Orleans Center to Nauset Beach Loop

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Explore downtown Orleans, ride out to East Orleans and Nauset Beach, and enjoy this expansive barrier beach. Return through the old neighborhoods in Tonset, along the bays by Nauset Inlet and Orleans Town Cove. This ride heads east to Nauset Beach down Main Street in Orleans Center, starting at a major lower Cape hub of cycling adjacent to the Cape Cod Rail Trail (CCRT). It returns along the Orleans Town Cove in a loop pattern, having made two out- and-back trips to the Atlantic Ocean. Start this ride at the Depot Square dirt parking lot across from the Hot Chocolate Sparrow, a meeting place for cyclists from all over Cape Cod as well as a place for coffee, Internet access, homemade chocolate, and ice cream. A Sunday group ride stops at the Sparrow year-round at 9 a.m. on its way to Wellfleet and points north from Dennis. There are two bike shops just a short walk from the start, and this ride passes many shops on Main Street in Orleans, which can be explored before or after the ride.