Lake Ontario Loop
What draws us to water? We have cycled along the Mississippi, followed Lewis & Clark’s route on the Missouri and the Columbia, cycled the Acadian Shores of Maine and Nova Scotia and traveled along the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay exploring Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Little boys cannot resist a water puddle, nor can we. Follow our daily adventures as we travel around the Canadian side of Lake Ontario, along the St Lawrence River, and then back around the U.S. side of the Lake.
Lake Ontario Loop
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Conclusion
Thanks for following our adventure around Lake Ontario. We enjoyed the Canadian side of the lake because our route kept us close to or on the waterfront. The New York side was mostly rural country roads through farm lands with an occasional water side ride. We are sorry to report that our trip had to be cut short by a few days and we did not return to Buffalo. Don't worry we are both OK. Joe is at home and Jeff will soon be in Falls Church.
Friday, June 5, 2015
Henderson Harbor
We left Clayton looking for a breakfast place but did not
find any until we reached Cape Vincent ,
a small town on the St. Lawrence River about 12 miles away. While nothing else was open at 7 a.m. we cycled past the town’s waterfront and its
historical museum located in an old stone building.
Much of our day’s journey was out of sight of the
water. When possible we took side routes
to the waters or entered the several state parks along the route. One of our side trips was to the town of Sackets
Harbor. While we had marked this town as
a possible place to visit, neither of us could remember why, nor did our notes
give any hints. We were pleasantly
surprised by what we found.
As we entered the town we saw lots of old brick buildings,
some in bad condition, others restored. Some
of these buildings pre-dated the War of 1812. At the town’s visitors center we learned that
the US Navy had a major shipyard and its headquarters for the Great
Lakes . The Army also constructed a fort, barracks and
supporting infrastructure to defend the village and navy shipyard. By the fall
of 1814, this was the third-largest population center in the entire
state. Soon after the war, the Army strengthened its defenses on the
northern frontier by constructing Madison
Barracks. We learned that the
old buildings we first saw as we entered the town were the Madison
Barracks. The Madison
Barracks have been designated as a Historic District and they are slowly being redeveloped
as a planned commercial/residential area.
The receptionist at the visitor’s center also told us that Zebulon Pike is
buried in Sackets Harbor
and President Ulysses S. Grant served two tours of duty at
Madison Barracks. However, there was no mention of George Washington
sleeping here.
We were also impressed by the town’s lively commercial
district. We saw many small shops and restaurants as we cycled through before
stopping at the Sackets Harbor Brewery for lunch and a beer. Besides brewing their beer, the sandwich
rolls and chips were also made on site. It was a wonderful place for lunch.
From Sackets Harbor
we only had a short (10 mile) ride to Henderson
Harbor for our nights lodging. Our motel is on the grounds of the Aspinwall
Homestead that was built in 1806, and currently serves as the motel’s office. The Homestead
was visited by Stonewall Jackson and artist Frederick Remington, and was used
by runaway slaves traveling to Canada
via the Underground Railroad system.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Clayton, NY
We had a pleasant ride up the Thousand
Islands Parkway as the morning mist lifted off the
ponds and river. To get to the United
States we had to cross 2 very long high
arched bridges on very narrow walkways.
It was so narrow we had to walk our bikes but found that we didn’t have
room for us and our pannier laden bikes.
We wondered what would happen if we met anyone coming from the opposite
direction. We probably walked over a
mile and it probably took an hour to do so.
If we had to do it over, we would have crossed at Wolf
Island . The Wolf
Island route was recommended to us
many times by cyclists we met along the way. In hindsight, we should have asked about our
chosen route.
After arriving in New York ,
we immediately turned on our cell phones and called home. It was
nice to regain access to technology that we have become so dependent upon.
