Enjoying All Orient Has to Offer

At the end of the North Fork you will find the quiet village of Orient. On first glance it may appear that Orient does not have much to offer, but if you are a nature lover and enjoy being outdoors it is the perfect place to check out!

Just last week a friend and I headed down to Orient to do a little exploring and just take in the sites. Our main goal for the evening was to go for a bike ride somewhere that had less traffic and we thought the winding back roads of Orient would be the perfect place!

We set out right after dinner, so around six o'clock, and threw our bikes in the back of our car for the journey to Orient. Once we got to Orient, we parked at Oysterponds school and got our bikes out to begin our evening ride. Right across from the school is Tabor Road which leads to a ton of winding back roads and plenty of space to ride bikes with limited traffic.

We took Tabor Road down to its end, passing a cemetery from the late 1800's that houses many of Orient's original residents, on the way. Once we reached the end of the road, we made a left and headed down Orchard Street passing a few large, beautiful farmhouses and corn fields. 

Orchard street took us all the way to King Street, where we made a left. King Street is absolutely beautiful since it borders the water and marshlands of Orient. The flat street was also pretty ideal for biking! 

At the end of King Street we stopped at a little beach that has been nicknamed "Horsefly Beach" by locals. As most beaches on the bay do, "Horsefly Beach" offers a really sandy beach with few rocks. I personally love sandy beaches more than rocky ones which is why when I do go to the beach I prefer going to the bay.

After a few minutes of writing in the sand and enjoy the beautiful beach, my friend and I set back out on our bikes to ride for a little longer before the sun went down. We left the beach and headed to Halyoake Avenue, which is another road that goes through the marshlands. It's also a really narrow, old country road which is cute and makes you feel like you are in a whole different world than busy Greenport which is just five minutes away.

We took Halyoake Avenue back to where it meets Orchard Street and then headed back to the school to end our night because it was slowly starting to get dark. Our night then ended after we threw our bikes back in our car and headed to Truman's Beach right up the road to watch the sunset. 

Unfortunately, we never got to even ride down into Orient Village itself. Village Lane in Orient is packed with quaint country homes and at the end of it you will find Orient Yacht Club which provides beautiful views of the water. There is also another park down Village Lane which sits on the water. 

My friend and I really enjoyed our bike ride and beach stop in Orient. I think Orient is really someplace worth checking out if you enjoy taking in some beautiful sights and being outdoors! 

I highly recommend getting on your bike and heading down the back roads of Orient to see a different side of Eastern Long Island. 

New Bike Path? Sign Me Up!

About a week ago I discussed Biking Safely on the North Fork. As I mentioned then, my biggest concern with a rise in bikers on Eastern Long Island is that they do not understand how busy the roads in the area actually are.

While looking on the website of one of the local newspapers (which I suggest you check out, best way to keep up to date with everything local is The Times Review family of papers) this week, I noticed there were new plans to build a bike trail around the perimeter of an industrial park in Calverton. For those who are unfamiliar, Calverton is located near Riverhead, right by where the North Fork begins.

Unfortunately, the idea for the EPCAL Bike Path was met with resistance by the Riverhead Town Board. I am quite disappointed more people are not fans of the proposed path because I think it sounds like a perfect place for people to bike! I like to think that those who head out to the North Fork to bike would love to have their own place to ride around and not have to worry about traffic. And for those wondering, the industrial park does have quite a large perimeter!

Right now the roads on Eastern Long Island are getting a lot busier with people unfamiliar with the area. Sadly when you pair more traffic with bikers who do not realize how busy the roads can get it is a recipe for disaster. If bikers have somewhere else to go to ride it might help things out a little.

Since it does not look like the bike path is going to be created anytime soon however I want to offer another reminder to stay safe when biking out on the East End this summer! Remember, the roads are busier than you think and you can never go wrong wearing a helmet!

Biking Safely on the North Fork

In recent years more and more bikers have begun to travel to the North Fork to take advantage of the quiet country roads and scenery. One problem I have experienced with these visiting bikers however is that few realize how busy the roads on Eastern Long Island actually are.

I do not want this to come across as complaining about bikers on the North Fork, I have no issues with them myself. I think it is great that they come out here to enjoy the nice weather and scenery and I am not going to complain about visitors who do contribute to local businesses.

I instead want this to be more of a public service announcement/warning to those who are unfamiliar with the North Fork roads and come here to bike.

A lot of people bike out to Orient Point, the very end of the North Fork, on Route 25. I want all bikers to know that Route 25 is anything but a quiet country road. In fact, Route 25 is a sort of highway to New England since it leads to the Cross Sound Ferry that travels to Connecticut from Orient Point. At half past every hour there is an influx of traffic heading west from the ferry that has just gotten in. Heading east there are always cars rushing to catch the ferry.

In my experience driving on Route 25, it seems to me a fair deal of bikers do not realize how busy of a road they are on. I think if bikers know how busy Route 25 is things will be better for those on bikes and those in cars.

I hope all bikers continue to venture to the North Fork for years to come and enjoy the scenery and support local businesses. I just also hope that they do the best they can to stay safe and realize this country area is not always as quiet as one would think.