Through Ontario farmland to Guelph

4th August: Hanover to Guelph

Odometer: 110 km, Start: 9.00am, Finish: 4.00pm, Avg: 21.8 km/h,
Weather: Sunny and humid, Temp: 19-28°C
Mosquito Bites: 80, Hills walked: 0, Smelly farms: quite a few
Road Conditions: Mostly county roads, chiefly: Grey #3, gravel shoulder, good road surface, deserted and Wellington #7, 0.5m paved shoulder, good surface, traffic light-ish but fast with some big-rigs. Plenty of food stops. Ascent: 500m/500m.

Those who know me know that the 4th August is always a quiet and reflective day. So it was fitting that during the morning I had a suitably deserted country road on which to quietly reflect…

Farming scene

I moved one (parallel) road across from the #10 I came into Hanover on, hoping for a quieter road going SE. The #3 was an excellent, smooth and deserted county road through pretty Ontario farmland. It was fantastic to ride on. It was another hot and humid one, though and I was soaked with sweat before 10am.

The deserted Grey county #3

The early part of the ride had a Germanic theme to it with the small towns of Carlsruhe, Neustadt and Moltke all close by. Around mid-morning I arrived in Harriston and found an excellent bakery that proclaimed to have been there since the 1870s. I feasted shamelessly on cakes!

South Saugeen River

The afternoon road wasn’t so quiet (Wellington #7) but it was OK. Looking at the map later I think I should have again chosen one road further over and came down on the #8 instead.

Farm and mailbox

As well as the mixed arable farming from yesterday, there was also plenty of livestock around including cattle, sheep (the first I’ve seen) and even some alpaca. Rather disagreeably, there were many indoor “intensive farming” units (chickens or pigs?). These certainly had a very strong “country odour”, accentuated further by the summer heat no doubt!

Corn and the blue sky

Approaching my destination Guelph (pronounced Gwelf), a large city of 120,000 people, I was keen to cross the city avoiding the main arterial roads. I plotted an alternative route in, but hit a snag when I encountered road-works and detour signs pointing back to a road I was trying to avoid!

I spoke to a nice lady (Barb) at the construction site as she was setting up signage. It was a lucky encounter. She directed through the first closed section and told me about a turning for a good bike trail! I found the turning and I had a glorious 4km ride through cool and shady woodland by the side of the river, right into the city parkland area! Nice.

Nice woodland bike trail into the city of Guelph