Disclaimer: This Portland, Maine Six-Lighthouses Tour and Back Cove Trail Loop recap contains affiliate links…
Touring Lighthouses from Two Wheels
Prior to going to Portland, a friend who spends much of the summer on her little island in Maine gave me a list of recommendations of places to see and restaurants to visit while there. On the list was taking a harbor lighthouse tour. Bill and I liked the idea of seeing as many lighthouses as we could, but from our bikes rather than from a boat.
Bill set about finding a Ride With GPS route and landed on a route that we loaded into our Garmins (affiliate link). In full disclosure, the Ride With GPS route below is one Bill put together after our ride and includes about three more miles than what we rode on the two separate routes.
Even though we found only five of the six lighthouses, the ones we found were beautiful!
Ride Overview
- • Ride With GPS Name: 33-Portland6LighthouseBackC
- • Ride with GPS: Link to turn-by-turn navigation cue sheet
- • Location: Portland, ME
- • Start/Finish: Mahoney Middle School, Portland, ME
- • Course Type: Loop
- • Course Surface: Paved
- • Bike: Cannondale Topstone
- • Distance: 23 miles
- • Time: 1:49:28
- • Average Speed: 12.6 MPH
- • Maximum Speed: 26.7 MPH
- • Elevation Gain: 1,079 feet
- • Elevation Range: 1 to 142 feet
- • Temperature Range: 54° to 58°
- • Course Map:
Fun Pictures From Along the Way
The following pictures were taken either with my iPhone (affiliate link) or my husband’s Insta360 (affiliate link)…
Breakwater Lighthouse also called Bug Light was built in 1897…
Spring Point Ledge Light was built in 1897…
We decided to climb higher to get a more scenic view of the lighthouse, but didn’t want to push our bikes up the narrow path…
So we carried them up nearby steps…
Viewing Spring Point Ledge Light from the higher vantage point…
Portland Head Light which was built in 1791…
Lobster truck next door in Fort Williams Park…
We road on a narrow gravel and dirt path along the ocean…
Cape Elizabeth Light East Tower built in 1828…
Cape Elizabeth West Lighthouse was built in 1828 and is now a private residence…
Rocky beach; so different than what I’m used to seeing on the Outer Banks…
Garmin Stats
Post-ride Garmin picture…
Garmin map and elevation graph…
Back Cove Trail
Once finished with our lighthouse tour, we drove to the parking lot at Back Cove Trail for the start of our next ride. Had we planned a little better, we would have found a route (like the one below) which connected the two loops.
We were surprised that such a large percentage of Back Cove Trail was gravel, but since we were riding our gravel bikes we were fine. The trail wound around Back Cove and had a connector to get on another trail that took us to downtown Portland along Casco Bay and Portland Harbor.
Ride Overview
- • Ride With GPS Name: 33-Portland6LighthouseBackC
- • Ride with GPS: Link to turn-by-turn navigation cue sheet
- • Location: Portland, ME
- • Start/Finish: Mahoney Middle School, Portland, ME
- • Course Type: Loop with a tail
- • Course Surface: Paved with gravel
- • Distance: 7 miles
- • Time: 36:15
- • Average Speed: 12.3 MPH
- • Maximum Speed: 19.9 MPH
- • Elevation Gain: 151 feet
- • Elevation Range: -9 to 31 feet
- • Temperature Range: 58° to 59°
- • Course Map:
Fun Pictures From Along the Way
Trails in the area…
Back Cove…
We were pleasantly surprised that the highway bridge we needed to cross had a separate bike lane…
Heading down to a lower loop closer to the water which would take us along Casco Bay and Portland Harbor to downtown Portland…
Cool graffiti…
Garmin Stats
Garmin map and elevation graph…
Final Thoughts on the Ride
Bill and I regretted not finding (or making) an all-inclusive Ride With GPS route prior to heading out for our ride, but breaking it up into to separate rides wasn’t a big deal. I’m sure it would have taken us less time to ride the extra three miles than it did to break down our bikes (remove our Garmins, Varias (affiliate link), and headlamps), put the bikes on the bike rack on the back of our SUV, drive to the next starting location, and put our gadgets back on our bikes, than it would have to continue our ride.
For cycling near a city, this wasn’t crowded or scary. While researching, I found similar routes with tour guides that charge from $175 to $250, but since we had our own bikes there wasn’t any reason to pay unnecessarily. Doing our own thing allowed us to stay at each lighthouse as long (or short) as we wanted.
We had a lot of fun on our little adventure and would happily do this ride again!
Questions:
- • Have you been to Portland, Maine?
- • Do you enjoy joining tour groups?
- • Do you stop and relax occasionally to fuel or take pictures, or barrel on through when on a long run or ride? ~ Both for me depending on the circumstances, but these two rides were more relaxing and we wanted to get pictures of all of the lighthouses.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a small commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.
Funny you should ask. Just got back from Portland. Lol.
I wish I had more time to explore. We did see three of those lighthouses. And saw a bike tour. They recommended where to have lunch.
We ran on back cove during the race.
Of course I stop and take pics. Thanks for sharing yours.
I saw all of the race signs on Back Cove Trail during our ride and thought of you and Deborah. 🙂
What a great tour! So cool that you could do it without a guide, I’d prefer that option, too.
That rocky beach looks so much like the beaches here in Cape Town. Plus, the Atlantic is freezing cold… I guess it’s the same for Maine?
Thanks, we really enjoyed ourselves! I didn’t dip my toes into the ocean while in Portland, but I imagine the water was quite cold.
A beautiful recap of your cycling adventures! I’m so drawn to lighthouses maybe because I’m from a landlocked country and so don’t have any! But I’ve always tracked them down in any coastal town I visit.
Thanks, Shathiso!
Looks like so much fun! Was the lighthouse route on a trail? And if so was it all gravel? I would love to do a bike tour on the East Coast some day. Definitely on my bucket list.
The lighthouse route was almost all paved (there were some gravel trails leading out to the lighthouses). We meandered through residential areas to various paths leading to the lighthouses so you’d definitely need to be comfortable riding roads to do this route.
I think lighthouses are so beautiful & have so much character (as well as history). I’d prefer to be in my own, as well, without any time constraints. Nice pics!
Thanks, Kim!
This sounds like such a fun tour, and nice that you could do it without a guide. I am horrible with directions so I would probably need the guided tour option lol
We load the Ride With GPS route into our Garmins so we have turn-by-turn directions during our rides – much like driving with Waze. Otherwise, I’d get completely lost, too!
I have never been to Portland Maine! You go on some fun bike adventures. I hope to be doing that too in a few years when we are empty nesters. I’ll have to refer to your blog for some trip ideas!
Lisa @ TechChick Adventures recently posted…Weekly workouts – feeling the chill
Thanks, Lisa, we had a great time! I’ve got three other rides to recap from the trip and I’m looking forward to recapping our Vermont ride the most.
What a fun adventure! A few years ago I went to Portland to run a half marathon. Unfortunately I didn’t get to explore it.
Oh bummer; it’s a really cool city.