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Rt 3 Ontario

bluehole

Active member
Thinking about taking a trip with some friends and part of the ride will go through Ontario from Windsor eastward to Niagra Falls. Considering traveling Rt 3. Any thoughts, recommendations or warnings about doing this? What is 3 like? Thanks.
 
Route 3 is bucolic, but a safe easy ride. As always in ON watch for deer, especially at dawn and dusk. When are you coming? Watch out for Friday aug. 13th. It is the only Friday the 13th this year and will be huge, so there will be lots of bikes on the roads and a huge police presence.

Holly
 
"It kind of like an 8, but with the left side missing.
Sorry couldn't resist."


I am going to remember that one. You are crazy. :)
 
Holly,

Thanks. That is sort of how it looks from aerial photos and maps. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something particularly bad about the route. I think we will be passing through there the week before Friday, August 13. I appreciate the warning. Traveling there during the 13th would have been a disaster.
 
Holly,

had a short, but pleasant ride through part of Ontario. Took Rt. 3 from Leamington to Port Stanley. We then worked our way up to Port Dalhousie. QEW was packed and going nowhere so we slipped over to Niagara Falls via 406/Thorold. I was surprised at how flat the area around Rt. 3 is. The soil appears so rich. Many windmill farms. No traffic except for the QEW. Pretty towns. Folks were friendly and helpful. We had a great experience.
 
Glad it worked out. Yes it is flat around here, especially for someone from VA. I live on top of the Niagara escarpment, which locals actually call "the mountain." Riding from here to Niagara Falls on the QEW really sucks, but there is a lovely ridge road on top of the escarpment that is a nice ride. I get really pushy sometimes about telling visiting riders they MUST NOT CHOOSE THE QEW.

Holly
 
Riding from here to Niagara Falls on the QEW really sucks, but there is a lovely ridge road on top of the escarpment that is a nice ride. I get really pushy sometimes about telling visiting riders they MUST NOT CHOOSE THE QEW. Holly

In case I need to explore a new road some weekday morning, what is this road of which you speak, Holly? Where do I pickup it up, coming from London? :dunno

Thank in advance.

Paul
 
Paul,

I'm just heading back to the States to pick up my bike, so I can't show you personally.

The Hamilton end of it is a right hand exit on the top of Centennial Drive, heading down to Hamilton. just as it is about to go down the escarpment. (near Mount Hope.) It is called the Ridge Road and will take you past the Devil's punchbowl, then along the top of the escarpment to Grimsby. You could slab on the 403, take the Linc across Hamilton but stay right on Mud when the Red Hill parkway goes down to the left. Turn left onto Centennial and stay in the right lane past Green Mountain Road then right onto Ridge Road. Or you could take 54 along the Grand River from Brantford to York and then 9 to Empire Corners and 56 east to Centennial. Much more interesting. Once you get to Grimsby, you can find your way to the Niagara Parkway and go to Fort Erie, or head over towards Effingham where there are some neat hilly roads. Have fun. Watch out for cops on the weekend as lots of riders like to test their cornering skills on the Ridge Road.

BTW, opposite the Ridge Road exit on Centennial, there is a flat rocky space which has a pattern of tiny beach-type sand waves on it, and some neat shell fossils. It is dangerous to get to, but fascinating to see that there was once a beach on top of the escarpment.


Holly
 
If you want a ride slightly more local to London, I did the Trillium Reliability Run for the CVMG/CMA Paris National Rally. I managed to make a run from the Paris Fairground to the Military and Motorcycle Museum in Brantford about 80km each way. It wasn't easy. LOL!

Routes attached, but I couldn't upload the Excel file and some of the arrows shifted when I copied it into the old Word format, so follow the text if the arrows go the other way.
 

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