As I said I would, I'm posting about the route I took from Ottawa to Toronto. I used my Norco Wolverine with upgraded... everything, so my route was pretty much open to me regardless of terrain. I brought camping stuff, rain stuff, clothes and everything to camp for 4 days.

I left Ottawa via a portion of the Trans-Canada Trail (near Bells Corners) which seems like a nice converted railroad track. It is relatively flat and isolated, surfaced in that cat-litter gravel stuff, so it's 700cc-friendly. I took that to Carleton Place and then turned South on the 15 toward Smiths Falls. I can't really comment too much on the 15 because I got off it and took the side roads that follow along it. The side roads were dirt but seemed to be coated with resin at some point so other than the pot holes, it seemed 700cc-able too.

Once I got to Smiths Falls I found the Cataraqui Trail which is cleverly hidden behind a Tim Hortons (the worker made my iced cap like an iced espresso, dark and strong, blugh). This trail isn't 700 friendly, there are some parts that a narrow tire can handle but there are parts that even my 1.9 26" was carving into really hard, so I lowered the pressure a bit. It looks like a flat jeep trail that goes on through the bushes as far as you can see, rarely used (I saw 1 person on it in like 70k). This trail is relatively flat and very long, making me think that it too used to a be railroad but that was some time ago because everything surrounding it is very close and overgrown. The trail varies from well-maintained and safe to "is this still part of the trail?" At parts, the surrounding foilage is overgrown so much into the path that I couldn't see where my tires were going (and the pot holes were painful). Also, it seems like somebody came through with a sandbox at times and filled in pot holes with beach-grade sand which is not good to hit with a loaded bike because my front wheel kept blading in it (lots of left-right dodging of rocks and pot holes). The trail is isolated, pretty boring and because it rides low, goes through a lot of swampy areas and mosquitoes are found in abundance.

I got off of it North of Kingston and spent my night South of Syndenham in a forest (Hennessy Hammock). Notice how I didn't say "SLEPT South of Syndenham," it was far too hot to even think of sleeping or relaxing, I was looking for a rock to knock myself out with but couldn't find any. The next morning, exhausted, I headed South West along any road possible (my GPS map looks like stairs at this point) until I hit Napanee ("Welcome to Avril Town") and crossed the 401.

I pretty much followed a combination of the 2 and the Waterfront Trail for the rest of the way to Toronto. The travel information guy that pointed it out to me basically said it was a guided route along the roads and highways along the lake, and that's pretty much right. I took a map he gave me and followed it more or less until I noticed a route that wasn't so "smell the roses." The route sometimes makes strange U shapes out of an otherwise straight path for no apparent reason, so I cut those out of my route as I hit them. When I was on the 2, I stayed in the dirt shoulders of highway 2 (it has wide dirt shoulders but almost no paved shoulder for huge portions of it). If you like riding on pavement, I'd avoid this one if you can, it's only a 2-lane highway for most of it I think. The dirt shoulders were mostly ok except for a few kilometers of beach conditions, which caused my only crash of the trip. I was going up a hill on the shoulder of highway 2 (lots of space) and my rear wheel started to spin out in the sand, I quickly lost all foward momentum and couldn't unclip, so into the ditch I went. Hehe, I hate sand. I took the surrounding roads which paralleled the 2 whenever possible. These were far less sandy or travelled but much more hilly through mostly farm country.

The 2 brought me to Brighton where I slept for the second night at a motel on the West side of the town, they charged 60 a night (or around there) for a small "less-decorated" room... it was more than worth it though for AC. I followed the 2/Waterfront Trail the rest of the way. Watch out when you get to Port Hope if you follow the Waterfront Trail through there, it gets all crazy. You go up a huge steep hill that almost nobody could bike (my bike wanted to roll over backward after 20 feet of it) and I got lost and ended up on some golf course on the 9th green. That and the road that the Trail suggests is under heavy construction (read does not exist anymore) and I had to run across the golf course range (after 375 yards with headwind so nobody would hit me other than Mr. Woods) and jump an orange construction fence with my heavy bike to avoid walking on some traintracks. Just a warning: you don't want to get on the tracks anywhere other than railroad crossings, the smaller passenger VIA trains move at like 200kph through the non-populated areas and don't horn except at railroad crossings. If you got the way I did, you'll see what I mean. After that, it was pretty much simple and straightforward to get to TO.

Oh yeah, I met some Oshawa Bicycling Club roadies in Bowmanville who were doing a ride, they invited me to ride with them to Oshawa from there, nice bunch. So I didn't follow the 2 at that part, they had their own bike-friendly route from Bowmanville to Oshawa.

My final route was about 485km and I made in in on the 3rd day. Made 200km the first day. Then 100 on the second day (I had NO sleep because of the heat the night before, so I slept in an AC motel this time). Finally on the third day (well rested this time) I did the last 185km to Etobicoke (far side of TO). I thought the trip would take me 4 days and I had planned on camping the whole time, so I brought all that camping stuff and rain gear, none of it I ever needed though. My trip was nice, but in the middle of that heatwave and not knowing when I'd see another convenience store, I carried lots of water and so lots of extra weight. The humidex was 47 on the first day and it stayed like that. Probably could do it in 2 days if it wasn't so bloody hot and I didn't bring 4 panniers worth of stuff. Maybe next time.