Next we headed east to the town of Alexandria
Bay where we took a 2 hour boat tour through the Thousand Islands . The tour took us past “Millionaire’s Row” of magnificent
homes built during the gilded age. Many
of the boat houses were more grandiose than even the fanciest houses back
home. After this tour we stopped off at
the Boldt Castle . This castle was built by George C. Boldt who
became wealthy as the proprietor of many famous hotels, including the Waldorf
Astoria Hotel in New York City . He purchased 6 islands and chose Hart (later
renamed Heart) Island to build a castle for his wife,
Louise. Louise died before it was
completed so George stopped work and refused to return to the island. From 1904 to 1977 the Castle deteriorated
from lack of maintenance and vandalism.
In 1977 the Thousand Island Bridge Authority took over the property and
started its restoration. The finished
sections are truly magnificent. The
island also has a child’s play house (castle) that is so large it could provide
housing and recreation for a school house full of children.
Afterwards we began our westward journey toward Buffalo . East of Clayton, we stopped at a small batch
distiller and sampled some of its bourbon. Neither of us drinks hard liquor and
since were on bicycles, we tasted sparingly. In Clayton we stopped at the Antique
Boat Museum . Most (if not all) were wooden boats. One of the buildings contained just speed
boats that were massive and powered by very large engines. We preferred the craftsmanship of the
pleasure boats and the boat restoration facility. Our motel for the night was just a few miles
from there and has a peaceful riverfront setting.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Gananoque
The temperature started a little
warmer today, but we were still bundled up for a while. We had a short ride to Glenora were we
boarded a ferry for a 15 minute trip across the Bay
of Quinte . From there we headed into Loyalist country
were those loyal to the British Crown settled during our colonial days. Many towns, structures, and monuments are
designated “loyalist…” For example, we
stopped along the waterfront and read a monument commemorating the frigate
Royal George’s escape from the aggressive Americans to the south.
We cycled through Kingston ,
a city with a population of 120,000. It
took about 2 hours to go through this large urban area. Just outside of the city proper, we came to Fort
Henry . The fort is strategically on an elevated point
near the mouth of the Cataraqui
River where it flows into the St. Lawrence River at the east end
of Lake Ontario.
The original fort was constructed
during the War of 1812 to protect the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard (the
site of the present-day Royal Military College of Canada)
on Point Frederick from a possible American attack and monitor maritime traffic
on the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. The original fort was replaced
by a much larger construction in the 1830s and was restored in the 1930s. When we arrived a bus load of teenagers were
going into the fort carrying overnight bags
The fort features overnight group accommodations for a unique experience
in a 19th Century British Fort by providing lodging in a large Barracks room.
The rest of our day was mostly cycling
towards our destination of Gananoque. The waterfront town Gananoque has a
population of 5,000 year-round residents but a large number of summer residents.
As such, visitors enjoy many interesting restaurants and attractions. One of
these attractions are boat tours through the St. Lawrence River’s Thousand
Islands (yes thousand islands dressing came from here). We had dinner in one of those unique
restaurants overlooking the water as we relaxed after a long day on our bikes.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Picton, ON
We left Cobourg early and only had a choice of McDonalds or
Tim Hortons for breakfast. Not really a
choice but it was the best we could do?
Canadians must not be breakfast eaters.
Before leaving town we cycled by their “historic” jail that was less
historic and more a commercial tourist stop.
For a good part of the morning we cycled on country roads, only
occasionally getting dumped on a 2-lane highway with a wide shoulder. We passed several nature sanctuaries and
stopped at the Keelers Memorial before arriving at our first
town—Colborne. The town had a town
square and many businesses that looked like one of them should have been a
restaurant. We even asked several high
school age kids if the town had a café and were asked in response, “what is a
café?”
As noon approached,
Jeff made a quick right turn and headed down a dead end street towards a
marina. When Joe finally caught him,
Jeff explained that he saw a small sign that a café was at the marina. It was there, it was open, and the food was
good. The owner told us that she first
opened the adjacent motel, then bought the marina, and just recently opened the
café.
