barrier spit now part of a national recreation area, has beaches, an old army fort and the oldest working lighthouse in the United States, built in 1764. Summer weekends clog the roads to the shore, and parking at the beaches fills early. Wind off the ocean can be strong, and sea fog occasionally rolls in.
Fuel is easy to find in Red Bank and along Route 35, with attendants pumping as everywhere in New Jersey. Red Bank's main street has cafés, bakeries and restaurants, making it the natural place to stop and eat before turning inland.