The day started with breakfast on the patio at the hotel where we ate dinner last night. The portions were generous and I ended up taking some sausages and apple slices with me for snacking. It was our longest distance day of the three (95km), but, it was almost 9:30 by the time we were on the road as the restaurant didn’t open until 8, and there weren’t any alternatives.

Jackson Point’s streets were quiet and tree lined.

There was a mural and a couple ice cream shops on the main street.

Lake Drive out of Jackson Point was the most lovely 12km of the entire circumnavigation, with generally unobstructed views over the lake on our right, as the road was close to the water, with cottages only on the left side. Many cottages had private beaches on the right, across the road from their cottage, but there were no structures to obscure the view. People walked, cycled, and drove respectfully. It was beautiful. And many of the cottages are cottage in name only.





It was interesting how many street names we came across so far from Toronto that we normally associate with Toronto. The picture below is Leslie Street. It had a decent paved shoulder and wasn’t overly busy.

We had been travelling quite fast descending Leslie and had just started to lose momentum when we came across this speed trap.

It wasn’t long before we were in the very flat, very fertile farming area of Holland Marsh. I was surprised how far south we had to travel from the lake through the marsh before we were able to cross the Holland River just north of Holland Landing to begin heading north again.



We stopped in Bradford for lunch. Wayne suggested a Mexican restaurant which he had heard about on the news, whose owner had been attacked by anti-maskers. We agreed as we all felt it was important to support such an establishment. Unfortunately, the restaurant closes on Mondays.

It was very hot. We were very hungry. We tried a couple other places. One had no outdoor seating. Another didn’t open until the evening, although the owner came out to greet us and brought us cold bottled water. Finally, we ended up at Mr Sub and ate at the back of the building, the only place with a little shade, with milk crates for stools.

After leaving Bradford and flat Holland Marsh we had to climb. The 6km segment on Yonge Street was the most stressful of the entire three days – climbing, stiff headwind, very narrow shoulder, heavy traffic. The whole time I was very frustrated because the paving was relatively new, probably done since it became legal for bikes to travel on the shoulder. In many places there was a several centimeter drop from pavement to gravel. We are all confident cyclists, yet it was still stressful. And if one wants to circumnavigate Lake Simcoe by bike, something promoted by the municipality, it is necessary to ride here.

It was such a relief to leave Yonge Street for Line 10. Even though it had no shoulder, a moderate amount of cars for such a road, and a limit of 80, I could feel the stress fall away.

Innisfil is a very big place. We still had quite a ways to go when we passed this sign.

The heat was exhausting so when we got closer to the lake again Dayle suggested stopping when we found a public access point. Literally a few tens of metres later we found one. The refreshing dip kept us much more comfortable most of the rest of the way back to the car.


This was a fascinating example of filterer permeability: an urban planning concept that “filters out” through car traffic on selected streets to create a more attractive environment for walking and cycling.
Many of the local streets around the lake were crescents off the arterial roads. If one wanted to ride on them it would mean a lot longer distance constantly heading towards the water, riding parallel to it for a few hundred meters and then back to the arterial. Rince and repeat. But these two streets were connected by a recently completed active transportation only ramp, which replaced an older staircase, which I spotted on Google Streetview when planning the ride. Even carrying our bikes down a short staircase was worth it to stay on a local street near the water. We were pleasantly surprised to find this new ramp.



I couldn’t resist suggesting a stop for ice cream at Innisfil Beach.

Like many of the waterfront towns we passed over the three days there was lots of parkland and lovely paths near the water.

The beaches were fenced off for crowd control due to covid.

The descent from the 400 car pool lot on Day 1 meant we had a climb at the end. However, the ascent was not steep, and the road was lightly travelled.

We made it and we are still smiling.
I would definitely recommend this trip, with the caveat that one must be confident enough to tolerate 6km on Yonge Street and 8km on Highway 12 into Brechin.

The distances were:
Day 1 – 87 km
Day 2 – 92 km
Day 3 – 95 km
Total – 274 km
July 17, 2024 Update: A friend just did a one day circumnavigation of Lake Simcoe and one made a video blog of the experience. Check it out here.
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