AROUND
LAKE ONTARIO
  On this short 6 day trip at the beginning of July 2008 I cycled around Lake Ontario in a courterclockwise direction. I stopped overnight in Niagara Falls, Rochester NY, Oswego NY, and Kingston ( 2 nights).
   I got soaked from Rochester to Oswego along what is the most scenic portion of the ride. It also rained on my day off in Kingston. The remaining 4 days were sunny,  hot and humid with favorable winds pushing me along from Burlington to Niagara Falls and from Youngstown to Cape Vincent. The only head winds I faced were at the beginning of the trip from Toronto to Burlington and on my final ride home from Kingston back to Toronto.
   In New York State, I followed THE SEAWAY TRAIL; a mostly flat, scenic network of quite rural roads often running along the waters edge. Except for the last 20km into Cape Vincent the roads were all in excellent condition with wide paved shoulders. The most interesting section was east of Rochester where the road and terrain twists and turns and rolls over gentle hills all the way to Cape Vincent.
   In Ontario I cycled mostly on HIGHWAY 2 which is also very flat with an occasional short climb here and there. Views of the lake are rare though. By comparison Hwy 2 - especially between Kingston and Brighton and Oshawa and TO - is awful; lots of traffic; bad surfaces with gravel shoulders or no shoulders at all.
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On the Niagara Peninsula I used the North Service Road of the QEW until the Welland Canal.  Its shoulders are now designated bike lanes. Again I encountered light traffic and excellent  road surfaces. There are many new bedroom communities springing up along this part of the Lake and as a result food and water are now readily available.
From home I took Kipling down to the Lakeshore and stayed on it until Burlington. I  was surprised by the lack of traffic and the good condition of the road surface.
At Port Weller there is an excellent Bike Path along the Welland Canal. I followed it until Queenston Road which I used to get to Queenston on the Niagara River.
WELLAND CANAL BIKE PATH
LAKESHORE ROAD
NORTH SERVICE ROAD - QEW
The only hill on my ride this day was on the way up to Queenston. Part way up you get your first  glimpse of the Niagara River. Itinerary
TO 2 Niagara Falls:        164km
NF 2 Rochester:             179km
Rochester 2 Oswego:     128km
Oswego 2 Kingston:       137km
Kingston 2 TO/Home:       279km
Total Distance: 887km
The Falls at Niagara Falls are always impressive no matter how many times I've seen them. The 24 hour Casinos make it possible to get a good breakfast very early in the morning for an early start to the next days ride.
NIAGARA RIVER QUEENSTON
NIAGARA FALLS
Between Youngstown and Rochester Hwy 18 runs right along the shores of Lake Ontario for long stretches. This is an extremelly flat, quiet route with very light traffic and few services.
This is a quaint little town across from Niagara On The Lake at the mouth of the Niagara River.
This Parkway seems to have been abandonned; no traffic; deteriorating concrete surface. Again it's a very flat route with no services but with excellent views of Lake Ontario.
SEAWAY TRAIL - Hwy 18
YOUNGSTOWN
LAKE ONTARIO STATE PARKWAY
SeaWayTrail ROUTE Maps
What was supposed to be an overcast day with the possibiliy of an occasional light shower turned into 4 hours of steady rain. I managed to find this place in Sodus where I spent an hour drying out and having a second late breakfast before continuing on towards Oswego.
Headquarters for Kodak, it also has a Tim Hortons!! I had trouble finding a room here because of a Jehovah Witness Convention.
NiagaraFalls 2 Rochester Rochester 2 Oswego
Oswego 2 Cape Vincent/Wolfe Island
I like this town. I was here last year with my brother having helped him motor his sail boat through the locks of the Canal system that connects New York City with Lake Ontario.
ROCHESTER - GENESEE RIVER
SODUS, WAYNE COUNTY
OSWEGO
After Sodus the rain eventually stopped about 20km from Oswego and the sun came out too!
Highway 3 east of Owego is an especially pretty stretch of road. This is a busier road than the previous portions of the Sea Way Trail but the wide paved shoulders make it very safe and pleasant.
Canadian Side ROUTE Maps
WolfeIsland/Kingston 2 Deseronto
Deseronto 2 Trenton
Trenton 2 Port Hope
PortHope2Bowmanville
Bowmanville2Toronto
Toronto2PortCredit
SEAWAY TRAIL- Hwy 104A PortCredit 2 Grimsby
Grimsby2NiagaraFalls SEAWAY TRAIL - Hwy 3
The crowds in front of the City Hall are watching street performers during  Kingstons annual Buskers Festival.
Got to Cape Vincent during their French Festival Weekend. Quite a lively, pretty little place In addition to this Ferry to Wolfe Island there is a second Ferry from the island to Kingston.
CAPE VINCENT
Cape Vincent 2 Wolfe Island FERRY
KINGSTON
There aren't many views of the Lake from Hwy 2 but this one just west of Cobourg was the best of them all!
This alternative to Hwy 2 between Deseronto and Shannonville was the most scenic portion of my ride back to TO.  It cuts through a Mohawk Indian Reserve. Hwy 2 east and west of here is very busy; in poor condition and with poor or non-existant shoulders.  A better route between Kingston and Brighton would have been via Hwy 33 going to Picton and then Hwy 1 on to Brighton.
YORK ROAD HIGHWAY 2 COBOURG
BELLEVILLE
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