SALISBURY, MARYLAND
I was hoping for a weekend of riding and was going to go with my standby favorite route – Easton. With or without a ferry. But I remembered a conversation I had with a guy on the Millersburg Ferry earlier this year who told me of two ferries in Talbot County, Maryland. He was wrong about the county, but I found the two near Salisbury.
My goal today was simple. Map out a ride that includes both ferries and make it a metric. A metric is short for a “metric century,” which is 100 km or 62.14 miles.
Having ridden the Sea Gull Century from Salisbury multiple times, I was comfortable enough finding parking and mapping out a route, some of which would follow the Sea Gull routes.
I parked at the Texas Roadhouse in Fruitland, next to the Hampton Inn & Suites. The temperature in early September was in the high 70s (25 C). I headed off towards Pocomoke State Forest.
I was a little concerned that there didn’t seem to be a lot of options for food or water. The first and only came in Princess Anne and I was able to get some more water.
It was a nice ride out to the first ferry. This was a ferry on a cable and quite enjoyable. I was at 45 miles (72 km).
The return ferry crossing was only 11 miles farther ahead (17 km). When I arrived, I saw it was fenced off. Closed. That forced a reroute but with phones and a bike computer it wasn’t too difficult to find a safe route back, albeit adding mileage.
I had to go through Salisbury and its many traffic lights. That certainly slowed my average speed if I was measuring it today. The closed ferry was annoying but bonus miles are sometimes welcomed. Today it was no big deal.
After the ride, I went looking for more information about the ferry. The state maintains a website and the website mentions nothing. Aggravating for sure. In a car, it’s a five to 10 minute detour. On a bike at the end of a 100 km ride, in the heat, it could be more problematic.
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