A fresh look at a bike route from Princeton to Philadelphia

This is kind of a revisit of a bike ride from five years ago, only reversing the start and finish.

And bringing a couple of friends along gave this route along the New Jersey side of the Delaware River a whole different perspective.

Let’s just start at the beginning. Sometimes you become jaded to your everyday, and a fresh pair of eyes gives you a new appreciation for it. That was the case with the unpaved D&R Canal towpath from Turning Basin Park in Princeton, N.J., to Trenton (part of the East Coast Greenway), and then from the southern end of Trenton to Bordentown.

I love how one of those friends described it after experiencing it for the first time:

“As we crossed Province Line Road, the towpath became narrower and overgrown with fragrant late summer vines and wildflowers. It almost felt like riding on a mountain bike single track!

“We followed the canal as it passed under I-295 and then took the foot bridge over Route 1. I have driven under this bridge many times, so it was fun to be above the roadway on my bike. The canal path then continued south towards Trenton, right along the highway – again, I have driven along here many times: who knew there was a bike path there!”

So true!

She added:

“We then emerged onto Trenton city streets and did a turn around the impressive Trenton Battle Monument, which I don’t think I had ever seen. (George Washington is at the top of the column, honored for the Battle of Trenton and the 10 days that saved the Revolution) It was barely 10am and the streets were quiet and empty in the Sunday morning sun. We made our way down Warren Street through the center of town, then a cool bike sculpture and eventually came to a beautiful park and riverfront promenade a bit south of the baseball stadium.”

That’s near Riverview Cemetery, the final resting spot of many grandees (like a major Civil War general turned governor).

She’s not done.

“Our route then continued on a more industrial street and then turned into a gravely parking area. Really, we are supposed to go there?”

Yup!

“We were now on the canal tow path again in an enchanted, overgrown tangle of jasmine and other flowering vines. Hard to believe that we were riding along Route 29, I-195 and I-295. The jungle path gave way to a clearing overlooking a charming marina. Are we in Maine? Oh, this is that place along 295 where if you look to the left as you are going south, it does remind you of New England.

“We crossed over Crosswicks Creek on the old railroad bridge and found ourselves on the charming main street of Bordentown. At mile 18, it was time for a bit of a break.”

By now we’re well on the East Coast Greenway’s alternate route between Trenton and Philadelphia.

Near our coffee stop we found one of the original members of the Burlington County Troll Trek and a new friend:

and this lifelike Seward Johnson sculpture. Oh it can’t be real because no one reads newspapers anymore.

Btw Bordentown has its own connections to the Revolution (Thomas Paine) and deposed European aristocracy (Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon). I once did a bike ride just focusing on this and Riverview Cemetery.

Then onto Crystal Lake Park and the gorgeous 5 1/2-mile section of the Delaware River Heritage Trail to Roebling. I can’t recommend this enough! Consider a stop at the Roebling Museum to get the story of this company that built the Brooklyn Bridge and this company town (they do a great walking tour and also offer bike rides!).

It’s also the first time I’ve ever had to stop for a RiverLine train crossing the trail:

On to Burlington! This is another community that predates the Revolution. We just had to get past all the warehouses first. When we arrived, what did we find? A street fair — and a couple out walking their pet goose!

This goose loves the camera. Can you see the fake pearl necklace? She kept tugging at it to make sure we did! And she loves clothes — her owner says the goose has more outfits than she does and has picked out some of them. The “dress” is an upside down dog collar, we were told.

The things you see on a bike ride!

As we biked through a neighborhood in a nearby town, we passed an elderly man sitting in the middle of his front yard with his collection of holiday plastic yard sculptures from the 60s and 70s on display, all for sale. Santas and Jesus and Mary and more. It would have felt intrusive to stop for a photo, but I wondered about his story for quite a while as I pedaled. Was he downsizing? Or was this parting with prized possessions more for financial reasons? I just hoped some of his neighbors came by and bought them.

Second break: Ice cream time! It was a gorgeous sunny day; how could we not? We were just past a bakery that had marked the end of an earlier troll hunt by bike. But where has that green troll disappeared to?

The Ice Cream Bar had a wonderful assortment of flavors and brands. Did the owner say they rotate 100 flavors? That’s more impressive than the old version of Baskins-Robbins.

True statement (though the copy editor in me of course notices the missing apostrophes):

With less than 15 miles to go, the route became less scenic. However, we did stumble across this bike-related historical marker:

We made our way through Camden –you will be struck by the poverty and some residential streets badly in need of resurfacing — to the Ben Franklin Bridge. There’s a ramp and path just for people on foot and on bikes, far from cars. Our climb of the day! And what a view of the Philadelphia skyline!

Now we were truly hungry. Time to look for food. A juicy roast pork, provolone and broccoli rabe sandwich is as Philly as a cheesesteak but better.

Then back over the bridge to the RiverLine station near Rutgers-Camden. For a mere 85 cents (if you qualify the the senior fare), we retraced in one hour the route that had take us hours to pedal from Trenton. The New Jersey Transit fare from Trenton to Princeton Junction — just 12 minutes — sadly was nowhere as cheap.

To sum it up, this route had a bit of everything: paved and unpaved surfaces, roads and trails, urban, rural and suburban. It’s a long ride — we biked nearly a metric century between the 51 miles from the park to the bottom of the bridge to the search for food to back to our starting point after the train ride — so plan on all day.