North Fork Lighthouse Easy Ride · short arc

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Fuel stop in Parsippany

   Parsippany-Troy Hills is suburban New Jersey at its most typical: office parks, shopping centres and the enormous junction of Interstate 80 and Interstate 287, one of the busiest crossroads in the state. Nobody comes here for the scenery, but it is a useful launch point, because the good roads of northern New Jersey begin just beyond the town limits.

   Read the complete Fuel stop in Parsippany write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   North Fork Lighthouse Easy Ride is where the day begins. Next is High point near Mendham.

2. 2. High point near Mendham

   The winter of 1779 to 1780 was one of the harshest on record, and the Continental Army spent it in huts at Jockey Hollow, a few miles east of Mendham, short of food, clothing and pay. Soldiers froze, starved and deserted, and some mutinied, yet the army survived. The site is now part of Morristown National Historical Park, with reconstructed huts, an old farmhouse and quiet woodland trails, and it is a moving place to stop.

   Read the complete Food stop in Mendham write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Food stop near Shrewsbury.

3. 3. Food stop near Shrewsbury

   Inland from Shrewsbury and the Jersey Shore, western Monmouth County is a surprise to anyone who thinks New Jersey is all highways and suburbs. This is farm country, with horse paddocks, sod farms, orchards and fields of corn and soybeans, crossed by quiet roads and dotted with small villages. Allentown, a few miles west, is a delightful old mill town with a millpond, a main street of eighteenth-century houses and antique shops.

   Read the complete Food stop near Shrewsbury write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   A break here. Next is New York / Hudson Valley rides return.

4. 4. Sea Girt

   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.

   Read the complete Sea Girt write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   New York / Hudson Valley rides return, about halfway. Next is Scenic stretch in Old Bethpage.

5. 5. Scenic stretch in Old Bethpage

   Step into Old Bethpage Village Restoration and Long Island's suburbs vanish: a nineteenth-century farming village of houses, barns, a church, a tavern and a blacksmith's shop, many of them moved here from elsewhere on the island to save them from demolition. Costumed staff work the fields and crafts, and the contrast with the busy roads outside is striking.

   Read the complete Scenic stretch in Old Bethpage write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Scenic stretch in Old Bethpage sits at 345 km, about halfway. Next is Photo stop near Fort Salonga.

6. 6. Photo stop near Fort Salonga

   Fort Salonga takes its name from a British stronghold of the Revolutionary War. Fort Slongo stood on a bluff above Long Island Sound, and in 1781 American troops crossed the water from Connecticut and raided it. Nothing much remains, but the name lives on in this leafy corner of the North Shore, between Kings Park and Northport, where wooded hills drop to rocky beaches and the Sound glitters to the north.

   Read the complete Photo stop near Fort Salonga write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Photo stop near Fort Salonga comes up about 363 km into the recorded legs. Next is North Fork Lighthouse Easy Ride checkpoint 8.

7. 7. Kearny

   Kearny is a Scottish town that happens to be in New Jersey. In the late nineteenth century, thread mills and linoleum factories run by Scottish companies drew workers from Scotland and Northern Ireland to this hilly strip of land between the Passaic and Hackensack rivers, and they brought with them their churches, pipe bands and, above all, football. For decades Kearny was known as Soccer Town USA, producing an unusual number of players for the US national team, and the sport still matters here more than in most American towns.

   Read the complete Kearny write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   North Fork Lighthouse Easy Ride checkpoint 8 closes the day.