Long Point ON to Niagara Falls ON

Lake Erie

Long point is only wide enough for a row of houses on either side of the highway. Could hear the waves lapping against the shore when I woke up. Rode Ontario Highway 59 back to the mainland. Stopped outside Port Rowan for breakfast. No coffee shops on the point. Some retired guy rides up on a five speed and sits across the aisle with a couple of other retired guys. Says he's 80 but he looks 65. "I always take up a full lane when I ride. It's safer that way. The cars have to slow down to get around you. No sneaking by." My hero. "Riding coast to coast and you found Port Rowan." One of the other retired guys chimes in, "People can't even find it when they're looking for it."

It's hard to describe the route I took. I basically followed the shore for 70 miles. Haldimand-Norfolk Regional Roads 42 and 3 along what's called the Talbot Trail. Agricultural country. Rode one short segment that wasn't paved. Ravines along the way to break up the monotony. Cracks at the edge of the lake in the otherwise flat terrain. A few interesting small towns. Saw what appeared to be a steel mill in Nanticoke covering about a square mile of land. It was connected to its own port with a half mile long conveyor belt. The belt must have been running at 10 mph. Couldn't see what was on it but I saw an ore carrier docked at the end. It made for quite an impressive, ugly sight in the middle of all those farms. Down the road a bit there was a power plant, also with its own port but not on the same massive scale as the mill.

Three cottage communities in a row near the end of Regional Road 3. Some cottages with New York license plates parked in front. Crossed over into Niagara Region. (It's a region, not a county.) More cottages, camper corrals, and permanent homes. Just wandering around on the local roads, never too far from the lake. Hit the Welland Canal (the sea lamprey and zebra mussel highway) at Port Colborne and turned north, across the canal, then along the east side for a bit until the road disappeared into a restricted area. Snuck in to see if I could just ride through it. No luck. The paved town road turned into an unpaved access road. Saw the St. Lawrence Seaway Emergency Training Facility. There was an odd orange, fiberglass boat that almost looked like a submarine. A rescue craft no doubt. Capacity 22 but the thing is only half the size of a city bus, maybe smaller. I guess when you're being rescued it's standing room only.

Rode east, north, east, north, etc. until I reached the city of Niagara Falls. Don't really remember the names of the roads all too well. Chippawa Road (note the odd spelling), Second Concession Road, and others. It really doesn't matter. You can't get lost out here. All the roads basically run north-south or east-west and there are no geographical obstacles to maneuver around once you're east of the canal.

Found the motel I stayed in when I went through here last year. Last trip, I rode through on the Fourth of July. Better room rates in the middle of August and better exchange rates this year. Down to my last two loonies (dollar coins). Worked out the cash thing just right. Did most of my transactions with plastic as is recommended. The showers in this place are excellent. No low flow. It's like standing under Niagara Falls.