I know this post was long, but if any new tourer wanted to do this trip, they can learn from my mistakes.

Thanks for the update! I'm glad to know that the Cataraqui Trail is not a good option for my 700cc touring bike. I was thinking about going to Kingston from Ottawa this fall... now I think I'll just try to follow the canal.

I've also been riding during this **** heat wave and although I drank as much as I could, I still suffered from dehydration. I guess that's what happen when people from the North experience heat and humidity!

Seriously, the Cataraqui Trail is not ideal for 700's. I don't know if it was always like this, but there were times where I could not see the ground my tires were about to hit, it was almost like riding through a field of 1 foot tall grass. Also, there were times where the pot holes were really deep, like sink holes that just sorta caved in. The thing is that the trail is long and the condition probably varies with schedules and season. For example, the trail seemed to be in desperate need of a weed-wackin when I went through it, but maybe the weed truck was 1 day behind me, if there is one? Somebody went down there with a chainsaw though because there was a fallen tree across the path that somebody just cut enough away to let a bike through but the majority of tree was left on the path so who knows who it was.

You probably COULD do it with the right 700 tires but it would be a pretty tedious ride, dodging everything you can and going slow more than half the time. You would definately have to walk your bike for a few sections, even I unclipped and rode it slow with my hardtail.

I wish I had brought my camera, I could show you what it was like. But imagine an old dirt road, just wide enough for one car that is only used by jeeps every now and then. A lot of the trail is like two narrow dirt/mud paths (like those you see in a grass park or field) with a raised ridge inbetween which is covered by weeds a foot tall.

To be fair though, I think I did the less populated and less travelled section of the trail. I got off mostly because the mosquitoes were drafting me and attacking in force whenever I slowed down enough.

Here's a picture I just photoshopped of a similar trail I found online to show you what the Cataraqui Trail looks like at its typical nice sections. It is NOT the trail but it has been made to look like parts of it. It is really hard to represent because it's like 100km long (I did most of it). Anyway, parts like this are 700-able but others probably aren't, at least not last week.

Hrmm.. I'm still debating whether I'm going to do Toronto-Montreal or Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal. I've done both before but it's the Kingston-Ottawa portion that's a bit annoying. I took Highway 10 last time but it's a narrow two-lane highway. I've been looking at my backroads map and, IMO, really, there are more backroad options if you go to Brockville/Prescott and head north than if you start at Kingston..

Thanks for the extra info Sebach. As for the roads going to Kingston, I've heard a lot of good comments on the many small roads that follow the canal... I'll try to get more info on that and I'll come back to you.

Not sure if this has been posted before, but it describes a route from Ottawa to Kingston.


https://www.rideau-info.com/canal/cycle/grandtour2.html

Thanks bikeaway... its pretty much the canal route I was talking about.

For those that have done the Canal route, how hilly is it? Any big ones to worry about and how is the traffic in general on the roads themselves? I'm asking because I want to take something other than the 10 I took last time (lots of dump trucks!) and after tracing out the route from that website it looks kinda interesting..

I met a guy who did something like the road on that web site, he told me it was very flat with a few nice towns here and there. It is also supposed to be a bit more hilly around Kingston.

That's all I can offer for now... but I'm interested in knowing what others have to say.

I recently rode from Toronto Airport to the Buffalo-Depew Amtrak train station in New York, both ways. Spending the night in Hamilton in twice in two different motels for under seventy dollars. Went down the Niagara river to the falls, and, then across the Peace Bridge into Buffalo. Noneventful trip. Flew in from London Gatwick on Skyservice on the cheap. They were kind to my bike. Packed in a box from London, and, wrapped in cling wrap from Toronto. About 230 kilometres one way. Going to do it again in August. After the trip, I reward myself on the Amtrak sleeper compartment and a nice breakfast in the restaurant car. Cheaper than flying to the "states".

Anyone else thinking of that; Amtrak trains originate in Toronto's Union Station going to both Chicago and New York City. If you really want to bike, the Waterfront Trail route through Niagara on the Lake and Niagara Falls is quite scenic.

I am planning on doing a tour from London-Ottawa and back this fall. Thanks for the commentaries on the rodsa, trials, etc. I will be trying to use the map supplied by https://www.waterfronttrail.org/trail.html to get me as far as Kingston. The missing piece was Kingston to Ottawa.

I will put a a blurb after I get back.

The thing that caught my eye about the canal route was that you are said to be allowed to camp at the locks. Is that true? Free? Crowded?

I once read some desert warfare manual about maintaining efficiency in the heat, up to about 140F. What I mostly remember is the stratospheric amounts of water one needs to consume in order to maintain efficiency. It was gallons per day as the heat worsened. I don't know how one would have drunk all the water required!

For an Ottawa to Toronto route, check Brian Hedney's website.