I've been told to post one of these for awhile. 3 of my Markham peeps and I did our version of "Ride the Highlands" over 4 days on the last weekend of July, with 3 nights at an Airbnb near Flinton.
I vowed not to touch any of the 400 series, so our outbound leg took us via the usual route to Port Perry, then 7A to 57, 31/Mount Horeb Rd, then 14 and 16 to 37 for Buckhorn. 36 onto the 507, where I caught what I've been told is an endangered species:
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One of our group has to ride out on his own later due to work stuff, this is us at the closed Chinese restaurant at the top of 507:
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Round of ice creams later, we are onto 503, then 118, and a detour on 648/Loop Rd, and down 10/Elephant Lake Rd. Elephant Lake Rd was as bumpy as I remembered it from 2 years ago, and I didn't enjoy it all that much. Fuel anxiety became a real thing when I decided against filling all thd way up at Flynns Corner. We then headed down 62 into Bancroft for a late lunch at Fiesta Flavors Mexican restaurant (
@PacoT don't have to make a trip out for this, it was meh).
A spirit final leg down 28 and 41 brought us to our accoms. Due to our meandering, our 4th member showed up only 1/2 hr or so after us. We headed out to the local Foodland to stock up for dinner, and got creative about how to transport firewood. I think that doubles Givi's stated cargo volume:
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The airbnb had serious issues the the septic smell making its way back up the pipes, but the BBQ worked fine, and I was hard at work over the grills:
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Next day we headed for Calabogie, going back up 41, then onto 71, 65, and 508, with me leading. The inevitable happened, I didn't turn onto 65, and lost the guys, and then they got lost and found the off-road stuff:
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Once I got back onto 65, I missed the turn onto 511, and got near the end of 508 before I decided I've gone to far and turned back. 71/65 were in great shape, but too much gravel were strewn in the corners to really have a good go. 511 was initially a bit bumpy, but the last 2/3 is freshly repaved, and you can be quite sporty on it. 16/South Levant Rd was skipped due to Google erroneously stating it was partially paved. We rv'd at Back Forty Artisan Cheese for lunch, food was excellent, but was an odd choice for bunch of lactose intolerants:
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After lunch, we did a version of the "Rideau Ridge" route from "Ride thd Highlands". 8/Westport Rd was decent fun, 36 was decent as well, but the eastern part of the figure of 8 loop was full of empty calories (straight roads), and should be skipped. The north/south portion of 509 was in bad shape, and we decided to skip the rest of it, even though it looked fun on paper.
We ended up having dinner at the Crossing Pub at Sharbot Lake (it was meh, but not a lot of options around). We ended our day visiting one of the guy's colleague at his cottage near Kaladar.
Next day, we headed northeast. Up 41, west on 28, then up 514, then 515 to Foymount. We couldn't find the highest point in Ont signage:
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We all agreed 514/515 were the best (for sporty riding) of all the roads we rode this trip. They were in very good condition, and had lots of fast left-right complexes that were a blast.
Heard a lot about Granary Schnitzel House in Eganville, so east on 512 to check out the hype. Food was fine, nothing special, but no one in there besides us were under 75. Watching seniors trying to park for 15 mins and still end up taking up 2 spots and sideways is frightening really:
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After that, we headed west on 62, onto Old Barry's Bay Rd (much more fun than I remembered, and good pavement). East on 68/Rockingham Rd, and because we liked it so much the 1st run up, we went down 515/514 again (it's more fun going downhill).
Initially, we planned to go back to Calabogie for dinner, but hit rain going south/east on 28, and parked up in Denbigh to wait it out. We decided it was dumb to chase the rain, and decided to head to Bancroft for dinner instead. A spirited sprint down 28 was "needed" because we want to get back to base before sundown.
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The braised beef ravioli at The Granite in Bancroft was absolutely deliciously, followed by another spirited sprint back east on 28 and south on 41 to make it back at sundown. Kudos to a red Subaru Crosstrek (?) that was doing 160-180 the whole way down 41, so that I we can pace him and not worry about wildlife or LE.
On our inbound leg home, rain was supposed to hit, but we still wanted to make the most of the mileage, so we headed home via 41 north, then west on 28 (lots of cottage traffic for a Monday). I showed the guys Lower Faraday Rd (in good shape), and then onto 504. There was a 2km section in the middle that was atrocious (even for GTA roads), but rest of it was fair to good (and fun to ride). We stopped at Woody's for lunch. I discovered that a 3 meat platter is not ideal for riding:
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We headed south on 28, then 36 to Buckhorn, from there just a reverse of our outbound leg. Stopped at the Port Perry Tim's to wait out the rain that finally showed up. Ended our trip at the coin wash at Bur Oak and 48 to wash off the bugs and dirt, where I discovered a nail in my rear tire...
The helmet looks very familiar...