h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Where's a good walk in your city? Or is there a view that's worth a special trip? In short, where do only the select few locals know about?

I live in a seaside town, and you can walk the length of the beach, looking out over the River Humber, see the lights of Yorkshire twinkling on the other side, and when the moon is full, you get the most glorious effect of the reflection of the moon, like a shimmery ribbon on the water, stretching all the way across, so close you can almost touch it....even the water looks pretty

Sounds like Barton-on-Humber? Certainly, you can't so much walk along Cleethorpes beach these days rather just go through the motions

Well, on my bicycle I always find that there is a better, less traveled way to get from one busy district to another. In New York, I like to go via Randalls Island, which has some nice rustic parts around the Triborough Bridge and the men's lunatic asylum. You can get there from Manhattan via the 103d St footbridge or the Triborough Bridge (The three boroughs linked are Queens, The Bronx, and Manhattan, BTW). There is also a nice bike path up the West Side from Chambers Street to 59th Street, and a service road to the highway that's good for biking on the East side, from 21st St to 34th St.

As for secret views, there's a thread about this on the New York City, USA article .

In Philadelphia, there are great bike paths through Fairmount Park that take you right into Center City. I stayed with my relatives there and attended a conference; it was the most invigorating way to get to the hotel and start a rather dry day of meetings.

Constitution Trail
Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, USA
http://www.cityhall.ci.bloomington.il.us/constitu.htm

Constitution Trail has been created on the former location of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad which formerly cut directly through the center of the twin cities of Bloomington and Normal. The cities purchased the right of way from the railroad, and have embarked on a joint long term project of expanding this trail. Over 20 miles of trail now cut through the towns, paved and tree-lined, and are very popular for walking, bike riding, and roller-blading.

Currently, there is a north-south path and a connecting east-west path. Future plans include a circle route around Bloomington, and an extension to Lake Bloomington (about 10 miles north of town).

One of the nice things about having a path on a former rail line is that most side streets stop at the tracks and there are often bridges across main streets. This means that there are very few places where you actually have to cross a street on the path. Additionally, most of the route through town was already lined with trees to cut down on train noise for residents, so it was perfect for a beautiful path.