Cobourg to Kingston

KINGSTON -- Leaving Cobourg behind, I once again headed up through the Northumberland hills around the eastern end of Rice Lake.

I was reminded of my Granny Devlin's occasional visits from Northern Ireland. She always came in the fall so she could see the colours, the reds, yellow and oranges that make this part of southern Ontario and artist/photographer's dream every autumn.

It also brought to mind a photo taken by my high school friend Laurie, taken one October morning. I had a really nice lunch with Laurie and her daughter Steph before heading back on the road.

With almost no wind and even less traffic, I made good time to Hastings and on into the village of Stirling. I was headed to Belleville and a reunion with an old Sheridan College buddy.

Chris is the recently retired former city editor at the Belleville Intelligencer -- what a great name for a paper! He still has a column and is still stirring up trouble in this city of 95,000 on the shore of the beautiful Bay of Quinte.

Chris loves to afflict the comfortable in his written musings and was involved in a heated back-and-forth with a local politician who thought he had gone too far in one of his exchanges. As a long-time rugby player, he's used to the occasional knock in head and gives as good as he gets. Even his wife Sandi got in on the action and it was fun to hear them point out the thin-skinned pol's short-comings.

Sandi's a local girl from "The County" as Prince Edward county is known to the locals. That separates them from the "cit-iots" -- folks from Toronto and beyond who have flocked to the once unspoiled area around Picton and Bloomfield and flooded it with McMansion homes, twee crafty shoppes and bistros featuring $18 hamburgers!

When I left Belleville behind, heading along ON Hwy. 62 and then 23, I could see why Chris and Sandi are so fond of the area natural beauty and lakeside charm. Even with the influx of well-heeled interlopers trying to escape the city by bringing it with them!

A great bit of motorcycle road -- despite the rain that came and went throughout the day -- brought me to Dave's Roadhouse just in time for a tasty lunch of pulled pork on a bun and a pint of Loyalist Lager, a local beer crafted by Barley Days Brewery. 

After lunch, I continued on through United Empire Loyalist country to Picton and the MV Glenora, a free ferry across the bay that brought me to some beautiful beachside riding -- despite a quickening wind and steady drizzle.

I stopped at one point to walk out the kinks and heard the crash of the waves on the beach just meters from the road. I could imagine that it wouldn't take much more wind to bring the breakers onshore and across the road as Lake Ontario narrowed and became the great St. Lawrence River! Probably not so much fun for motorists on two wheels!

I left the last of the five Great Lakes behind and got into Kingston in time for a great fish-and-chip supper at the Pilot House, one of my all-time favourite resto-pubs and purveyor of some great local craft brews! Sadly I wasn't able to convince any of my local friends to join me.

I spent the night in this historic UEL town that boasts one of Canada's great universities. Mindy and I are giving serious thought to retiring here when she decides to quit working. The Pilot House is one of my major considerations!!

m having a lot of fun catching up with old pals in Ottawa at the moment. More on that in a later post.

In the meantime, please don't forget to consider a donation to the Ride for Sight. There's a safe, secure online donation site here.