Today’s walk encompassed some of the larger commercial properties on the south side of the Hamburg area, along Bryant and Pleasant Ridge, as well as a portion of the Timber Creek neighborhood near Pleasant Ridge park, as well as a portion of the Brighton East “rail trail” connecting those two pieces.

The portion along Bryant is generally warehouse-sized commercial–large gyms, a furniture outlet.  There are also a few odd homes in here, holdouts, perhaps.  Some of these lots front the newer mixed-used trail; a sign at the entrance to the trail (the “elbow” of Bryant) states “authorized vehicles only” are allowed to pass.  Apparently homeowners are authorized!  The trail itself is part of the first “Rails to Trails” project in Lexington, completed in 2006.  These projects seek to convert existing railroad right-of-ways to mixed-used trails.  Currently there are a lot of short segments like this, but a little investigation shows that there are plans in place to extend and connect the trails.

I was excited about this walk, mainly for the chance to incorporate a trail–perhaps a little too eager to take it on.  I thought I’d caught a break in the rainy weather and would have a chance to walk in relatively light rain; instead, I spent most of the walk in steady downpour.  One of the neat things about this process is that I’m rediscovering walking the joys of walking in all sorts of weather, but this really depends on being dressed appropriately, and today I was not.  This will serve as a reminder to bring a raincoat.  At any rate, by the time I reached the residential segment of the walk, I was less focused on observation and more focused on moving quickly.  This stretch consists mainly of the back of houses, blank space that often occurs in suburban neighborhoods along feeder routes like Pleasant Ridge that serve to channel traffic out of neighborhoods to larger streets.  This kind of space is usually neglected, but here the area was clean and well maintained.  I think some decoration along a short concrete retaining wall could add something.