Touring - Circumnavigating Georgian Bay?

I saw a couple of posts regarding Circumnavigating the larger section of Lake Huron but I did not see anything on the smaller section of Georgian Bay. Has any one ridden this route?


What ride of traffic can I expect?
What is the terrain like?
Are there plenty of services? I will probably be CC touring.

Having hiked the Bruce Peninsula section and paddled from Waubaushene to Sault Ste. Marie and through the Thirty Thousand Island section twice I can only imagine cycling around an area of such outstanding beauty would be a waste of effort!

Get a kayak and go paddling!

I was going to say the same thing. If you look at a key area like the bruce pen. there is a road that goes right up the middle, some side roads follow the water, while the hiking trail mostly stays in the bush. Paddling gets you right where you want to be. Been doing it since the late 70s.

I did this very trip last year and had a great time. It's part of the 'Great Spirit Circle', quite a few Indian reservations along the way.
The only busy areas I encountered were on Hwy 17 east of Espanola; near Sudbury; and some traffic around Muskoka. Hwy 69 is busy, but has a really nice 8 foot shoulder, except for about 20 shoulderless kms south of Sudbury. From Parry Sound south Hwy 69 becomes much quieter because traffic is diverted to the new Hwy 400.
The terrain is mostly flat to rolling. The hilliest part was the La Cloche mountains just north of Manitoulin Island; not overly difficult. Other than that, just a couple more thigh burners.
Services on that route are reasonably plentiful. Almost every day I passed through a town or city that had some sort of B&B, motel, inn, restaurant and/or grocery store. Places like Owen Sound, Wiarton, Tobermory, Manitouwaning, Little Current, Espanola, Sudbury, Parry Sound, Muskoka, Orillia and Barrie. A fairly good number of campgrounds in the area btw.
I could give you more info on the best roads to take if you want. Just let me know. Cheers!

Check out crazyguyonabike.com, there's a few folks that have done the tour there.

I have biked the Parry Sound to Bala to Washago segment, and enjoyed it a lot. Old Highway 69 is great as far as it goes. Southwood Rd. is also great.

I did this a couple of years ago. You can avoid traffic by taking the bike path from Collingwood to Meaford rather than Hwy 26, and by taking the small roads that parallel Hwy 6 up the Bruce Peninsula. Take CR 1 and Grey Rd 26 between Owen Sound and Wiarton, and be sure to stop in Big Bay for ice cream. Hwy 17 is busy. Hwy 69 is busy, but has a wide shoulder for most of the way. South of Parry Sound I took smaller roads to Bala. It was pretty flat. There are plenty of services. My journal is here: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/gbay.