A short red-brick lighthouse with a square tower stands on the corner of Ocean Avenue in Sea Girt, looking more like a Victorian house that grew a lantern than a proper beacon. It was built in the 1890s to fill a dark gap in the chain of lights along the Jersey Shore, and today volunteers keep it open for occasional tours. Around it, Sea Girt is a small, quiet, well-kept borough of shingled houses, wide lawns and shady streets, with a non-commercial boardwalk running along a clean, broad beach.
That lack of commerce is the town's whole character. There are no arcades or amusement piers here, unlike some of the louder resort towns up and down the coast. Families come for the sand and the sea, and the main excitement is an ice cream from the next town. The New Jersey National Guard has a large training centre on the edge of town, and the state's governors once used a summer residence on its grounds, which gave the place a certain political glamour in the early twentieth century.
The swim is straightforward: Atlantic surf, sandy bottom, lifeguards in season and generally clean water. In summer you need a daily or seasonal beach badge, as almost everywhere on the Jersey Shore, which you can buy at the beach entrances. The water warms through July and August to a comfortable temperature, though early in summer it can still be bracing. Watch for rip currents on rough days and swim between the flags.
Riding here is gentle. Route 71 and Ocean Avenue run along the coast between Spring Lake and Manasquan, with old houses, small lakes and the sea always close by. Traffic is slow in summer, with pedestrians and cyclists everywhere, and parking can be tricky near the beach, but a motorcycle squeezes in where cars cannot. Manasquan, just south, has the inlet where fishing boats head out to sea, and a busy strip of beach bars and seafood places.
Fuel and food are close at hand in Manasquan and along Route 71. On a hot summer day, a swim in the surf and a lazy hour on the sand are just the thing before heading north again toward the Hudson Valley and the next leg of the ride.