Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Pat's Douro Ride August 26 2009

























































































































Pat Towns with the help of Bob Prole & Fred Borgman led 12 Dudes on this 41 km ride thru Douro Twp. We met at the Beavermeade parking lot but the trail was closed for the Wakeboard event , so we headed up Ashburnham Dr to the Trent-Severn Canal office building & accessed the trail from there. Cycled to Trent, 1st photo, then on the new path to Armour Rd & the pedestrian bridge to Nassau Rd. Rode east on Nassau where there are a few short uphill climbs, photos 2 & 3, to Cty Rd 4 (Warsaw Rd). Rode east 1 km on Cty Rd 4 to the Old Douro Rd, 4th photo, & east into Douro,photos 5&6 taken at PG Towns Store. In Douro we turned south (right) at the intersection on to the Douro 4th Line to Cooney Island Rd on which we turned left (east), 7th photo of Ken Powell, to the Indian R.The road ends here on private property but we walked the bikes over the dam to the east side of the river.The owner has a hydro turbine that generates power for a sawmill but it was closed. See photos 8,9,10,11, note the unique scarecrow head (skull-left click to enlarge). From there we cycled east on the rather rough Cooney Is Rd East,12th photo, to the Douro 2nd Line. Rode south on the 2nd to Division Rd, 13th photo, then west on Division Rd to the Douro 7th Line. There we split into 2 groups with Pat leading a small group north on 7 crossing Cty Rd 4 on to Nassau Rd, returning to the Rotary Trail. Fred led the main group south on 7 to the Old Norwood Rd & west on it (photos 14 &15) to Cty Rd 35 (Television Rd).Then south on 35 for 1 km to Maniece Ave which passes beside Liftlock Golfland to Ashburnhan Dr & Bevermeade. Enjoyed lunch at the Porch & Pint. It had been raining before the ride but as can be seen in the photos it cleared so we had an ideal sunny day for the ride & the gravel roads had time to dry. There was some discussion that the hills on the Old Norwood Rd were the most difficult of any route this year, but the consensus was that the Rice Lk ride was tops for hill climbs. My wife could have easily done this ride so that's my main criteria for a reaonable route.However we agreed that the hills on the Old Norwood Rd while not extreme are probably near the limit for a Dudes ride. Our thanks to Pat for giving us the opportunity to cycle in this scenic & remote area of Douro Twp that only a local lad would know. This route has the added bonus of being accessible from the Rotary Trail.