Day 26: Through Delaware to Cape May, NJ

May 11, 2017

I got up at 7:30 and had breakfast at a restaurant a block away on the Ocean City, MD boardwalk.

Morning twilight from my balcony in Ocean City, MD.

On the road at about 9. It was cold, overcast, with an east wind. Not raining yet but the weather forecast calls for all day rain.

The city of Ocean City, MD sprawls all the way to the Delaware state line. The north end of town has condominium towers, some more than 20 stories.

North of the Ocean City boardwalk is a dreary string of high rise condos.

The rain started just as I finished taking a self portrait at the Delaware state line. I expected to do something to celebrate biking into my final U.S. state. But the rain and busy suburban highway caused me to take a quick photo and keep moving. My profile page has a map of my routes through all 50 states.

"The First State" is my last state to visit during bike tours.

Ocean City has urban high density development. Bethany Beach, Delaware is more suburban. Shopping centers, houses, and low rise condos. Signs advertise the Delaware beach towns as the "quiet coast". I guess the comparison is to Ocean City, MD and the Jersey shore beach towns.

Bethany Beach, Delaware. Busy town but it has a wide bike lane.

In the distance I could see four extremely tall concrete towers. At first I thought they must be smokestacks for a coal power plant. But they turned out to be towers for a bridge across the Indian River. The mouth of the river is also the mouth of Rehoboth Bay.

Indian River bridge on the Delaware coast. From a distance I thought it was power plant smokestacks.

After the bridge I enter Delaware Beach State Park which has a few miles of undeveloped sand dunes. The only undeveloped shoreline on today's route. Today's route is entirely in developed towns on busy multi-lane highways. Fortunately every bit of it has a wide paved shoulder. Safe to ride, but the noise and traffic lights are annoying.

DE 1 in Delaware Beach State Park. The only undeveloped segment of today's route.

The rain got steadily heavier as the day progressed. I passed a Lifesaving Station museum in the state park, but didn't stop to have a look. I just wanted to press on to the ferry. And stopping to tour a museum while soaking wet would not be pleasant. I also passed Lifesaving Station museums in Rodanthe, NC and Ocean City, MD. I regret not stopping to see at least one of them.

I wished I stopped at one of the lifesaving stations. It was pouring rain and I just wanted to get to the ferry.

I detoured a mile off the main highway to get to the Rehoboth Beach, DE boardwalk. The 1 mile long boardwalk is made of real boards. Narrow at the residential south end of town, but much wider in the commercial middle of town.

Rehoboth Beach boardwalk in the rain. The boardwalk is narrow at the residential south end.

The stores were all open but it was deserted. 55F and pouring rain is not the kind of weather that attracts people to a beach boardwalk.

The boardwalk is wider in the commercial area. Nobody on the boardwalk in the rain.

I didn't pedal the northern end of the boardwalk. I got off in the middle of downtown, where a beautiful parkway lined with stores connects to the boardwalk. It's a very user friendly setup. I would love to see it on a warm sunny day. Rehoboth Beach is an appealing beach town. Much more of a small town feel than Ocean City, MD.

Nice plaza where the boardwalk connects to the main downtown street.

Traffic was extremely heavy for 5 miles from downtown Rehoboth Beach to the ferry at Lewes, DE. I don't like being in heavy traffic and heavy rain. It's harder for me to see and I know it's harder for motorists to see as well. And I get muddy spray from passing trucks.

Once again I misunderstood the ferry schedule. I arrived in time for a 1 PM ferry, but the 1 PM ferry departs from Cape May, not from Lewes. So after rushing through Rehoboth Beach I sat and waited 2 hours for the 2:45 PM ferry. The ferry has a huge terminal building with a snack bar. My clothes were almost dry after sitting in the warm dry terminal for 2 hours.

I will ride this ferry across the mouth of Delaware Bay from Lewes, Delaware to Cape May, New Jersey.

The tour's final car ferry crosses the mouth of Delaware Bay from Lewes, Delaware to Cape May, New Jersey. Pouring rain for the duration of the 85 minute ride. I was in Delaware for only 5 hours and it rained the entire time.

The ferry brags that bikes go on the ferry for free. But cyclists still have to pay the $10 per person pedestrian fee. Walk on passengers enter the ferry through a fancy adjustable sky bridge. I pedaled onto the vehicle deck and walked up the stairs to the huge passenger cabin.

