Another hot summer day in the lowcountry. My wife, Sebrina, engaged in the domesticity inherent in a family weekend looking sternly at me to take our son away from her. So put down that book, put on those shorts and that sun block and off again to the West Ashley Greenway with our respective bicycles …
Last time we rode from mile 2 through mile 4. Four miles, there and back, is enough for a six year old in this heat. This time it was mile 5 through mile 7. Drive down Hwy 17 (Savannah Highway) until auto traders give way to general light industries and the first budget hotels. Hang a left into the suburbs and find a place to stop. Any road winding at 90 degrees to Hwy 17 will intersect the Greenway so it’s really easy to find a good place.
Plenty of shade on this section of the Greenway which is a bit of a Godsend given the summer sun round these parts. The surface is no longer tarmac but compacted sand and gravel. Easy riding on a dry surface but watch out for those sandy patches. Ride out of the trees and you will be in the middle of Clemson Agricultural Extension Office Charleston County grounds. Sorgum and corn, okra and bell peppers, melons and cantaloupes, tomatoes and soybean then a few more I could not recognize. There are even two large greenhouses, presumably for winter crops as they were barren inside when we passed. There was also a tree full of egrets which was a bit of a nice surprise.
On past the college and you begin to see the landscape change, fields give way to marsh interspersed with the odd high ground. You are rapidly moving towards what was once the domain of the rice planter but stop at mile 7. Have a look around Croghans Landing. It’s a little subdivision between the Stono River and West Ashley proper. No traffic and deep water frontage, a little known oasis of Charleston real estate amid the scenery of Hwy 17.
A good rest and half a water bottle down the back of my son’s neck and he’s back on his bike, feet peddling like the wind towards the car. We meet daughter No 1 at Ye Olde Fashioned Cafe & Ice Cream where Hwy 17 enters West Ashley just before the downtown flyover. Ice cream and an iced Coke. A good afternoon and Sebrina had some time to herself.
Thought – often in life, the really good things that you remember most are also absolutely free!
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