Belle Isle

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The forecast for the afternoon of Wednesday, April 28 was a gorgeous one. Too nice to stay inside and work. It was a slowish work week, so I took a day off and decided to strike out and do some exploring. 

In all my years of college, Belle Isle was a place I knew existed, but never did get out to visit. Belle Isle is a small island in the middle of the James River, accessible by a pedestrian (& cycle-friendly) bridge near downtown. To the best that I could tell, there are no vehicles on the island. 

Belle Isle Pedestrian Bridge

I ended up spending about 3 hours there, racking up about 6 miles of walking, with a brief stop in a shady spot to enjoy a sandwich and I drink I'd brought with me. 

It's not a huge island; about half a mile from north to south, comprised of about 55 acres total. But it has a ton of walking & biking trails; some pretty easy, some more challenging. There are large flat rocks in the river where folks like to set up picnics, spread out a towel and catch some rays. It's possible wade (carefully) in the river, but the rapids and shallow depth don't allow for proper swimming. 

Rocks for basking on the south side of Belle Isle, crossing over to the south side of Richmond

My secluded lunch spot on the south side of Belle Isle

Belle Isle has a lot of history to it, some of it solely memorialized by plaques and markers (like its time as a POW camp during the Civil War), and some of it still manifest in the remnants of physical structures on the island. A hydroelectric facility was established there at the turn of the 20th century, and before the Civil War, the island had been home to an ironworks manufacturer.


Remnants of Belle Isle's manufacturing heyday

As you may be able to tell, vandals have had their way with a lot of the remaining physical structures on Belle Isle. But it does little to detract from serenity of the island. For this visit, I had dressed for a relaxed outdoor stroll, which is precisely what I enjoyed. But when I return, I may dress for a more intense hike and get deeper into the heart of the isle (the wider, flatter path basically traces the circumference of the island). 

I have no doubt that Belle Isle gets overrun on sunny summer weekends; even on the Wednesday afternoon I was there, I was far from alone. But it does seem to be that there are parts of the isle that are more popular than others. The north coast was particularly popular with sunbathers looking for a good rock. The south side was decidedly quieter. To be fair, there are fewer river rocks on that side until you cross over the bridge, but there are still shady waterside spots to enjoy. 

On my way back to the northside bridge, I passed by a "skills area" built into the island - a park designed for mountainbikers to hone their various skills. No one was there that afternoon, but it looked like a great, well-designed space, with trails that radiated off of an area with bridges, rocks, planks, and other obstacles. 

A walk back towards the city treats pedestrians & cyclists with a great view of downtown Richmond. I will say that there is a free parking lot at the top of that pedestrian bridge, but it does fill up quickly. I'm not sure what the best parking alternatives are when that lot fills up, and I imagine it's probably a pain. 

But that will not likely deter me from continuing to enjoy the many delights of Belle Isle. I look forward to returning soon!



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