If you want to go to the beach on the Middle Peninsula, either bring a boat or make friends with a bayfront land owner. Finding public access by car is pretty much impossible.
The area along the Chesapeake is sandwiched between the Northern Neck and Tidewater, with the Rappahanock River to the north and the York River to the south.
We tried to find beach access at Sting Ray Point outside of Deltaville, but were blocked by private homes. In the town of Urbanna, we slurped down some of the area’s famous oysters and walked along the piers. But no beach.
Outside of the town of Mathews, the grassy New Point Comfort Preserve provided a view of the New Point Lighthouse, but the only way to get to sand was by boat. We did manage to sneak on to a RV park on Gwynn’s Island and get our feet wet on 50 yards of beach.
On our final day of the trip, I hit the jackpot when I got up before dawn and went to the Bethel Beach Natural Area Preserve. I ran around a small beach as a half dozen people fished, and then went back and took a bunch of photos of an osprey nest.
On the middle day of our trip, we ran in a 5K in Deltaville. While the boating community is relatively quiet on the 4th, it draws huge crowds for its fall oyster festival.
Before driving to the Middle Peninsula, we started the weekend with a stop in Culpeper. I ran in a very well-organized 5K. We also strolled through what I think was the fifth car show we’ve run into in the last couple of months and ate at the world-famous Frost Cafe.
88 runs down, 46 to go.