This ferry is much bigger than the previous ferries. Walk on passengers enter via an enclosed elevated walkway.

When the ferry arrived in Cape May my helmet was no longer hanging on my bike. I got on my hands and knees and found the helmet under an adjacent car.

The temperature was down to 51F (10C) at 4:15 PM when I rolled of the ferry in Cape May, New Jersey. Still pouring rain. The ferry dock is actually 3 miles from the town of Cape May.

It was pouring rain, so I didn't cross the 4 lane highway and set up the tripod for a self portrait.

I have several tourist stops planned in the Cape My area. My first stop was at the Cape May lighthouse west of town. It's in a state park. Very few visitors there because of the rain. The lighthouse is being repainted. In the photo you can see the middle section hasn't been repainted yet. The painting is done using the big hydraulic lift.

Cape May lighthouse. 157 feet tall. Built in 1859 but not the first lighthouse on the site.

My next stop was a bit farther west to see Fort Miles. It was a coastal defense base built in the late 1930's to defend Delaware Bay from a naval attack or invasion. One of several coastal forts built along the Atlantic coast to defend against a naval attack. German U-boats were sinking ships nearby, but there was never a credible threat of invasion. I suspect the coastal defenses were built to make the public feel safe more than to make the public actually be safe.

Ruins of an artillery battery at the former Fort Miles.

Concrete "fire control towers" were built near the artillery batteries. The objective was for spotters to determine the azimuth and distance of an invading ship, and transmit that information to the artillery batteries. I question how effective that process would be. The fire control tower could establish the azimuth very precisely but the tower isn't high enough to establish the distance very precisely.

I walked up to the base of the fire control tower. It has been restored and made into a museum, but the museum was closed when I was there. I read the many interpretive signs.

One of many fire control towers that directed the artillery. This is the only one that has been restored.

A bit farther west the road dead ends at Delaware Bay. The concrete shipwreck is a tourist attraction but there's not much to see now.

End of the road at the west end of Cape May.

After several tourist stops west of town I finally pedaled into the town of Cape May. Still raining, but getting gradually lighter. I arrived at Sea Crest Inn at 5:55 PM and got a room for $101. It was spacious, with an angled view of the ocean. Not as direct a view as I had last night, but two consecutive nights with an ocean view!

Angled ocean view from the balcony of my motel room in Cape May, NJ.

The rain was light enough that I spent an hour or more walking around town. I started on the boardwalk. It's asphalt, not boards. Nearly two miles long. I read online that the original wooden boardwalk was destroyed by a 1962 Nor'easter storm.

The Cape May boardwalk is asphalt and relatively narrow.

Cape May is a beautiful historic town. With more than 600 Victorian houses, it was obviously a thriving beach resort in the late 19th century. The town has retained its historic character. No modern high rises mixed with the old stuff.

Cape May has 600 Victorian homes. A real jewel at the southern tip of New Jersey. Two bays east of Washington D.C.

Cape May has a 2 block long pedestrian mall on a downtown street. It looks like a nice place to visit when the weather is good. It was deserted on a cold rainy evening. But I did find a restaurant that was open for dinner. The rain stopped by the time I finished dinner.

I had difficulty getting far enough away to get a good picture of the stone church. Our Lady Star of the Sea is a peculiar name.

Our Lady Star of the Sea Roman Catholic church in Cape May.

The weather was awful but I really enjoyed seeing Cape May. Definitely one of the highlights of this tour. The remainder of the Jersey shore won't be as quaint and historic.

Many of the largest Victorian houses are now Bed and Breakfasts.

Most of the old beachfront hotels have been replaced by newer buildings. The Inn of Cape May helps me visualize what the town was like before World War 2.

The Inn of Cape May. Old school balcony-less elegance.

Today was difficult because of the cold rain. The coldest day of the tour and the only day of this tour that I pedaled a long distance in rain. Tomorrow should be warmer and drier.

Distance: 48.2 mi. (77 km)
Climbing: 282 ft. (85 m)
Average Speed: 11.1 mph (17.8 km/h)

Today's ride: 48 miles (77 km)
Total: 1,209 miles (1,946 km)

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