The Best of Ipswich ride features wonderful cycling roads from downtown Ipswich with a great mix of historic sites, state forests, cycling along the Ipswich River, farm lands and scenic ocean vistas. EXTRA SHORT heads west to go through Bradley Palmer State Park, rides along the side of Appleton Farms on Cutler Road-with about a half mile of gravel-use caution, nice local roads of Hamilton, over to Argilla Road then out to and around Great Neck before returning through the historic district of Ipswich. SHORT adds the Great Neck loop to the extra short MEDIUM PROVIDES A TOUR OF IPSWICH INCLUDING URL LINKS has a quick in and out at Bradley Palmer to see the estate (that you can choose to skip) and by-passes going through Bradley Palmer by staying on scenic Asbury Road to pass the Patton Homestead (yes, General Patton), adds a short trip to Essex, then off to the Crane Estate (and Crane Beach if you wish) before continuing back to Argilla Road, you have a chance to stop at Russell Orchards twice then off to Great Neck then back through the Ipswich historic district. LONG is the medium plus about 13 scenic miles through Topsfield including Perkins Row, past Mass Audubon's Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary, the Topsfield Linear Common rail trail and Linebrook Rd. After recrossing Route 1 it takes a right on Brookside then a left on Perkins (avoiding a tough part of Ipswich Rd) before heading back to join the medium on Asbury Road. EXTRA-LONG adds 10 miles to the long in Topsfield by-passing the rail trail with a left turn onto 97, then across Rte 1 for incredible farm views and a few hill, through town for a nice loop before returning to the other routes. The extra-long ride is a mile shy of a metric century.
