Ottawa-Toronto

If you need to travel from Ottawa to Toronto, you have a few options.

Highway 401 is definitely the fastest, but has little else to recommend it. It is dull, can suffer from lake-induced bad weather, and is busy enough to be tiring. On the other hand, there are plentiful gas and food stops. It's about a four-hour trip.

For something more interesting than Highway 401, Highway 7 is the "near straight line" route from Ottawa to Toronto. Car drivers tend to avoid it because it is two-lane most of the way and traffic can bunch up. But passing is less of a problem on a bike, and this is a good route. Relaxed, scenic, a few curves to enjoy, and frequent gas and rest stops. I recommend taking 7 as far as Peterborough, then heading South, either all the way to the 401 or to regional road 4. It's a four- or five- hour trip this way.

If you are mainly doing this trip to enjoy the ride and don't mind taking most of the day to do it, there is a series of secondary roads between Highways 7 and 401 that are much more interesting. It's not a straight line, however, and will increase your trip time to about seven hours.

Follow the instructions to go from Ottawa to Perth, then use the Perth-Kingston instructions to go as far as Westport.

Regional road 10 does a sharp right in Westport then stops at a T-intersection. Instead of turning left, as in the Perth-Kingston instructions, turn right. A hundred metres or so down, turn left to take road 12 out of Westport. In a few minutes this road does some wonderful twisting around the shore of Wolfe Lake. Be careful - there are a couple of blind decreasing-radius turns where running out of your lane will put you in the lake.

Stay on 12 as it turns into road 8 and follow it all the way to Godfrey, at the intersection with Highway 38.

Left (South) on 38. Stop for gas and rest in the town of Verona. Shortly after the town, turn right (West) onto road 7. Stay on this road as it turns into road 14, Shortly after you pass through the village of Enterprise, turn right at a 4-way intersection, to head North-West on road 4.

Stay on road 4 by turning left in the village of Tamworth. When you get to Highway 41, jog right (North) slightly and then proceed West on road 13 to Marlbank. Stay on 13 through Marlbank and Stoco. When you get to highway 37, jog right (North) slightly to Tweed.

Take road 38 West out of Tweed. Pass through the village of Crookston. At Highway 62, jog right (North) slightly then left to continue West on 38. Pass through Spring Brook and Pethericks Corners, to the town of Campbellford.

You want road 35 West out of Campbellford. For the first kilometre this is the same as Highway 30, so follow the Highway 30 North sign but watch for road 35 to split off and take that, left, West-bound.

Go to the end of road 35, then left (South) onto 25, then right (West) onto 24 to Roseneath. At Roseneath turn left (South) onto Highway 45, then, at Alderville, turn right (West) onto road 18. Go through Harwood and Gores Landing. Shortly after Gores Landing, turn right (West) onto road 9.

Stay on 9 all the way to Highway 115. You'll pass through Campbellcroft, Garden Hill, Elizabethville, Kendal, and Kirby. Jog left (South) on 115 then turn right (West) onto road 4. Road 4 will take you into the Eastern edge of metro Toronto, passing North of Whitby, Ajax, and Pickering.

If you are destined for the West side of Toronto, you can turn right (North) on Road 1, then left (West), at Brougham, onto Highway 7, which will turn into the 407 toll highway.