Tuesday’s ride took me over to Bolton Hill for a morning meeting, and with nothing on the calendar until an afternoon meeting downtown, I got to spend a couple of hours tooling around West Baltimore on my bicycle. I started by heading west on Mosher and decided I’d ride that street until it ended. But then I ran into a small park that I couldn’t bike through, so I went around on Mason Street, then McMechen, then back the other way on Eutaw and then zipped through an alley  and over on Madison before going the wrong way down Mosher for a block (sorry, everybody) until I could head west on it again. Bolton Hill has itself blocked off from the rest of West Baltimore by some pretty heavy street-level infrastructure.

I spent the next chunk of time zig-zagging around neighborhoods, saying my how-you-doings, wondering how long the braces would hold up the buildings on some streets, wondering how long ago the roof caved in for a tree to be growing to the very top walls of three story row homes on another street. I circled the traffic circle at Wilkens and S. Mount, followed Ashton till it ended, and found myself going down one dead end street after another. This neighborhood bumps up against the Gwynns Falls, and unlike some neighborhoods, they haven’t just built right over it down here.

I snapped this picture on my way back out of Eagle Street, another one way, before I turned back on Brunswick to retrace my steps. I needed a little break from the ride, and this quiet street I’d never seen before, backed up against United Iron & Metal West and overlooking the green of the barriers along Wilkens Avenue fit the bill. I felt a little bit lost all day, a little bit out of sorts, one of my very favorite ways to feel, happy that summer’s here again. And then I rode around streets I don’t know well again before making it downtown. There’s so much of this city I still get to see.