I’ve been going out to walk more as the weather begins to improve. Like so many people around the world who are staying mostly at home these days I’ve been going a little stir crazy. Today, as the temperature approached 50º F I
was feeling a bit lethargic–should I go out on the bike? Absolutely, so I suited up and rode to the Old Port (downtown Portland) section. You can see the route I took with the screenshot taken from my Ride with GPS account. The sky was blue, the wind slight. Traffic was light along Washington Avenue. However, once I approached the park areas toward the Back Cove, it was like a Sunday afternoon. Navigating my way on the cycle/pedestrian path was challenging so as not to hit anyone.
Aside from couples or families with kids, it looked like everyone was keeping
their six foot distances. This was my first foray into the city with all the emergency protocols in place. My first stop was the state pier and the Casco Bay Lines ferry terminal; its service to the islands now cut back.
From there I rode down
Commercial Street and up to the Market/Exchange Street intersection. This is normally a highly congested area with traffic and pedestrians. As you can see, there wasn’t much going on (and holy cow, the Holy Donut Shop was closed!); I pretty much had the streets to myself. From there I rode
up to the next block to Post Office Park on Middle Street. It was pretty empty there, too.
With that I turned around and headed back to the cycle path and, stopping at the Cutter Street Parking lot. There, while eating my power bar, two of Plante’s ferries were offloading and loading construction trucks, from Peaks Island. The entire area was crowded with people, like me, just happy to get out of the house.
After that, a couple of swigs of water and I was off. By the time I got home, I was breathing deeply and my lethargy gone!
Are you getting out? If so, what are you doing?
Stephen Fielding Images 