Blue Mountains and Beaver Valley

The steepest ground in Ontario above Georgian Bay, and a valley road beneath it that almost nobody uses.

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Why this ride

A one-way ride of 118 km, Collingwood to Markdale - roughly 2 h 16 in the saddle. It goes by way of Blue Mountains, Kimberley and Eugenia. The line favours views over speed.

Roadbook

1. Collingwood start

   Collingwood is where the day begins.

2. Blue Mountains scenic

   The Blue Mountains are not mountains, but they are the nearest thing southern Ontario has, a section of the Niagara Escarpment that rises abruptly from the shore of Georgian Bay to give you real hills, real ski slopes and a view across the water to the far shore. The name comes from the way the ridge looks from the lake on a hazy day, and the ski resort at its foot has made the district famous across the province. Collingwood, a former shipbuilding town on the bay, sits to the east and is the place most people use as a base.

   The escarpment here is a more dramatic ridge than farther south. It is formed of limestone and dolomite over softer shale, and the face has been broken into caves, crevices and boulder fields, some of which you can visit at the Scenic Caves. Orchards cover the lower slopes, and the Georgian Bay climate, tempered by the cold, deep water, suits apples and pears better than most of Ontario. In late summer and autumn there are farm stands and cider mills all along the road, and a trail of apple pie places that locals take seriously.

   For riders, the lanes that cross the escarpment climb in a few honest bends, with a long view across the bay from the top. Highway 26 runs fast and busy along the shore, and the side roads up into the hills are where you want to be, especially the ones that wander between the farms and the ski runs, with good surfaces and sensible gradients. Weekend traffic is heavy in the ski season and on holiday weekends, so a weekday morning is much better. Fog can roll in off the bay, particularly in spring and autumn, and the temperature at the top can be several degrees cooler than on the shore.

   Collingwood, eight kilometres away, has everything: fuel, restaurants, motels and a pleasant old main street. Wasaga Beach, to the south-east, has a famously long sandy beach and a lot of summer crowds. If you want a quiet end to the day, find a spot on the bay shore at sunset, when the whole bay turns pink and the wind drops, and watch the ridge go dark.

3. Kimberley scenic

   Kimberley is a hamlet in the Beaver Valley, a broad, steep-sided trench cut through the Niagara Escarpment by meltwater at the end of the Ice Age. The valley is the finest piece of country in this part of Ontario, with a flat, farmed floor, a slow river and walls of hardwood forest rising on either side. Orchards and sheep farms fill the bottom, and the ridges above are laced with the Bruce Trail, so walkers are a regular feature of the car parks. It is a place that rewards a slow pace, and it has attracted artists, potters and weekend escapers for decades.

   The road along the valley is the draw. It follows the river and the base of the escarpment, with a succession of easy bends and gentle rises, and then climbs out onto the plateau in a few tight pitches where the ridge forces it. There are good views from the lookouts along the rim, particularly in autumn, when the maples colour and the valley turns red, orange and gold. The surface is generally good, though there are patches of frost damage in spring, and farm machinery and slow tourists are the main hazards on weekends. A midweek ride in the first half of October is probably as good as southern Ontario gets.

   The valley feels like a place with a long memory. First Nations people lived and travelled through it for thousands of years, and the Neutral and Petun peoples farmed the surrounding country before European contact. The first settlers cleared the forest for farms in the nineteenth century, and the old stone and brick farmhouses along the road are the legacy. It is also ski country, with a few small hills that are popular for family skiing.

   Fuel needs planning. There is none in Kimberley itself, so fill up in Collingwood, or in Markdale, sixteen kilometres to the south, which is a small town with the basics. Meaford, on the bay to the north, is the other option and is a pleasant harbour town with a good waterfront. If you want food, the valley has a handful of cafes, bakeries and farm stands, but many close early or only open at weekends, so do not leave lunch until late afternoon.

4. Eugenia scenic

   Eugenia Falls is the star of this part of the escarpment, a thirty-metre plunge of the Beaver River over the edge of the dolomite into a gorge. It is a powerful, rather sudden piece of scenery in a country otherwise made of gentle farmland, and in spring, when the snow melts, the volume is impressive and the sound reaches you well before the view does. In a dry late summer it thins to a ribbon. Either way, the viewing platforms are a short walk from the car park, and the conservation area around it is tidy and well kept.

   The village is a small, quiet place with the usual scatter of old houses and a church. What makes it unusual is the lake behind the falls. In the early twentieth century the river was dammed to drive a hydroelectric station, creating Lake Eugenia, a long reservoir that now supports cottages and fishing. The generating station is one of those relics of the early Ontario power system, built when electricity was a novelty and the province was working out how to get it to the cities. There is a quiet pleasure in seeing a bit of old industry still operating on the edge of a village.

   The roads around here are some of the best of the region. Grey County roads run across the plateau and drop into the valley through a run of bends, with good views and sensible gradients, and the tarmac is often smooth. On weekends, the Beaver Valley attracts a lot of drivers and cyclists, so you will want to be on the road early; by midday the car parks at the falls are full. Watch for farm vehicles on the narrower roads, and for horse-drawn buggies, which you will see in the farming country nearby.

   Fuel is another matter. Eugenia has none, and Markdale, about ten kilometres away, is the nearest town with services, though it is small, so check your gauge. Flesherton, a little to the north-east, is another place to try. Collingwood and Meaford are much larger and further. Bring some food or plan to eat in Markdale or Flesherton, because the village has little beyond the falls. October brings colour, but spring, with the water high and the woods still bare, is just as good for the falls themselves.

5. Flesherton finish

   Back at Flesherton. That is the ride.

Where this sits

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