Advertisement
Published: August 31st 2017
Edit Blog Post
Biking in the Kawartha Lakes Region of Ontario.
This route is not a rails to trails but the county roads are very lightly travelled even in summer.
The ride starts and ends at the
Kirkfield Lift Locks. The village of
KIRKFIELD is east of Orillia and North of Peterborough. From Kirkfield go north on
COUNTY ROAD 6 for 3.5 km to arrive at the Lift Locks.
The Kirkfield Lift Locks are the second highest in the world at 15 metres, surpassed only by the Peterborough Lift Locks at 19 metres. Boats are raised and lowered in huge “tanks” which use the weight of the water to raise and lower the boats. There is a large parking lot at the locks and sometimes, the charge $2.00 for all day parking. Other times the gate is open and parking is free. During the boating season, there are also flush toilets available.
1) This is
circular route so you can go in
either direction from the lift locks. The detailed directions below place the hardest part first with 3 sections of hard packed gravel and a few hills.
If you start in the opposite direction
(Talbot Road) it is a much easier ride if you don't want to do the entire circle. To the
park store and back is approx 28 km with only 1 slope and views of Balsam Lake. To the intersection of
road 48 and French Settlement R
oad would be 40 km return all on paved road and very flat!!
2) From the lift locks parking lot, continue north on county road 6 for a few kilometres. Turn
right on McNamee Road (hard packed gravel and good enough even for a street bicycle) Continue on McNamee Road until you reach Victoria Road (approximately 6 km.) At
Victoria Road, county road 35 (paved)
turn left and continue until you reach
NORTH MOUNTAIN ROAD (hard packed gravel) and
turn right. Starting here and for the next 15-20 km you will see lots of split cedar rail fences.
Continue on North Mountain Road until the first paved intersection which is
Bexley and approximately 15 km.
There are only a few houses at this intersection. Turn
left on to
COUNTY ROAD 41 and soon on the left you might see horses being trained at a circular track. County road 41 soon makes a
90 degree turn to the right.
After making the big right turn the road goes down a gradual hill and here you must be observant. Near the bottom of the hill, there is a hard packed gravel road (the last one) on the right called
BEX-LAX township line. Make sure that you
turn right. Now you have a short hill before arriving at a flat straight road with fields on both sides separated by split rail fences and if you have not seen any cattle yet, this is likely the best place to see a large herd. Near the end of this long straight stretch are metal fences and shade trees and I find that this a good place to stop for a drink and a snack (approximately 18 km so far)
Continue for approximately 2 km until you come to the first paved road and turn
right. This road is called
FRENCH SETTLEMENT ROAD.
French Settlement Road has a long downhill and steep uphill! Just past the uphill, you will come across a
DEER YARD on the right (it is signed) Stop here and wander around on the other side of the road to see the
effects of rain on the limestone surface. Distance travelled so far is about 25 km. Just past the deer yard, the road ends at
Highway 48. Thus ends the most scenic and most rural part of the ride.
Turn
right on to highway 48 for approximately ½ km. This will be the busiest road of the entire ride. Next turn
left on to
NORTH BAY DRIVE. North Bay Drive is a cottage/year round road with homes mostly on your right and
Balsam Lake on the left.
The road ends at
Balsam Lake Provincial Park with a gate blocking vehicle traffic but room for cyclists to get around. Just ahead is the beach with covered picnic areas and toilets. For a short distance, the road is pretty rough. Campsites will be on your left with the main campground on the right. You can take any of the roads on the right to enter the campground and use a
flush toilet. The road is blocked to vehicles at the end, but cyclists can get around to find themselves on
Balsam Lake Drive and the
Park Store on the right. Distance so far is about 32 km.
Part of this
road parallels Balsam Lake and there are some excellent examples of
dry stone fences. In the spring time, the dry stone fences are framed with the scent of lilac bushes. Along the way, there is a very small beach and a porta potty at
Blanchards Road. After 8 km you will come to a church and cemetery on the right and just past that is
highway 48 again. Turn
left on to
highway 48 for only a few hundred metres and then turn
right on to county road 35 (Victoria Road.) Go north on this road and through
Victoria Road (village with a few houses.) Just past Victoria Road turn
left on to Talbot River Road. This is another rural and scenic road. Talbot River Road ends at the
Kirkfield Lift Locks where you started.
Total distance covered is approximately
45 km.
For two shorter rides along this route see my blog entry
"Biking Kawartha Lakes near Peterborough, Ontario" 2010. Both of these routes start and end at the provincial park.
MORE PHOTOS BELOW ...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.214s; Tpl: 0.028s; cc: 15; qc: 31; dbt: 0.1331s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb