June 5 – South Portland Lighthouses

The forecast for the rest of the week looks kind of iffy so we decided to do another bike ride while we could.

The plan was to ride into South Portland to look at the lighthouses on the coast. We like lighthouses almost as much as we like waterfalls so be prepared for lots of lighthouse pictures in the next few weeks.

We could have ridden all the way in from the campground but we were a bit tired and our behinds are not toughened up yet so we drove to a nice paved bike path that started about 5 miles out of town.

Here is a view of the ride. Our campground is just off the lower left corner. South Portland is separated from Portland by a large bay and they are only connected by a few bridges.

We started the ride at an athletic complex with these huge fields.

Then into the forest.

Moving into the city.

At several points there were tank farms on one side of the fence and houses on the other. The smell of oil was pervasive. It would not be a great place to live.

In the city itself we still had a separate path.

Our first stop was Bug Light. I am not sure where the name came from. It is right at the south tip of the bay.

The view to downtown Portland.

Our lunch spot

We watched some ships go by. We had no idea what was up with the strange shape of the stern of this one.

The park had an interesting structure.

And a nice path through the wild fragrant roses.

Just a little father south was the Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse marking an underwater rock ledge.

We both started out but the large gaps between the rocks was too much for Jennie.

The view to the south to our next lighthouse. You can just see it sticking up from the point far off in the distance.

Between these two lighthouses was obviously a well to to neighbourhood. Lots of huge houses.

Our last stop was Fort Williams Park and Portland Head Lighthouse. There were many old gun emplacements to climb around.

And the lighthouse.

Rocky shores to stare at.

Another smaller lighthouse off shore.

And a small beach where a huge bunch of kids (and parents) were having a party.

On the way back we could see how much the tides had changed. The morning:

Now:

Beside the path there were a awful lot of signs like this.

Once we got back to the car we passed another one and couldn't resist. Our first of many lobster dinners.

The ride was only about 30 km but with the ride yesterday we were getting a bit sore so no biking tomorrow.