To get to downtown by bike is about 15 miles from our house. We started out by heading to the W&OD trail, which is about 3.5 miles through neighborhoods and on various side streets. That trail connects to the Custis Trail for the most direct route down to the Key Bridge which crosses into DC at Rosslyn.
W&OD and Custis Trail into DC
Last night there were a number of storm systems that moved through the area. We heard thunder and saw lightning at our house but the violent weather passed us by. It wasn't until we looked at this morning's paper that we saw there had been high winds and storm damage in surrounding areas. About 5 miles before we got to our downtown destination we had to get off our bikes and make a detour on the trail around a large tree that fallen across the trail.
Other parts of the trail in this area were littered with leaves and broken pieces of tree branches so it was obvious that this had been one of the areas hit by last night's storm.
Once we got across the river and into DC we rested at West Potomac Park, which is behind the Lincoln Memorial and overlooks the river back across to the Virginia side.
As we made our way to the Smithsonian Folk Life festival on the mall we were surprised to see that all the major streets were closed to automobile traffic. It was fun to ride our bikes on the streets that are usually clogged with cars. We soon discovered that the reason the streets were closed is that there was a parade about to get underway. We watched the beginning of it but it was slow getting started and we didn't have a very good view. We soon wandered off to look at some of the other sights.
To make the trip home we pedaled further down the river to connect up with the 4-mile Run Trail, which goes through Shirlington and joins the W&OD Trail. It's a bit longer than going back the way that we came but it has the advantage that it avoids the steeper hills that are on the Custis Trail.
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