Lincoln to Paris: Winging It

October 23, 2016

I had decided to go down to the Waterfront Trail to be a bit sheltered from the wind and then climb the Niagara Escarpment on one of Hamilton's rail trails, but the waterfront seemed so unsatisfying for some reason. I have no idea why, but I wanted nothing to do with it.

At last, it's Lake Ontario! And Toronto in the distance.

So I turned left on Park, which was possibly the steepest road I could have chosen, and pushed my bicycle up the escarpment, to Ridge Road, which sounded promising.

And it was. Not only did I encounter, and even follow, the Greenbelt Route signs, there were also orchards and farms and trees and a ~~spectacular~~ view of Hamilton from above. Nobody could call Hamilton a pretty city, but it seems to be a progressive one, as it had bike lanes/routes throughout my two-hour traverse of the city. And I was choosing my route by periodically looking at a map and picking something direct. It worked out surprisingly well today, at least until Jerseyville Road, which was hilly.

I was on and off the Greenbelt Route the past two days. I don't have any info on it, but check into it if you plan to tour in the area.

Bike lane through suburban Hamilton--complete with door-opening lane!

Not much else to say, pretty much just checked my map and biked and went to Tim Horton's, which is a good source of hot chocolate on a windy fall day. The wind was relentless yet manageable without my panniers. Traffic was okay until I got close to Brantford; the road I took wasn't a good one.

The Davidson Motel in Paris wasn't a good one either, mostly because they didn't have anything they said they did. The wifi was too slow to use and they told me all about free Netflix, but it didn't work. It didn't have bugs and the hot water worked, so it was an acceptable place to stay, but I was not happy when I checked in and they told me they had already charged my credit card; not just a pre-auth, but the actual payment for the room. I wanted to pay cash, and what kind of shady motel charges your card before you even arrive and does it by manually punching your card number into the payment terminal?

Today's ride: 85 km (53 miles)
Total: 2,501 km (1,553 miles)

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