This weekend’s bike ride was on the Richland B&O Rail Trail. We met our friends Vic and Jamie in a cool overcast morning at the trailhead in Butler. We headed northwest to our destination of Lexington about 11 miles away.

After 5 miles we cycled into Bellville, a typical rural Ohio small town. Bellville is pretty scenic with the Clear Fork River running along the trail. A feed mill greeted us in all the towns we visited. Both Bellville and Butler had very nice parks at their trailheads. There were clean restrooms and plenty of parking.

The overcast skies turned to a very gentle rain as we entered Lexington. We stopped to look around the bicycle shop. There was little development around the trail in Lexington. We opted to turn around and head back.

We passed under I-71 near the Lexington exit. We travel that highway a lot but this gave us a completely different view. We took a 1/4 mile detour to have lunch at the Dutch Heritage Restaurant. It’s a typical Amish restaurant with a large salad bar and plenty of down-home dishes. We gave it just a so-so review.

The trip back to Butler was downhill, a welcome sight for us. We stopped in Bellville at the rest area. Adjacent to it was a very nice antique mall, restaurant, coffee shop, and ice cream parlor. This is a very nice stop to make if you ride or hike this trail.

During the last 5 miles the sun came out and the temps rose. It was a very enjoyable ride all-around. The incline was pretty gentle, the temps were low and the scenery interesting. I think  this trail’s strong points are the rest areas with clean restrooms, villages spread about 5-6 mile apart and a nice selection of places to dine.