Oakville-Selkirk Trip Report
05-29-05, 06:04 PM
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Just to let people know how this turned out, I took the trip as planned and would definitely call it a success.
Some pictures can be found here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mwickens/sets/391156/
A few of more general interest can be found on my photoblog starting here:
https://selectivememory.ca/archives/2005/05/27.html
And here's a brief rundown of how it went:
Day 1 (Saturday, 21 May): Made the 6:43 am GO Train from Union to Oakville. (Met a guy who was going to Mississauga to do a randonneuring event from there to London and back.) At 7:24 am, the ride from Oakville began. I rode to Hamilton via the north shore route and found the Hamilton-Brantford Rail Trail after some minor confusion. Took the trail as far as Jerseyville. That's farther than I'd intended to go, but the intersections markings weren't clear to me without a trail map. Oh well. Then I headed south and got on the 54 to Caledonia along the Grand River. Just as I entered the center of town, it rained, but only for 15 or 20 minutes. Since it was around 1:30 pm, I took the opportunity to get lunch (and buy some beer!). Then I was off on the very busy Hwy 6 to Hagersville. From there, it was Hwy 9 & then 20 to get to the 53 which took me straight down to Selkirk. I rolled into town at almost exactly 5:00 pm. After some provisioning at the local convenience store, I checked in to my reserved campsite ("Are you aware there's an alcohol ban in effect, sir?" "Yes, I am aware of that.") Arrival time: 5:20 pm. Distance travelled: 136K.
Day 2 (Sun): As planned, took it (relatively) easy today. Left the park at 10:25 am and rode along the Erie shore to Port Dover. Only 10K into it, I encountered the first and only attack dog of the trip. The little black beast scared the *#$!*@ out of me. I crossed the road and went straight into the ditch but luckily managed to remain upright. The rest of the day was calm and uneventful. Made it to Port Dover around noon where I got some lunch, put my towel down on the beach, ate, relaxed, watched the scenery, and made calls to Mom and Dad. Around 2:00 pm, I headed back, taking a little detour to Peacock Pt. That this avoided the crazed canine mentioned earlier was a bonus, but not my purpose. Arrival time: 5:00pm. Distance travelled: 65K.
Day 3 (Mon): The sound of rain on your tent in the morning is not very motivating. After two hours of listening and praying, it stopped around 7:40. Got up, had some coffee, washed up, packed up, and was on my way at 9:25 am. The rain had started again, but was very light and soon stopped for good. The wind, however, was pretty fierce the whole way home. My route was chosen for speed not scenery and it was apparent. Took 3 (regional) west to Rainham Centre, 8 north to 3 (provincial), west through Cayuga to 56 which I took north the whole way to Hamilton. I took the beach route through Hamilton this time and boy am I glad I didn't take it going the other way. Stokell (thanks!) warned me of a big climb and he was right. But I had fun going down it! Did 57km/h without really trying. After an abortive attempt to get some food at a McDonalds in Bronte ("What do you mean you're out of Diet Coke?!"), I arrived at the Oakville GO station at 4:05 pm, in plenty of time to make the 4:30 train home to Toronto. Distance travelled: 100K (99.8 to be exact).
All in all, a great first trip (in over a decade) experience. I was wiped on Tuesday, but only slightly sore (and by today I'd recovered enough to run a sub-45 minute 10K). Thanks again for all your helpful suggestions and advice!
Mark
Some pictures can be found here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mwickens/sets/391156/
A few of more general interest can be found on my photoblog starting here:
https://selectivememory.ca/archives/2005/05/27.html
And here's a brief rundown of how it went:
Day 1 (Saturday, 21 May): Made the 6:43 am GO Train from Union to Oakville. (Met a guy who was going to Mississauga to do a randonneuring event from there to London and back.) At 7:24 am, the ride from Oakville began. I rode to Hamilton via the north shore route and found the Hamilton-Brantford Rail Trail after some minor confusion. Took the trail as far as Jerseyville. That's farther than I'd intended to go, but the intersections markings weren't clear to me without a trail map. Oh well. Then I headed south and got on the 54 to Caledonia along the Grand River. Just as I entered the center of town, it rained, but only for 15 or 20 minutes. Since it was around 1:30 pm, I took the opportunity to get lunch (and buy some beer!). Then I was off on the very busy Hwy 6 to Hagersville. From there, it was Hwy 9 & then 20 to get to the 53 which took me straight down to Selkirk. I rolled into town at almost exactly 5:00 pm. After some provisioning at the local convenience store, I checked in to my reserved campsite ("Are you aware there's an alcohol ban in effect, sir?" "Yes, I am aware of that.") Arrival time: 5:20 pm. Distance travelled: 136K.
Day 2 (Sun): As planned, took it (relatively) easy today. Left the park at 10:25 am and rode along the Erie shore to Port Dover. Only 10K into it, I encountered the first and only attack dog of the trip. The little black beast scared the *#$!*@ out of me. I crossed the road and went straight into the ditch but luckily managed to remain upright. The rest of the day was calm and uneventful. Made it to Port Dover around noon where I got some lunch, put my towel down on the beach, ate, relaxed, watched the scenery, and made calls to Mom and Dad. Around 2:00 pm, I headed back, taking a little detour to Peacock Pt. That this avoided the crazed canine mentioned earlier was a bonus, but not my purpose. Arrival time: 5:00pm. Distance travelled: 65K.
Day 3 (Mon): The sound of rain on your tent in the morning is not very motivating. After two hours of listening and praying, it stopped around 7:40. Got up, had some coffee, washed up, packed up, and was on my way at 9:25 am. The rain had started again, but was very light and soon stopped for good. The wind, however, was pretty fierce the whole way home. My route was chosen for speed not scenery and it was apparent. Took 3 (regional) west to Rainham Centre, 8 north to 3 (provincial), west through Cayuga to 56 which I took north the whole way to Hamilton. I took the beach route through Hamilton this time and boy am I glad I didn't take it going the other way. Stokell (thanks!) warned me of a big climb and he was right. But I had fun going down it! Did 57km/h without really trying. After an abortive attempt to get some food at a McDonalds in Bronte ("What do you mean you're out of Diet Coke?!"), I arrived at the Oakville GO station at 4:05 pm, in plenty of time to make the 4:30 train home to Toronto. Distance travelled: 100K (99.8 to be exact).
All in all, a great first trip (in over a decade) experience. I was wiped on Tuesday, but only slightly sore (and by today I'd recovered enough to run a sub-45 minute 10K). Thanks again for all your helpful suggestions and advice!
Mark
Last edited by mwickens; 05-29-05 at 06:13 PM.
