Yesterday we thought we'd do a few short stretches of trail to cover the northernmost portions of the Cross-Seminole Trail and the Seminole Wekiva Trail. We thought it would be shorter than it turned out to be, and before we were done I was regretting not having been more generous with the sunblock, but we managed to avoid sunburn anyway, despite the unshaded nature of much of our ride.
We parked at St. Peter's Church, which is located adjacent to the trail and provides a convenient rest area with tables, bike parking, and potable water for weary travellers (a generous interpretation of Matthew 10:42). We headed north briefly, soon coming to the end of the line and turning around through a cemetery.Then straight south for a while, crossing Lake Mary Blvd. on the new overpass, and taking the tunnel under Greenwood Blvd. This trail will eventually connect to the section of the Cross Seminole Trail we traversed two weeks ago, but for now ends abruptly at Green Way Blvd.
We reversed course back to St. Peter's, from which we crossd over I-4 on the pedestrian bridge that connects to the Seminole Wekiva Trail. We've done the route south of the overpass many times, but our goal today was to get to the northern end, which actually involves going more west than north. After reaching the Markham Trailhead, we turned back and took a detour to Sylvan Lake Park, where we walked to the fishing pier and saw a bird that may have been an eagle—or maybe an osprey.
Porter is ever adventurous, and I follow. Accordingly, we veered off the trail on onto Markham Woods Road, thence to Lake Mary Blvd., intersecting the trail again at Panera Bread. Perhaps Porter was less adventurous than hungry. We enjoyed a chicken tomesto sandwich from Panera accompanied by a Vinnie del Rocco from the nearby Planet Smoothie, then somewhat stiffly remounted our steeds and returned over the bridge to St. Peter's.
The total trip was 22.4 miles by my bike odometer. Thanks to Gmaps Pedometer, you can follow our path. Zooming in and out, and turning the mile markers on and off will make it clearer. This was my first time playing with Gmaps Pedometer, and I'm quite impressed by the accuracy of the mileage measurements, given the inaccuracies inherent in the data entry procedure.
