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August Week 4 Route: Wollaston and Neponset Trail Loop
August 24, 2020 - August 30, 2020
This week, Quincyclist Anna S. is guiding us on her preferred route from Wollaston to East Milton, Turner’s Pond, the Neponset Trail and back. We have done this route often on our group rides, but not quite the way Anna does it. She prefers to avoid some of the roads we typically ride in our larger groups. I’ll let her guide you in her own words below, like a friend showing you the delights of her new neighborhood.
Please be sure to wear a face covering when on the Neponset Trail, it can be hard to social distance and the popularity of the path is showing in the numbers of people on the path.
Anna’s Wollaston and Neponset Trail Loop
I recently moved to the Wollaston neighborhood of Quincy, and have been really excited by the ease of biking on neighborhood roads in the area, and by the access to East Milton Square and the Neponset River Trail! I am sharing our newest fav route. The route takes you through East Milton Square, by Turner’s Pond, towards Central Ave, down the Neponset River Trail, across the Neponset River bridge, and back! We love avoiding major roads like Newport Ave and Hancock, so we have some tips here for doing that and for where to exercise extra caution as a newer rider! This route has some lovely views, and grants access to some restaurants with outdoor seating, if you feel comfortable!
You can start out anywhere along the route, but we begin near the Wollaston Station, on Elmwood Avenue. Elmwood is a great calm neighborhood road, where you will often see people walking or biking in the street. Follow this road until Harvard Street. At Harvard, exercise caution crossing. Continue up the hill on the other side. When the street turns sharply, you will see a paved walking path up a hill. Hop off your bike, and walk up it! Welcome to Milton! Head down Granite Place past the lovely Crane Field, and you will end up on Adams Street in East Milton Square. Stay on your bike through here, or hop off (that’s what we usually do) and walk past the shops and restaurants. At the intersection of Granite and Adams, you will cross over the highway. This area is under construction, so we have been going down a block to Bassett Street and crossing there, turning left and walking over the highway and then crossing Adams Street again. This area is pretty icky on a bike, to me, no matter how you do it. We opt for walking through because it feels safest to us.
Once on the other side, hop back on your bike and get on Edge Hill Road by the Shell. You will stay on Edge Hill Rd and then turn quickly onto Governors Road, and then turn onto Brook Rd. Brook Rd has bike lanes and a wide parking lane that usually isn’t parked in, so it is pretty comfortable for biking. It gets narrower at Centre St, and we sometimes opt for the nicely paved walking path and bike slow, but there are bike lanes here too. Continue down Brook until you get to Turner’s Pond. Turner’s Pond is really beautiful. You can stop and say hi to some ducks and geese. The trail is dirt, so go slow and enjoy the peace!
On the other end, you will come out onto Central Ave. Use the bike lanes and you will soon arrive by Central Ave station! Hop off your bike and grab a drink and some food from Steel & Rye, or just take a peek at the restaurants. Next, just cross the Mattapan trolley line, onto the Neponset Trail. Be ready for some beautiful views! This trail is gorgeous with wooded portions, and gorgeous views of the river. You might want to throw your mask on. The trail can be a bit busy depending on when you go. Just follow the trail until you get to the Neponset River bridge. Here, we cross on the far side of the bridge, going next to Planet Fitness. Go down the little access road and hop onto the shared use path on the Neponset River Bridge. Use caution here.
Head over the bridge and on the other side, you will use the walking ramps to get down. We usually just go really slow but you can walk it down too, if you feel more comfortable. At the bottom, we go through the parking lots of the Neponset Landing Apartments, hop over the dirt strip between, and then get in the parking lot of the Mass Financial Services Building. We do this to avoid Hancock, as these parking lots have slow moving cars, or no cars at all. We cross Hancock at the crosswalk by the Dunkin Donuts and then head up Walnut street, across the pedestrian overpass of Newport and then down Ash St into the parking lots by the industrial park. Go through all these parking lots, which are pretty much empty these days. We usually go through a cut through in the woods to Division St that leads to East Squantum Street, but you can also use the cut through to Harriet Ave. Once on East Squantum, turn onto Safford St, and you can end by Bishop Field. ~ Anna
The path at Turner’s Pond
Turner’s Pond
View from the Neponset Bridge
Overpass of Newport Avenue
Harriet Ave Access Path
