On a recent holiday weekend, we set out on a mission to ride from Raleigh to Durham!  We had a nice break in the weather and wanted to see if we could make it almost entirely via greenway.  We also had some nice motivation – donuts!  We started on the Rocky Branch Greenway .2 miles from our house that led us past the Walnut Creek Wetland Center, through NCSU campus, past Meredith College and taking us over my favorite bridge in Raleigh that leads to the museum park.

We then passed into Umstead Park for a challenging few miles in the woods.

After Umstead we crossed over I-40 to head towards Cary on the Black Creek Greenway.

We passed through Cary and Apex on the White Oak Greenway and finally went towards the American Tobacco Trail.  Between White Oak and the Tobacco Trail we rode around 2 miles on road which was our longest stretch off the of greenways.

The American Tobacco Trail is a 22+ mile trail going through Durham, Chatham, and Wake Counties.  It is  an old railroad that has been converted to a greenway.  It’s mostly flat and smooth, which made for an enjoyable ride right into downtown Durham near Bul Durham Stadium.  The only part that wasn’t fully complete was the bridge over I-40 connecting at Southpoint Mall.  In our previous ride to Durham via RTP we had to go around the Mall and ride along busy Fayettevile Street.  Luckily, a crew was working and let us pass over the unfinished bridge, a huge relief – especially after we already rode 30+ miles and had about 20 more to go!  As you ride on the Tobacco Trail you go from woods to city landscapes to the interior of the city.  At around 1:00 we make it to Monuts just before they ran out of everything!  It was well worth the ride to try their donuts and bagels!

Instead of riding the 51 miles back, we took an Amtrak train back to Raleigh.  The Raleigh station is less that a mile from our house, making our total distance on the road about 3 miles.  The other 48 miles were all trails!  We are really lucky to live in a place that treasures the outdoors and getting people outside.  It’s incredible to ride through four cities and be in the woods, by creeks, wetlands, and art sculptures.  Then having the opportunity to ride home for $8/ticket made it even better!