Oshawa to Guildwood by Bike
Durham Region Waterfront Trail
When I was on the train going west to visit Hamilton I was looking at the GO train map and wondered what was to the east of Toronto. Two days later I found myself on an early morning train from Union Station headed as far east as I could go. My friend Robert joined me along the way and together we went to the end of the line in Oshawa.
Robert described Oshawa as the Detroit of Ontario and he wasn’t wrong. The Go station is sandwiched between highway 401 and the main geographical feature of the town which is the GM car assembly plant. At one time the factory was one of the largest auto manufacturing facilities in the world at nearly a million square meters of land area but began closing in 2019 after 111 years of manufacturing in Oshawa.
I thought it was funny that the entrance to the GO station had a big sign for bicycle parking but the roads around the station were decidedly not bike friendly. We had to take a detour along the sidwalk the long way around the GM plant, passing quiet factory buildings and vacant lots with weeds growing in-between the pavement cracks to get to the waterfront trail.
Oshawa did not last long and then we were into Whitby, the next town over. Each town along the lake is about 10km apart so they don’t last long. They’re all connected by the waterfront trail which follows most of the coastline and is a leisurely cruise. We stopped in Ajax at a prominent folly on the hillside which turned out to be the site of the former Ajax water treatment plant. When the new water supply was built next door, the old one appears to have been torn down and turned into a small park on the hill.
Not much further along we had a good view looking west and could see the top of the CN tower in the distance. Interestingly, while the waterfront west of Toronto is mostly houses and private properties, nearly all of the Durham region to the east is public land with this nearly continuous waterfront trail. The only industry that blocked our path was Pickering nuclear power plant. The remaining detours inland were because of wetlands and harbours.
There are a also a lot of nice looking beaches along the lakeshore. I am still surprised by the clarity of the water in Lake Ontario and all of these beaches looked great to swim in. The breakwaters forming the entrance to harbours was both points of interest to see sailboats heading out onto the lake but also because some looked like great places to jump into the deeper water. Frenchman’s Bay in Pickering was the largest harbour and we also took a short break for some very tasty ice cream at a place called GarndDad’s Old Fashion Ice Cream which seems to be an old establishment.
The good beaches continued and we also crossed a number of cool bridges over some of the river outlets. One of my favourite places was the Rouge River which had a large beach and sandbar. Two bridges cross the river, one for the trains and one for the waterfront trail.
Another contender is Highland Creek which had three bridges but no beach.
We ended our ride at Guildwood GO station. This was another 50km ride but well worth it. I’m very glad that Robert was able to join me since he’s originally from Pickering and knew the area intimately and gave me what amounted to a guided tour.
