A cool 12 degrees Celsius (54 Fahrenheit) in the royal city of Guelph this morning. Following the Speed River trail southward, an obligatory covered bridge felt even cooler.

The ride passed through the University of Guelph, a sprawling campus with fall semester underway. Further on, the ride morphs from city suburbs to exurbs to rural, and eventually farmland. And some beautiful horse estates. Eventually, the suburbs started to appear again near the city of Hamilton Ontario, and that’s were the Niagara Escarpment made it’s presence felt. Over the course of about a mile, the elevation plunged about 1000 ft (or 300 meters!) on the appropriately named ‘Snake Road’. A hardstone caprock has resisted erosion over millions of years, causing a ridge that extends from New York to Wisconsin, helping to form the Great Lakes. I saw many bicyclists taking on the uphill challenge this morning… I was quite happy to be riding downhill.

At the bottom of this lush tree covered cliff lies Canada’s Royal Botanic Gardens. The ‘RBG’ is currently hosting a multi-city augmented reality exhibit called Seeing the Invisible… along with a dozen other gardens around the world, including the Denver Botanic Gardens.

I briefly checked out the garden visitor center and said ‘hello to RBG from DBG’. And then it was time to move along to the shores of Lake Ontario, the third Great Lake of the journey. First Burlington Beach, and then, crossing the channel to Hamilton Beach, another bridge stop, this time a lift bridge.

Being a dry-lander, it’s kinda cool to see a bridge lifted up so tall boats can pass under. Then the bridge slowly dropped back into place and I appreciatively cycled across. With the lift bridge behind me, it was a nice cruise along the lakeshore bikeways and roadways, hugging the western coast of Lake Ontario. Finally, our destination town of Port Dalhousie was reached and we checked into a fun and eclectic establishment called the Juniper Inn, right next to Lakeside Park… a perfect place for a late afternoon paddleboard excursion.

112 kilometers (70 miles) total. Sunshine and mostly clear skies at the finish. Hoping for one more beautiful day to wrap up this 2022 segment of the Coast-to-Coast cycling (and paddle boarding) adventure.

A beautiful day for a 145 kilometer ride, 132 of which were on one trail. An abandoned rail line connecting Goderich to Guelph has been transformed into a trail thanks to determined work from towns, counties, and volunteers. It’s known as the G2G, slicing a linear path through forests, farmland, rivers, streams, and small Canadian towns.

Local folks are proud of the trail, investing their time and money to maintain this beautiful pathway for townspeople and visitors alike. I ran across one farmer who was digging out weeds. His corn, soybeans, and wheat are all maturing late this year due to below-average rainfall this year – so a delayed harvest means time to volunteer on the trail.

And an old covered bridge is also part of the G2G trail. The West Montrose Covered Bridge, also known as the “Kissing Bridge”, is one of the oldest covered bridges in Canada, built in 1880-1881.

Today’s ride finished in Guelph, which calls itself the ‘Royal City’. Feeling like Royalty tonight thanks to a stay in a stately Victorian-Style guest house. Tomorrow is on to the town of St. Catharines and Lake Ontario.

Welcome to Canada! After getting searched at the border crossing for cannabis (visitor-profiling for having a Colorado license plate!… the border agents seemed mildly disappointed we had none), we arrived last night and stayed in Sarnia, right by the St. Clair river and the Blue Water Bridge. Just north of the bridge is Lake Huron, our second Great Lake so far.

In her quest to paddleboard all the Great Lakes, Jax took on Lake Huron this morning. Thanks to some late night rain and early morning wind, the shore breakers were quite heavy, especially for an inflatable board.

While Jax battled Lake Huron’s waves, I battled a cold north wind and heavy humidity. 53 degrees Fahrenheit (that’s 12 degrees Celsius!). Another Lakeshore Road, with beautiful views of Lake Huron, led to the Howard Watson Nature Trail – which proved to be quite similar to Michigan trails, only measured in kilometers instead of miles.

Eventually running out of trail, I found myself on Ontario highway 21 heading northward towards the lakeside town of Grand Bend. Thankfully, the 2-lane highway has a very generous bike-route shoulder with a double-lined ‘buffer’ between vehicles and bicycles. Occasionally, a truck or camper-trailer would roll by (at 90 km/hr) and create a favorable wind vortex. These only last a few seconds, but provide a quick (and free) respite while cycling into winds. And towns always seem to be less windy than the open road (must be all the trees and buildings), so it was nice to arrive in Grand Bend for a grand lunch at the Lake Hound restaurant.

From Grand Bend, Ontario Highway 21 looses that wide bike-path shoulder, so the recommended bike route is on little-used farm roads. On one 13 mile stretch from Dashwood to Bayfield I counted a dozen cars and 4 bicyclers – including an 80-year old rider on an e-bike. I rode alongside for a bit and learned he was riding to visit his son in a nearby small town. I sure hope I’m still riding in my 80’s – on a battery-powered e-bike or whatever newfangled two-wheel mechanism might be available by then. For now, pure human power is a fabulous way to propel oneself across the continent.

After 142 kilometers (88 miles) I reach the self-proclaimed ‘prettiest town in Canada’, known as Goderich. It is in fact, quite pretty, with remarkably vivid blue waters kissing a long sandy beach. The wind has died down, the clouds are starting to give way to the sun, and we are ready for one more sunset over Lake Huron. Tomorrow we head eastward on the 127km Goderich-to-Guelph (G2G) trail.