First, some details. Little Talbot Island State Park is in Duval county and is not on Amelia Island. If you head to Fernandina Beach via S.R. 200, your are going out of your way. The way to get there is via S.R. 105 out of Jacksonville either via I-95 or S.R. 9A which is an eastern beltway (expressway). If you come north on A1A along the Jacksonville beaches, you must take the ferry across the St. Johns river to get to S.R. 105. The campground is on the opposite side of A1A from the Ranger Check-in. You must check-in first at the ranger station on the east side (ocean side) of A1A, then U-turn around and cut across A1A to the camp sites. There is a gate and keypad for entry.

Talbot Islands (Big and Little) are still within Duval County and A1A through this portion of the Atlantic highway is very bike friendly as there is a 30 inch shoulder on the road and an 8 foot shoulder on the bridges. Moreover, there are great views of the ocean and the white sand shallows of the river side. Unfortunately, as soon as you cross over onto Amelia Island, you enter Nassau County and the shoulder disappears for the next 5 miles. This section of the island is not developed, or not so that you can actually see it, which would make for ideal cycling. But unfortnately, this is not a safe travel for our group as the cars are too fast and the volume above a tolerable limit. Therefore, we will car mount our bikes and drive to a public parking lot off of Amelia Island Parkway (see ride map). This is the southern end of Fernandina Beach. From this point we will ride the side streets or roads with shoulders. As we get closer to the town center, the speed limit drops such that traffic volume becomes less of an issue. We will first make our way north to Ft. Clinch where we have more than 8 miles of roads to ride in the park. Be prepared to pay a $2.00 entry fee. We will ride out to the ocean pier, the Amelia River, and visit the fort. There is an addtional $2.00 entry fee to get into the fort area. We may hold off on the fort visit and come back to take advantage of the evening "Candlelight Viewing". Moreover, if we do return in the evening, we might carpool, saving the entrance fee price. But this program cost $3.00 rather than the daytime $2.00. Click here for details on Fort Clinch State Park.

We will then head into the Fernandina Beach which is harbor side of the island facing the Amelia river. This is an historic town and is very charming. With its old brick buildings, historic clapboard homes, seaport with fishing and large commerical activity, the place is similar to Galveston Texas except considerably smaller. The town had done a great job in its restoration of various buildings from the 1880's. The town claims to be the only city in the United States to have served under 8 flags. From the port side we will make our way north to Old Fernandina and to the public ramp which is a stone's throw from our prior viewing of the Amelia River when we were in the State Park. Then we will head south, past the lighthouse and on through the neighborhoods and roads to take us back to our cars.

We will be riding at a casual speed and we stop frequently to take in the sights. The Saturday trip can be classified as a lesuire-to-moderate ride. Particularly because of the frequent stops at the park and in town. If you have been keeping up with weekend riding, the 30-miles ride will be considered a cinch. If you have not been doing much riding, the 30-mile ride will be considered a "heathy start ". I encourage casual riders to join us, we will not leave anyone behind. Warning though, if you think that the Fernandina ride is going to be all flat, there is a section of the old town that is built on ancent sand dunes that will get your heart racing a several times.

We should be back at camp a couple of hours before dinner to clean up and nap before readying ourselves for a potluck dinner. Please bring anything that is out of the ordinary or your favorite throw-it-together dish to share. I will have a count of people the Wednesday before the ride. But as a rule of thumb, if you make enough such that if you sat down and ate your entire dish and stuffed yourself good, then that is all you need to bring. We probably want to have dinner a little bit earlier and have stuff that comes together quickly since it is likely that we will drive to Ft. Clich for the rare evening program. We will have to gage that as we go.