A 58 km loop out of Limehouse, climbing onto the escarpment in the first few kilometres, west across Nassagaweya to a bike shop and coffee bar in Arkell, just outside Guelph, then home on the Greenbelt Route.
Distance
58 km
Elevation
595 m
Ride time
2–3 hr
Difficulty
Moderate
The route
About this ride
Halton Hills does not ease you in, but it does put a bike shop and a coffee bar at the halfway mark.
The loop does not give you long to settle in. Within a couple of kilometres it turns onto Fourth Line and Glen Lawson Road and starts climbing off the creek onto the escarpment tableland. Once it levels out around 25 Side Road the character changes completely, and the middle of the ride is well surfaced rolling road heading west through Nassagaweya and into Puslinch Township. This is popular ground with local riders and we passed plenty of them, which is usually a good sign about a road.
Arkell is a small hamlet a few kilometres southeast of Guelph, settled in the 1830s by a group of English farming families, and the halfway stop is Flow State Bike Co on Arkell Road, a bike shop and coffee bar in the same building. The way back drops south onto the Greenbelt Route along 15 Side Road, then swings north on Fifth Line for the last climb up to Limehouse. That stretch was busier than we expected on the day, so if you would rather stay on the roads you already know, doubling back from the cafe the way you came makes an out and back of much the same length.
Stops along the way
5 of 5 showing
0 km · 11139 22 Side Road, Limehouse
Where we left the car. It is a small rural school right on the route, so the lot is empty at weekends and it is a straight roll west onto 22 Side Road to start. On a weekday, use the conservation area lot on Fifth Line instead and pick the route up from there.
Open in Maps →~2 to 8 km · Fourth Line and Glen Lawson Road
The climbing starts almost immediately. The route leaves the village, turns onto Fourth Line and then Glen Lawson Road, and works its way up off Black Creek onto the tableland, gaining most of the day's early metres in short punchy pieces rather than one long drag. Give yourself a kilometre of easy spinning before you get to it if you can.
~26 km · 599 Arkell Road, Arkell
The halfway stop and the reason to ride this loop. A bike shop and a coffee bar in one building on the corner in Arkell, with a full service department, coffee from Lost Aviator in Guelph and sandwiches made in house. Take the break. Listed hours are 8:30 to 6:30 on weekdays and 9 to 5 at weekends, worth a check before you set off.
Open in Maps →~39 to 54 km · Nassagaweya
The return leg drops onto 15 Side Road, part of the signed Greenbelt Route. We expected it to be calmer than it was on the day we rode it, so ride it on your own judgement.
58 km · 12169 Fifth Line, Limehouse
Two minutes from where you parked, and worth ten minutes at the end. Credit Valley Conservation looks after the old lime kilns, the powder house and a stretch of the Bruce Trail that drops through a rock fissure known as the Hole in the Wall. Free to park and free to walk in.
Open in Maps →From the ride
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