August 2: Brantford to Simcoe

August 2, 2021

A tunnel amongst rolling agricultural land

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Comfort Inn, $×

This was a hotel without any breakfast which is a first in a long time. Luckily there was a Timmies down the road so I walked down the street for a quick breakfast. I would have preferred a real restaurant but nothing was opening til 7 am. Having had a really early evening I was up really early and am raring to get going. The sun came up on my walk to Cochrane's own namesake restaurant, the sky is perfectly blue and cloudless and apparently there will be a slight tailwind breeze as the morning progresses. This should be a great cycling morning.

It was, indeed, an excellent day for cycling. I had to make my way around a bit of road and building construction, but soon was making my way to the south side of the city along very quiet streets. Where the rail-trail began was a beautiful city park with oodles of flowers and many monstrous trees. The grass was dewy and the early morning light reminded me why I cycle tour and why I like to head out early in the morning. It was breathtaking.

Like yesterday, there were quite a few cyclists, walkers and joggers but everyone gave everyone else all kinds of room. The route was another green tunnel which was almost night time dark the forest canopy was so thick. The route wound its way through more agricultural land that in many cases used to be fields of tobacco, but now had corn and other crops that I could not identify. Though the route was fairly level, the terrain around it had rolling hills, with the fields often having rows of hemlock, hickory, maple and oak. I am sure they were once planted as hedges, but many have now become towering trees. Apparently the hemlock tree can live for 400 to 600 years, though I am not sure there are any around that are that old.

Once I got to the halfway point, I entered Norfolk County. Immediately the trail went from paved path to packed gravel. The further I got the more 'wild' it got, though I could still certainly cycle along without a problem and there were still numerous road cyclists, too.

I made a slight detour to head to Waterford and I asked some women along the route if anything might be open, but they thought not. Small world, one of them used to live in Kapuskasing in the 1970s, and knows a number of the Eaton family members from Cochrane and Iroquois Falls. She also knows my former funeral service class-mate Brian Thompson who lives in Waterford.

The trail started to be less wild and by around 11 am I had arrived in Simcoe. I thought it was too early for my hotel so I went in search of a cafe for a cappuccino and sure enough found The Barrel where I had an excellent one. I sat and relaxed on the patio for a while then headed up the street to my hotel.

I asked them if they happened to have a room but was told no, and it might take an hour or two to be ready. I headed next door to get a bit of lunch and sat on the bench by the hotel to eat and type. After a total of an hour, out came the desk person to say my room was ready, she went inside to open up the patio door so I could enter directly with my bike, and voila... here I am.

I am told there is a music festival over in Wellington Park, and seeing as the day is so nice and I am here early, I will go and tentatively check it out. I certainly don't want to be near too many people.

As with the other photos of this park, this time I wanted to capture my Cannondale in this same morning glow. (Brantford, ON)

And then the tunnel started. I could almost hear the old trains from a century or more ago. It must have been a nice train ride. The path was paved until I came to the Norfolk County line when it changed to sometimes gravel, sometimes mud tracks through the grass and eventually paved when I passed through Waterford and Simcoe. (Just south of Brantford, ON)

Though there were a number of cyclists and pedestrians, for the most part I had the trail to myself. (South of Brantford, ON)

I always need a few pics of the bike. (South of Brantford, ON)

Fairchild Cemetery, an old family cemetery from back about 200 years ago on some early settlers' property. (South of Brantford, ON)

The rail-trail got 'pavey' as I approached Simcoe. (Simcoe, ON)

Today's ride: 48 km (30 miles)
Total: 134 km (83 miles)

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