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| “you know the restaurant you’re dining in is authentic when the owner and waiters come out to hit on your wife. - hubby” ...we ate all the ravioli ans sopped up the homemade sauce |
The bike trip made it triumphant return this season…after many years on hiatus (and the Covid-19 deterrent effect), plus I just couldn’t be arsed. However, winter 2023 was ideal time to plan a better way forward, being more active, taking more vacations, and spending more time on the bike! So, the bike trip is back!
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| The George Washington Bridge connects Washington DC to Northern VA |
This time around we took 3 days instead of 6. Another augment was our taking a commuter train to Washington DC—bypassing Annapolis MD altogether—followed by a quick pedal from DC to Rosslyn VA, and a night at a hotel. That first night meant a walk to dining and our first lesson of the summer holiday:
“you know the restaurant is authentic when the owner and waiters come out to hit on your wife.” It was a lovely meal, with hand-made pasta and homemade sauces to die for. We were in culinary heavy, and only just chuckled a bit at the blatant flirting (which stopped abruptly after we mentioned being together for 14 years).
The following day we took the Custis Trail to the W & OD trail through all of the bits of northern Virginia: Fairfax, Vienna, McClean, Falls Church, Arlington, Herndon, Alexandria… Eventually, we hopped off the trail in the town of Leesburg in Louden County VA—our final destination. There we found our beloved B&B, happy-houred like students, and then we dined like kings, before calling it an early-ish night.
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| The W&OD trail picks up on the edge of DC all the way in, beyond Louden County VA |
The following morning, we attempted to beat the rain by hitting the trail at 8am.
We did not beat the rain.
Instead we bought a box of garbage bags, popped them on and biked 40 miles in a cold, driving rain…all the way to DC. Rather than spend the night, we powered through at Union Station and commuter-trained our way back to Maryland in time for dinner. It was a bit harrowing, but a cool first for me…I was tested against the elements and not found wanting.
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| This year we used the Mar train to skip the Gwynns Falls trail, Baltimore-Annapolis trail, and the shared highway, 450 to get to DC. |
The first of our summer holidays.
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