Outskirts
Day 4: Kingston
Day 4 End: 350km
The ride ended up being more front-end-loaded than expected. The last 60km came without a struggle, mostly on well paved roads and a lot of downhill. I ended up arriving in Kingston just before 2pm, keeping the 20km/hr through most of the trip. With the only cities on today's run being Bath and Amherstview, I arrived in Kingston with a hungry stomach, and headed for Harper's.
I'll do one more summary post about the bike ride.
Day 3: Brighton to picton
Wonderful B&B. Great homemade breakfast. Lunch in Wellington. The 40km bike until then will be the most tedious part of the day. Legs are oh so sore!
East and Main Bistro, Wellington, PEC
Funny how packed this restaurant is in a city of 1600 people. It is apparently the best in the area. I felt bad for getting beer instead of wine in wine country but how can you blame a biker? The fish and chips are not the usual. But they have character.
Slickers Icecream, bloomfield
Stocks hammered, legs burning. But at least there's good ice cream. Heard a lot of good things about this place. They're in Kingston too apparently.
Edwardian House B&B in Picton
Another wonderful B&B. The landlord gave it to me for $100 (instead of the usual $150) after announcing that I was a Queen's commerce student. The room is much more pleasant than the previous place, and the washroom is all mine! Both were great though, of course.
End Day 3: Picton - 275km
Ended today at around 2:30pm, which translates to a good 20km/hr. A relatively short ride, but a well needed break before tomorrow's sprint to Kingston. Prince Edward County is very scenic as promised, though drivers aren't as friendly to bikers here for some reason. Picton should hold some surprises in store as I have the rest of the day to wander. For those interested, my trip more or less follows the waterfront trail, which takes some detours to explore Lake Ontario and the neighbouring ports. Of course, while there are times when I just say "fuck it" I'm not going on dirt paths to see polluted water I do recommend this trail.
There's a nice site that has some commentary, though I haven't read it, that pretty much sums up my own trip (http://www.hedney.com/waterfront.htm). And there are these little waterfront trail stickers plastered around lakeshore rd. and whatnot to direct you
Final Night: Picton, Prince Edward County
This vacation of sorts comes down to an evening's stroll in downtown Picton. Toronto Life had recommended a restaurant "Harvest" a couple hundred metres off the strip, up and over a hill that I thought I'd check out. I lugged myself over, looking like a cripple in every way, when the restaurant had a "for sale" sign in the front. Another suggestion by Toronto Life, "Bean Counter Café" was worth a look especially since it furthered my anti-CMA agenda. The ice latte tasted like McDonalds. 0/2 Toronto Life! The coffee shop up the street, "Miss Lilly," was much better. It even poured a latte art not unlike my own banner.
Pending my "Harvest" disappointment, the next best thing was "Portabella." I do love portabello! I finally ordered the long-overdue Prince Edward County wine. It was good, says someone who could count the wines he's had with his fingers. The chicken was good too.
The food on this trip was in general satisfying, but nothing to rival even the common selections of Toronto (or Kingston, for that matter). In fact the closing down of Picton's best restaurants ("Harvest" and "Pinch") show very little demand for fine dining in wine country (how weird).
Bowmanville
No B&B's were to be found so had to stay at the holiday Inn, one of two 'hotels' in the city. At least I got via points. The breakfast was sad, as expected. And my legs are burning from yesterday.
Port Hope
Moving very slowly; the roads are terrible. Port Hope is beautiful but the actual port isn't for another 10km.
Day 2: Into the Countryside
Definitely out of the GTA now. No more red busses. A lot of yesterday's scenery was depressing. Oshawa in particular is reminiscent of hamilton. But today's ride is ever so scenic. Unfortunately, many of the roads are either unpaved or haven't been paved for a very long time. Port Hope is everything it is cracked up to be. It's like a smaller Kingston.
Zest bar and bistro
First decent food of the trip. Time for dessert.
Port hope cookies
Dreamers café has cookies as it's core competency. The other stuff is to fuel the afternoon bike ride I guess.
CF office in the middle of nowhere
Guess cobourg needs their wealth management too. Btw at $10 CF looks pretty good.
Oh so damn far to go
Colbourne chases bike into ditch
No pictures...it was a black dog though.
Colborne DOG chases bike into ditch
No pictures though...but the dog was black.
"The Gables" (Brighton's hidden gem)
This family-run house-turned-restaurant has been the culinary highlight of this trip so far. Having be so disappointed yesterday with lunch/dinner and the Holiday Inn breakfast (so much so with my steak in Bowmanville that I didn't dare post my dinner photos!) I was in for a pleasant awakening in Brighton. This restaurant was top-rated on both trip advisor and restaurantica, so I had to give it a shot. First impression was the similarity to Toronto's own Auberge du Pommier. In all fairness, what I ate was not very difficult to cook: the trout was well-seasoned, the veges were properly blanched, and the strudel gave away the family's heritage. This is as good as it gets out here. But tomorrow is wine-country. I'm sure "The Gables" will be outdone. (Oh, and the service was impeccable.)
