Save the date: our man Bruce Wilson will put on the Mills Tour on Saturday July 24th. This is a historical tour of southern Ontario mills, so it’s a bit more informative than our regular rides, connected by some great back roads. The ride is suitable for all size bikes, must be street legal. The ride starts somewhere near Guelph ( likely at the Mohawk Inn). And goes North towards Collingwood/Flesherton area. More details will be posted closer to the ride. Michel
I've been reviewing the ride, originally scheduled for 2019, and I've made a few modifications that might suit a broader array of riders. This isn't a hardcore ride. It could even be done on a street bike, if it was gravel-friendly. It's meant to be a different take on the roads we ride by going back in time to see how it all was opened up. I'm no Historian, but it's quite interesting to imagine how the Niagara Escarpment north of Hwy. 7, became populated and developed. There's going to be two start points. The first is in Acton at 8:30 a.m. Details forthcoming. There's 3 visits in that first leg. The next start point is in Primrose at 10:15 for the late risers and those that are in the GTA or east. Here's a pic to give you a flavour of what all is going to be taken in. It's an original mill wheel. The theme of the ride is to visit all the Mills that were built by the family Plewes. They established mills from Thorold to Collingwood. And we're going to see a lot of them. I don't think I'm going to have a routing ready for this coming weekend, so you'll have to get yourself to one of the start points to join in. We'll be stopping frequently to visit different sites. It's a full day, but only about 250 km start to finish. If you're feeling like you need a riddle or two, the finish isn't where you started but we're starting where we will all wind up. More in the coming days. Bruce
I need to stop posting these pictures! I need to get onto routing for Saturday. HONESTLY...we may need to postpone due to inclement weather, it looks like. I'll decide on Friday, okay? Stand by. Bruce
Let's do this! First start point: parking lot between 21 and 44 Knox Street, Acton. Kickstands up at 8:30. Second rendezvous point: 10:15 at one of the burger joints in Primrose (intersection of Hwys 10 and 89 and County Road 19). Bruce
Well, I certainly didn't expect to see 120 riders out. And I wasn't surprised. There were 3 of us...thanks to Lee and Olivo. (And we had three different starting points!). I left Acton at 8:26, with no one else having arrived in time for a tour of the cemetery. I went to each of the next three stops, which meant Erin, which is where I met up with Lee who was on the previous edition of the Tour in 2019. We were soon off to Primrose to rendezvous with Olivo for a coffee. Chef, that was us passing your farm and honking! From Primrose we went up to Hornings Mills to the remains of that mill. Then to Glandore on the west side of Hwy 124, then across through the Garden of Eden to Dunedin where there are many signs of the old mill. We lunched in Creemore (Saturday is Farmer's Market Day, so grab something there or a pre-made sandwich at the grocery store and go to the park at the south end of the main street. After lunch to Glen Huron...and if you haven't see the massive waterfall behind Hamilton Bros. lumberyard, you are missing something. We went up to Duntroon but had to re-jig the route as the way to Osler is blocked by construction. We crossed to the Beaver Valley on 31 and the various townlines to windup in Kimberley, at the Grist Mill. Thanks to Lee for navigating. He seems to know all the good roads around there. It was really raining at that point, so we finished the whole tour by ascending Graham's Hill up to the Vandeleur Cemetery in Flesherton. I was back in Guelph by 3:30. Awesome ride, well rinsed gloves, and we're finally back to organized rides! Bruce
Thanks To Bruce for coming up with this ride and carrying through with all the stops alone - he didn't know I would be waiting in Erin - so it was a surprise for both of us when we met up at the mill in Erin! This ride has history and meaning and since it crosses much terrain that has many technical trails and scenic gravel routes I think in the future it could have an aggressive route and a big bike route. We had a good day, my ride was just about 285km. My leather gloves and my boots are still wet from the ride home - the first half was great - the technical descent we did was challenging with large cobbles, clay and washout avoidance. Stunningly beautiful views and forested remote twisty gravel roads make it lots of fun this close to home. Also thanks to Olivo for the coffee and companion riding - he was on the big BMW and kept our backs the whole way.
I wish I had the time to make it out for this one, I really enjoy local (Ontario) history and it sounds like you guys had a great time as a small group. Maybe you'll host this one again Bruce?
