Why this ride
An 18 km round trip from Medford by way of Arlington - roughly 19 min in the saddle. The stops in between: Middlesex Fells and Winchester. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Middlesex Fells and the Mystic Lakes
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 18 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 19 min
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Middlesex Fells and the Mystic Lakes
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 4 km this is Middlesex Fells and the Mystic Lakes, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 4 km
- Named road
- Middlesex Fells and the Mystic Lakes
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Medford
Planning note
Medford is where the day begins. Next is Middlesex Fells.
2. Middlesex Fells
The Middlesex Fells is a surprise: a large block of rocky, wooded hill, a couple of thousand acres of it, a few kilometres north of Boston, and almost entirely undeveloped. The name comes from an old word for rocky upland, and the land is made of ancient granite and gneiss, scraped by glaciers and left with outcrops, boulders and thin soils that never made good farmland. When the surrounding villages began to grow into suburbs in the nineteenth century, a group of citizens fought to protect it, and in the 1890s the state created one of the first metropolitan park systems in the country, with the Fells at its heart.
Read the complete Middlesex Fells write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Middlesex Fells comes up about 4 km into the recorded legs. Next is Winchester.
3. Winchester
Winchester is a commuter suburb with a conscience. It lies about ten miles north-west of Boston, around a small, pretty centre at the head of the Mystic Lakes, and the town has had its own identity since 1850, when it was carved out of Woburn, Medford and Arlington. The commuter rail line runs through the middle, and a station and a row of old brick shops give the centre a Victorian character.
Read the complete Winchester write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 12 km into the recorded legs you reach Winchester. Next is Arlington.
4. Arlington
Planning note
Arlington closes the day.
Leg by leg
Medford to Middlesex Fells
Medford → Middlesex Fells, 4 km. Part of Middlesex Fells and the Mystic Lakes.
Middlesex Fells to Winchester
Middlesex Fells → Winchester, 8 km. Part of Middlesex Fells and the Mystic Lakes.
Winchester to Arlington
Winchester → Arlington, 6 km. Part of Middlesex Fells and the Mystic Lakes.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Boston to Concord and Sudbury Backroads · 103 km
- Blue Hills to Cohasset Coast · 43 km
- Boston North Shore Historic Harbors · 67 km
- Boston to Wachusett Foothills · 84 km