Day 52. Burlington, Ontario

Hi Everyone,

Today started out cloudy or overcast with a hint that the sun would show
itself.  I  used a combination of the road and the Niagara Recreation Trail
depending on traffic conditions.  Mostly there was little traffic. I got to
Niagara on the Lake and had a pasty, the first one in Canada.

It was easy to find the Waterfront Trail.  The signs are obvious.  All I had
to do was to ride toward Lake Ontario and turn left at the sign for Mississauga,
a town on the way to Toronto.  I saw a bike rental place and they gave me
a map of the area. They just happened to be at the corner for a right turn. 
They warned me that the beginning of the trail in Niagara on the Lake had
some dirt sections but that conditions would improve later.

After a couple of go off the city streets and into a park (dirt trail) for a short
distance, sometimes for only a couple of blocks, I decided to stay on the
streets as much as possible.

As I left St Catherine, the trail went on the frontage road (service road)
next to QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) a freeway but there were detour
signs but I keep on going and in a mile ran into a bridge being rebuilt.
There was no way that I could go through the fence and then ford a
stream so I turned back.  I met a local bicyclist coming toward me and I
told him that the road was close and he knew because he lives nearby. 
He told me to go over the freeway overpass and use the frontage road
on the other side and then come back after two interchanges.

So I rode on the frontage roads and the Waterfront Trail would enter
and leave the frontage road.  Sometimes I followed the trail when it looked
like that it go on a parallel side street and sometimes I would stay on the
 frontage road when it looked more direct and there was little traffic.

I met a couple eating lunch at a picnic table that appeared to be on a
private company property.  He was really interested in my Co-Motion
and knew all about it.  It turns out that they live in Toronto so they could
tell me how to get there.  I keep up with them for a couple of miles and
then dropped back and would catch up at interchanges.  Then it started
to rain.  Only a few drops but I decided to turn off at an interchange to
put the rain covers on the panniers and to grab some lunch.  By the time
I finished eating, the rain had stopped.  I proceeded on and in a couple
of miles, the road was perfectly dry - it never rained there!

It started dripping again later, but never enough to make me put on rain
 jacket or a wind breaker. 

I found motels out in the middle of nowhere with no source of food nearby
so I kept on going until I reached Burlington where I am downtown with
food and museums around me.  It may rain tomorrow and I wanted to
stay at a place that had sometime to do if I have to stay put.


The Statistics:  70.45 miles and 597 feet of climb.


Steve in Burlington, Ontario, Canada about 30 miles from Toronto
and the map implies that the Toronto metro area is some 20 miles
long.  So I'll have to ride 50 miles to get on the other side of Toronto.