country close to home

the big bike heading down a narrow country lane

hard to believe this is in Bedford

In the absence of the camping pictures, which it occurs to me I neglected to finish posting, here are some shots of our most recent adventure. A few days ago I discovered a hidden treasure right here in town (well, mostly: it's on the border of Bedford and Billerica), a narrow country road that wends its way between woods, mansions, and several horse farms. Seeing the horses, I knew I had to bring Zion out to see them, since he's definitely a fan. So yesterday we headed over that way for a late-afternoon ride.

several horses in a small pasture

horsies for Zion

Zion was pretty excited to see the horses, even if we didn't indulge him in the opportunity to ride one—or even to get out of the bike to get a closer look, poor little guy! He fell asleep on the outward leg of the trip, but luckily the road past the farms was so bumpy that he woke up on his own and didn't miss a thing.

just another horse in a pasture

horses everywhere

It's pretty amazing to me that there's this totally rural corner of town hiding out there that I didn't manage to learn about in the first eight years or so that we've lived here. Aside from being very indifferently paved the roadway is barely wide enough for one car, at least in the northern section, and it's just the picture of a country lane. Further into Bedford it gains some width and a double yellow line, thanks to the condos that infiltrated the neighborhood when one of the horse farms divested of some property. But things are still pretty horsey even at that end of the street.

the big bike passing by a sprawling horse farm, with white barns and fences

the posh sort of farm

Though there was much more to explore—the road goes by an area of town forest adjacent to the Great Meadows preserve, and there are some nice looking paths back there—but we decided to save further adventuring for another day. It was already very much the longest purely recreational ride that Leah has taken on the big bike, and we were also drawn home by the thought of supper. Everybody else was doing it!

close-up of a black horse grazing

nom nom

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