79 Miles in Hades, 7 Miles in Paradise

We left Ft. Walton Beach the same way we entered it: on a busy unpleasant road. This went on until we got to Navarre Beach. To get to Navarre, we had to walk our bikes across an incredibly long bridge with a very small walking path. It took forever! 

It was worth it though because the beach was beautiful and we were able to walk and wade for a bit before heading on. Navarre boasts it’s the most relaxing place in Florida. At least the traffic calmed down for the most part. 

After leaving Navarre, we headed to the Gulf Coast National Seashore. Oh my gosh!!! For 7 miles we rode next to sand dunes and beaches. There was very little traffic, and what was there abided by the 25 mph speed limit. It was so beautiful!

Leaving the protected area, we rode through Pensacola Beach where we stopped for lunch. Then it was back to busy roads for the remainder of the day.

As we were nearing the end of Florida, we missed our turn and went about 3.5 miles down a dead end road. Grrr, that added 7 miles to an already long journey.

Once back on the route, we had to cross 2 really steep and long bridges across the inter coastal waterway before finally arriving in Alabama. By now it’s dusk and we have a ways to go before getting to our campsite. We had planned on meeting up with Kelley’s friend Lisa and her family, who were vacationing in Gulf Shores, but the detour made us too late.

Finally we arrived at our campsite and set up camp. As we were setting up camp (in the dark), a lady came by to let us know she saw an alligator in our campsite earlier in the day.  Thanks.

We were too tired to cook, so we ate some leftover muffuletta from lunch and crashed.

Total cycling mileage:86

Total hiking mileage: 3