Erie Shores

Loop from Windsor, Ontario

Erie Shores is a week-long bicycle tour first held in 2000. The ride is a loop that starts and ends in Windsor, Ontario, riding in southwestern Ontario's lake district.

Quiet Country Roads

Cyclists travel the shores of Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair, as well as the Thames and Detroit Rivers. It's mostly a farm district with quiet country roads on an old alluvial plain that is very flat.

  

Tour Itinerary

Explore by Bicycle

Leaving Windsor follow the shorelines of Lake. St. Clair and the Thames River to Chatham. From there, head north to Sarnia and the southernmost section of Lake Huron. Along the way you will pass through Petrolia, the town that started the oil industry in North America. During the week you will see many of those distinctive oil well pumps and some have been operating for more than 100 years. In lakeshore districts travel through long-established summer cottage neighborhoods as you roll past waterfront vistas. From Sarnia loop back to Chatham and then go south across Essex County to the shores of Lake Erie.

Tomatoes and Wine

Agriculture is the main industry through much of southwestern Ontario. Tomatoes are a major crop. Tobacco used to be big, but grapes for wine have moved into the agricultural limelight. Leamington is the main supply centre for tomato farms and the Big Tomato is the town's tourist attraction. You will have a chance to explore some of the local vineyards and wineries.

Underground Railroad

This area was a destination for the underground railway, the migration route for African-Americans escaping slavery. The man who was the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin lived in Dresden, a village north of Chatham. The Baptist church in Amherstburg, on the Detroit River, was a destination on the Underground Railroad and it now is a national historic site.

Gentle Terrain

Terrain is really easy on this trip. The biggest hills in Essex County are the freeway overpasses.