Today, I was invited to a mountaining biking event at
Adams Farm in Walpole in the afternoon. As a result, I decided to head to the area to do a little sightseeing before meeting everyone else. My first destination was the town of Norwood. On the way there, I passed by
Willett Pond and Pettee Pond on Brook Street in Walpole.
 |
| Pettee Pond |
Heading into Norwood, the first place I visited was
St. Timothy's Church. There are beautiful views of Willett Pond from here as well.
 |
| Willett Pond |
The next place I visited was
Ellis Pond, located at the junction of Endicott Street and Walpole Street. The path I took after parking along Endicott Street is shown in pink below.
While here, I happened to spot a Canadian Goose family, complete with little goslings. A clear sign that spring is here.
 |
| Ellis Pond Dam |
 |
| Ellis Pond |
 |
| Canadian Goose Family |
From here, I visited a few other places in Norwood before heading to my next town, Sharon.
 |
| Guild Pond, ~550 Nichols Street |
 |
| Memorial, Town Common |
 |
Norwood Town Common,
Cottage Street East and Central Street |
 |
Colonel GeorgeT Lee Bridge,
Nahatan Street near Broadway |
 |
Norwood Town Clock,
Nahanton Street and Broadway |
 |
War Memorial, Aaron Guild Park,
Central Street and Guild Street |
The last place I visited today in Norwood was the
Hawes Brook Walkway, located beside the
Coakley Middle School.
There is a small pond here, and an old stone bridge, making the area pretty serene, complete with mini-waterfalls. Pictures I took here follow.
Finally done with Norwood, I still had some time before biking, so I decided to head into Sharon to start my sightseeing there. The first place I went to was
Moose Hill Farm. The path I took here is highlighted below in pink.
From the parking area, I headed north on the Old Summit Road Trail, turning right at the power lines to head to the Woodland Trail. The views of the power lines from here were pretty good.
Heading along the Woodland Trail, I walked back to the Old Summit Road Trail, turning right and heading onto the Old Farm Trail. This trail heads back to the power lines, where the views here were actually better than they were earlier.
From here, I continued further, coming onto open fields with nice views of the mountains in the distance.
I was hungry, so I decided at this point to use one of my Livingsocial deals at
Pizzeria Grande in Walpole for lunch before the Adams Farm. This place is like any other regular pizzeria, so nothing to write home about. I decided to get the Boneless Red Wings and the White Hawaiian Pizza to make up my $20.
 |
| White Hawaiian Pizza |
 |
| Boneless Red Wings |
The pizza was actually pretty good, while the wings were a little spicy for me. With that I headed to Adams Farm, located on North Street near Filetto Way.
While waiting for the others to come, I assembled my bike and tried out biking on the gravel road for a bit. It was actually pretty hard to control my bike on the pebbly surface, but soon I got the hang of it. When we were finally ready to set off, we found that I was the only one with a compass, and a map as well. As a result, I had to lead the entire group through the maze of trails. The rough path we took here is highlighted below in pink.
Even with a map and a compass, we somehow still managed to get lost. We managed to find our way to the end of Frontier Drive, but we got lost again soon after trying to head toward the power lines. Thankfully, we were able to find the power lines, but after crossing over, we got disoriented yet again. The views from the power line were pretty good though.
When we finally reemerged back onto the power lines, we soon decided that it was time to head back. We crossed back over the power lines heading across a large open field of sorts, before finally finding our way back to our cars.
We decided to head out for dessert next close by, at the
Bubbling Brook Restaurant in Westwood, where there were already scores of people lining up for ice cream. When it finally came my turn to order, I got a soft serve with a mix of bubble gum (pink) and cotton candy (blue). The ice cream was really creamy and tasty, to say the least.
With that, our biking adventure was done for the day. It was back to more sightseeing for me in Sharon, and this time I headed to the
Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary. The path I took here is highlighted below in pink.
From the parking area, I first headed to the top of Moose Hill via the Summit Trail in the hope that I would be able to get good views from the top of the fire tower, but when I got there, the tower was totally fenced off, and there were no views to be had from the hill with all the trees around.
From here, I accidentally took myself down the wrong path, heading north and into the Moose Hill Farm area. Backtracking, I soon found the right path, and continued on my way along the Summit Trail to head toward the Bluff Head area. This I did by turning right onto the Pasture Trail, then turning right onto the Turkey Trail, then turning right onto the Bluff Trail.
From here, I soon came onto the first bluff area. I was slightly disappointed because all the new branches from the trees actually obscured the good view from here.
Thankfully, this wasn't the only Bluff Head area with views. There were actually 2 other areas ahead with better views, especially of
Gillette Stadium.
 |
| Gillette Stadium |
From here, I continued along the Bluff Trail to head to the old cistern, a big circular well.
I then proceeded to the Billings Loop, across the road to the Pine Trail, which I used to get back to my car. The next place I went to was the Pierce Hill area on the
Warner Trail. After finally managing to find a spot to park along the side of Walpole Street.
Unfortunately, there was no good views from the top of Pierce Hill, and I had to head back the way I came back to my car.
From here, I headed to
Lake Massapoag, where there were nice views all along Massapoag Avenue, and especially at Memorial Park Beach at the corner of Massapoag Avenue and East Street.
 |
| Memorial Park Beach |
I visited several other places in Sharon before finally heading for dinner in Norfolk.
Dinner in Norfolk was at
Guido's Italian Restaurant. I had a Livingsocial deal here for $30, so I thought it would be easy to order that value in food, but it turned out to be quite the task, actually. I got a bowl of clam chowder, followed by 3 stuffed Quahogs, and made up the difference with the Mixed Grill dish, consisting of marinated steak tips, grilled sweet Italian sausage and BBQ chicken, which also came with a side caesar salad and a large pile of mashed potatoes.
 |
| Clam Chowder |
 |
| Stuffed Quahogs |
 |
| Mixed Grill |
 |
| Caesar Salad |
 |
| Mashed Potatoes |
Overall, this place is a nice restaurant, and I liked the Mixed Grill, especially the steak tips and the sausage, although I could hardly finish it by the time I got to it.
With that, an exciting day of sightseeing ended.
No comments:
Post a Comment