We did a North Shore beach and country ride. I've done this ride a couple of times; it's nice, mostly flat, a little climbing in the second half (1200 ft.). We start out in Topsfield and head to Ipswich center, along the river and by several nature preserves and marshes. There is one spot in Ipswich center where you have to stop at a hugely busy intersection and wait for a clearing or a nice person to stop. Then, once you get across, you ride up a hill. It's a little awkward. I actually got off my bike and walked, no one was stopping. Then we ride to the beach loop part of the ride. It was windy and the greenhead flies are out, but we did stop and look at the view. Then we head back, along the shore, through some nice neighborhoods, along some bluffs and eventually head back to Ipswich center, where we bought sandwiches for later. Usually, we eat in a park right after this, but we got started early, so we continued on. We rode to Georgetown center, got more water and ate in a shady park. After the beach, most of the ride is shaded and there were hazy clouds. Good thing, as it was 91-94 during the ride; it didn't seem to bother me at all. It's dry out and I hydrated well. The fact that the ride doesn't have much elevation helped, too. There's one little obnoxious climb after leaving Georgetown, where we got into farm country in Rowley and Topsfield. We went ahead of our friends, got back to the car and changed out of the sweaty stuff in the car,poured water over my head.
46 miles, and we stopped for frozen yogurt at Cherry Hill Farm in Danvers on the way back.