Night ride to the Falls



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Thread: Night ride to the Falls

  1. #1
    MacDoc's Avatar
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    Night ride to the Falls

    Lovely evenings coming up and here's a suggested route to see the lights at Niagara which are on til midnight.

    note to self - don't put the camera on the posts by the falls...there is this tremor.



    But Fearless looked the part. That close encounter didn't phase him a bit.




    Britannia West to Appleby, south to Side Road 4 which is the next right ( slippy in spots so go easy ),
    Left at the end of SR4 on Walkers to Side Road 1, go right towards the escarpment, nice ups and downs.
    Across Guelph line - gorgeous house on the left if you do this in daytime - it's sort of built right into the escarpment.
    Very hard left ( yes I mean hard ) at the top and follow that around by the golfcourse to Parkside in Waterdown - some nice twists.
    Get into Waterdown and head down Snake ( was pretty good tho we were cautious due to gravel reports ).
    Down Snake and stay left at the Y then along the edge of the 403 - first right take it down to Lakeshore Drive. ( there is a jog left then right)
    Lovely road busted up by too many stop signs....wonder why that is.?
    Lakeshore to QEW to Centennial - up to Ridge - lots of gravel on Ridge and it doesn't look accidental so go easy the first while.....
    As far along as you care to go, fantastic views early on, then drop down to some of the agricultural roads just below the escarpment - good pavement - lots of deer postings.
    Wander along til they run out and hit 8 through St. Catherines and get to Niagara on the Lake.
    Stay on the Niagara Parkway along the river - ( very sweet that late - no traffic and some decent sweeps ) - gawk at the Falls and then continue on the Parkway to Fort Erie but keep going til the Parkway ends.
    Go to Old Fort Erie and then right up the secondary highway to Ridgeway - hang a right at the lights on Ridge Road and once you get a little further along there is a stretch of very sweet twisties - nary a soul around at night. Elevation changes as well to nice ride along the ridge - used to be an old indigenes trail and the road just followed.
    Right at the end and hit the QEW home.

    Took us about 5 hours starting at just after 7 pm. circa 400 km.
    Last edited by MacDoc; 10-06-2011 at 08:16 AM.
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  2. #2
    fearlessbob's Avatar
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    Re: Night ride to the Falls

    That was a fun night indeed. Didn't realize there were so many twisties in this general area.

    And no, big, powerful, colorful lights don't faze me at all.
    Robert
    '02 Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird
    '91 BMW K1 (sold)


    The first point and click interface was a Smith & Wesson.

  3. #3
    MacDoc's Avatar
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    Re: Night ride to the Falls

    Nor could I shake him on the slick dirt road up the escarpment - damn that must be a handful CBR1100 on slippy dirt up and down fairly steep hills....

    Kudos


    We had fun again - 10 Sideroad and 32 and myriad others in between then some Snake in the other direction coming home.
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  4. #4
    fearlessbob's Avatar
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    Re: Night ride to the Falls

    That dirt road was OK (my early days of motorcycling were on dirt bikes, except the CBR doesn't have knobby tires...). Just have to clean the mud off my bike now. Quite a paradox: a muddied sportbike...

    That was another fun night, thru the backroads of Milton, Halton Hills, Flamborough, Puslinch and other hitherto unknown villages adorning the twisties.
    Robert
    '02 Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird
    '91 BMW K1 (sold)


    The first point and click interface was a Smith & Wesson.

  5. #5
    MacDoc's Avatar
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    Re: Night ride to the Falls

    Up in Kindardine today - bit boring roads offset by a stunning day.
    401 was a parking lot at Kitchener - anyone know what happened??

    Slipped north. Gonna loop around and the head south at some point

    3 deer crossed in front of us - luckily we were going amble speed

    Midday???
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  6. #6
    peterventure's Avatar
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    Re: Night ride to the Falls

    Sounds like a great ride! Did you have any deer run accross your parth.
    Do you know if you can park for free in Niagra Falls?
    Since I also live in Oakville, It sounds like a route I would like to take to the Falls.

  7. #7
    MacDoc's Avatar
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    Re: Night ride to the Falls

    •••

    We've not had any on the night rides except up by Campbelleville tho we were in prime area for it.
    But yesterday midday on a rural road three does ambled across the road. Was nice to see as they moved slow.
    And midday the day before we saw deer as well.

    Parking?

    We just pulled up by some flower pots and walked across the road
    Last edited by MacDoc; 10-10-2011 at 08:34 AM.
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  8. #8

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    Re: Night ride to the Falls

    Living in the area, I ride those roads alot. Gravel is common on Snake Road and Ridge Road - but I'm not so sure its on purpose. On both roads you get a lot of hikers and cyclists - and people park their cars on the side of the road, dragging the gravel back with them when they take off. So caution is always in order - and as well on Snake Road, Ridge Road and add into that Cedar Springs - you never know when you are going to come around a corner and find someone ambling across the road with their dog, or the spandex crowd pedalling 3 across. I'm not saying crawl - just leave yourself some wiggle room if you need to make mid-corner adjustments. Ridge Road not so much - but Snake Road has a couple of pretty blind corners and I've come across people standing in the middle of the road taking pictures - not really smart people, but people nontheless.

  9. #9

    Re: Night ride to the Falls

    Quote Originally Posted by MacDoc View Post
    Britannia West to Appleby, south to Side Road 4 which is the next right ( slippy in spots so go easy ),
    Left at the end of SR4 on Walkers to Side Road 1, go right towards the escarpment, nice ups and downs.
    Across Guelph line - gorgeous house on the left if you do this in daytime - it's sort of built right into the escarpment.
    Very hard left ( yes I mean hard ) at the top and follow that around by the golfcourse to Parkside in Waterdown - some nice twists.
    Get into Waterdown and head down Snake ( was pretty good tho we were cautious due to gravel reports ).
    Down Snake and stay left at the Y then along the edge of the 403 - first right take it down to Lakeshore Drive. ( there is a jog left then right)
    Lovely road busted up by too many stop signs....wonder why that is.?
    Lakeshore to QEW to Centennial - up to Ridge - lots of gravel on Ridge and it doesn't look accidental so go easy the first while.....
    As far along as you care to go, fantastic views early on, then drop down to some of the agricultural roads just below the escarpment - good pavement - lots of deer postings.
    Wander along til they run out and hit 8 through St. Catherines and get to Niagara on the Lake.
    Stay on the Niagara Parkway along the river - ( very sweet that late - no traffic and some decent sweeps ) - gawk at the Falls and then continue on the Parkway to Fort Erie but keep going til the Parkway ends.
    Go to Old Fort Erie and then right up the secondary highway to Ridgeway - hang a right at the lights on Ridge Road and once you get a little further along there is a stretch of very sweet twisties - nary a soul around at night. Elevation changes as well to nice ride along the ridge - used to be an old indigenes trail and the road just followed.
    Right at the end and hit the QEW home.

    Took us about 5 hours starting at just after 7 pm. circa 400 km.
    Sounds like a great ride. Thanks for sharing this!
    Can you map this on google maps?

  10. #10
    MacDoc's Avatar
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    Re: Night ride to the Falls

    Nope - that's your job
    I will correct anything tho -
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  11. #11

    Re: Night ride to the Falls

    lol! i tried..
    after a meticulous 30 minutes (back and fort between your directions and google maps) was fixing it to post here when the darn application froze..
    oh well.. first RIM's BB now MS PC... the ghost of Jobs strikes again

  12. #12
    MacDoc's Avatar
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    Re: Night ride to the Falls

    you should be saving your maps in between- email it to yourself.
    Google is not all that Mac friendly its a web app after all.
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