After lunch we continued along the lake before heading
inland where we passed over the Murray
Canal on a swing bridge. This part of our day we were mostly on the
highway but traffic was light. We passed through the towns of Wellington
and Bloomfield, 2 arts communities.
These towns had art studios, craft shops, galleries and quilt murals
painted on many of their buildings. We
found that we were on the “arts” trail.
Besides cycling the Waterfront trail, we were on the wine trail until we
reached Toronto . Today, after we left Colborne we were on the
apple trail and then another section of the wine trail. No matter what your interest, Canada
has a route marked for you to follow.
Our lodging in Picton is at the Merrill
Inn , a place with more class than
both of us put together. Yesterday we
tried making reservations at nearly a dozen local lodgings and found that they
were all booked up. The Merrill
Inn had an opening, and by its
price, it was no wonder. After tonight,
we will be sleeping at roadside shelters.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Cobourg, ON
Today we had several significant changes in our
adventure. First, we moved out of the
urban environment that we been in since our trip began. Our rural cycling brought less trails and
some of the trails we cycled were very rough in comparison to those in the
cities. We even experienced one trail
that was a single tract. Second, the
weather changed. We went from
temperatures in the 80s to the low 50s.
This morning we had to dig deep in our panniers to find warm
clothing.
What hasn’t changed is the abundance of lilac bushes that
are in full bloom. They are everywhere
and many are very large and put forth a sweet smell that fills the air. The other constant is the abundance of
red-winged black birds. However, these
birds continue to be camera shy and have avoided our attempts to get a good
picture.
After we left Whitby
we cycled 40 miles before we arrived in the next town, Port Hope. The town is named for Colonel Henry Hope, the one time lieutenant
governor of the Province of Quebec. An interesting side note about the town is its
having the largest volume of historic low-level radioactive
wastes in Canada .
These wastes were created as a result of the refining process used to
extract radium from
uranium ore. Radium was used in "glow-in-the-dark" paint.
We arrived in Port Hope “aglow” with thoughts about
food. We soon found Basel ’s
Deli and stopped for lunch. This was the
first “mom and pop” type restaurant that we found on this journey and well
worth the wait. We had great sandwiches,
hot tea, and cookies before heading toward the Canadian
Firefighters Museum .
After a tour that included some early 1900 fire engines we
headed to our motel in Cobourg, about 5 miles further along the trail. Perhaps
this is a good time to define our route’s structure. We are following the “Waterfront Trail” that
is a compilation of marked trails, side streets, and highways. Between Port
Hope and Cobourg was the first time that we were on a highway. It had only 2
lanes but was busy. However, it had very
wide shoulders marked for cyclists. The
Waterfront Trail is very well marked and documented on the internet and in a book. The trail goes along the Canadian side of the
lake and up the St. Lawrence River .
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Port Whitby, Day 2
To go or not to go was the question that hung over us all morning. The temperatures dropped into the 40's and the forecast predicted rain and thunder showers all day and into the evening. After much deliberation and discussions of past decisions to "go" that turned out to be stupid decisions, we decided to stay. While the forecast for today remains "doom and gloom" it barely rained this morning and just begun to rain as we slide into the afternoon. With 20/20 hindsight, we should have cycled today. We could have gotten to our next destination without getting drowned in cold rain. But then, we are older and smarter...
Our motel is very nice and we have a large room, however, there is nothing nearby. Joe is working on revising our route maps and Jeff is getting near the end of his thick novel. It is going to be a long day. Luckily, we can have our dinner delivered. Hopefully, tomorrow's cycling will be interesting and our blog worth reading.
Our motel is very nice and we have a large room, however, there is nothing nearby. Joe is working on revising our route maps and Jeff is getting near the end of his thick novel. It is going to be a long day. Luckily, we can have our dinner delivered. Hopefully, tomorrow's cycling will be interesting and our blog worth reading.
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