Whats a good scenic / twisty route from Toronto to Ottawa?

Ye I am counting on a solid 8 hours. The bike is a bandit 1200 with a back rest on the top case. There is lots of space for two people. Longest ride we did so far was 500km which took about 8 hours. She passed out for a bit on the slab on the way home.

inreb said:

When travelling/touring you shouldn't be speeding more than 20%. That's a rule I just made up for everybody to follow. Enjoy.

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Pretty much agree, but that doesn't stop some cops from wanting to annoy/target people. The limit on HWY 35 is 80km/h, but people have been pulled over for doing 90km/h. Most days 90km/h will hold up traffic, which just shows how dumb some of our present limits are (much like 100km/h on the 401).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not really condoning 'speeding', I'm just always wary of some heavily patrolled routes considering what our limits are current set at vs the speed everyone drives on that section of road. More scenic or not, a more northern route where you are stuck at 60-80km/h for hours is going to wear on you...a lot.

jc100 said:

A lot of the 509 is good too if you can fit that in. Ompah etc.

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Definitely agree. The roads just west and northwest of Calabogie are well worth exploring. A few years ago I took a 9hr ride from Ottawa to Toronto and it was amazing compared to the soul sucking, mind numbing drone that is the 401.

The roads below are just taken from the sticky in this forum. There's also other roads in the map in my signature at the bottom.

Barry's Bay area roads: There are also some nice roads up near Barry's Bay and to the south/east. Some of these roads may be less technical than those previously mentioned, but there is far less traffic up this way and the scenery can be quite breathtaking.
Old Barry's Bay Road - this runs between Barry's Bay and Combermere while staying off the less interesting Hwy 62.
Siberia/Kartuzy Road - This is a road that is called Dunn St in Barry's Bay, and if followed to Siberia Road and then to Kartuzy Road, follows a hilly scenic ride leading to Kamaniskeg Lake Rd. There are some decent curves and little other traffic. Pay attention to making the correct road changes and you will be rewarded with a nice route along a lake.
Opeongo Road - a nice backroad to get from Barry's Bay over to Foymount and the Hwy512
Hwy's #512 and #515 - travels between Combermere and Eganville. Good pavement and scenery with nice curves.
Barry's Bay area route: this is a shorter route including all the Barry's Bay roads mentioned above. There are many other smaller back roads in this area worth exploring.

Calabogie Area - Renfrew / Lanark County roads - asides from the track, there are some really great roads to check out in this area. It will make for a long day coming from the GTA, but it's well worth it at least once a year.
Hwy #511 - a great road with little traffic and fast sweepers throughout.
Hwy #508 - there is some excellent cornering on this road and breathtaking scenery. While you can take this road east all the way to the TransCanadaHwy, the best curvy section is west of Calabogie.
Hwy #509 / Buckshot Lake Rd - more excellent roads with some great twisty sections and amazing scenery. This can taken all the way from Hwy7 in the south to the Denbigh area in the north
Flinton Rd - If you are travelling along Hwy7 or in the area, this is a fun stretch worth checking out.
Calabogie Area Route: while the main roads listed above are included in this route, there are so many more in this area worth checking out.

Also, if you're heading to Ottawa on a more southerly route Kingston to Westport on highway 10 is pretty good, nice places in Westport to eat, then take Bollingbrooke Rd to Highway 7 and you can also continue north to Calabogie from there. Bollingbrooke is an excellent Rd in parts...very twisty.

You could do the roads north of hwy 7 from toronto to ottawa, and then the roads south of hwy 7 on your way back to toronto.

A road I really liked that I have never seen mentioned here is Wagarville road. It goes from Parnham to Tamworth and it's about 35 kms of twisty riding with almost no traffic, it's name changes from Wagarville to Fifth Lake then to Mountain Rd but it's the same road. https://goo.gl/maps/4K7TH

danp said:

You could do the roads north of hwy 7 from toronto to ottawa, and then the roads south of hwy 7 on your way back to toronto.

A road I really liked that I have never seen mentioned here is Wagarville road. It goes from Parnham to Tamworth and it's about 35 kms of twisty riding with almost no traffic, it's name changes from Wagarville to Fifth Lake then to Mountain Rd but it's the same road. https://goo.gl/maps/4K7TH

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Thats a great road too. Once in Tamworth take the road due north...bumpy in parts and a little sand here and there but absolutely amazing. Takes you to highway 7.

We ended up doing the trip this weekend. Saturday was really nice weather and we made it all the way to Ottawa before the rain hit. My favorite roads on the way there were 28 after Bancroft. 71 from Griffith to 65 to 508. this section is bananas, I kept yelling Calabogie Wooo Whooo inside my helmet.

On the way back we took hwy 7 until 509. Than 509 to 506 and then down 41 back to hwy 7. I like hwy 509 it was pretty cool and remote. But 65 / 508 has better twisties in my opinion.

From Madoc down to Toronto it started raining, and then pouring. I also managed to get lost on the way home. 3.5 hours in pouring rain and less than 10 degrees out was pretty hard. Our rain gear was good for the first few hours but in the last hour the water leaked through. I also gotta get my self some waterproof gloves.

My girlfriend is a trooper, she didnt complain the entire time

Kinda did the reverse today. Rode from St Kitts to Peterborough. Dodging rain unsuccessfully.

From Peterborough, took 23 to the 507/503. Then 118 to the 28. Then 41 to the 132. And finally the 17/417 to my hotel in Ottawa. 670 Kms. Hopefully it doesn't rain on the way to the golf course tomorrow in Cantley QC. Have a work thingy.