Rice Lake Ramble Cycling Route

I can’t think of a nicer time of the year to enjoy nature’s changing colours than on a bike in October. Sunny, temperature of 13, moderate winds – but oh the hills! I’m in my senior year, so I take the hills slowly and don’t let them intimidate me.

This route begins at Lake Ontario with views of Rice Lake halfway along. Starting from the municipal parking lot on Albert Street (between Second Street and Division Street) in Cobourg, I headed east on County Road 2 to Brookside Road. Signs for the Ramble and Greenbelt Route (a provincial route Northumberland to Niagara) were well marked. A slight grade brought me to the Danforth and onto Hoskins Road – that’s where you find out what you are made of! Grazing cows in various colours, just like the trees, were everywhere along the Scotts Line, and corn fields still standing as far as the eye could see. Vehicle traffic was at a minimum and the peacefulness on the roads in Northumberland is next to nothing else I have experienced.

The best break I took was at Peter’s Woods – oh the glorious colours! It was nice to get off the bike and hike a bit – it is only .8 km round trip through the woods. Once back on the MacDonald Road I came to a lovely marsh to remind me of the natural glory of this part of the province.

At the north end of Macklin Road I came to the Alderville War Monument, commemorating the sacrifices made by the Alderville First Nation from the First World War onwards. There is a corner store where one can get some snacks, and across County Road 45 you immediately continue on to County Road 18 toward Harwood and Gores Landing. Although you compete with traffic, it was so sparse that riding in safety wasn’t an issue.

I stopped in at the Alderville Black Oak Savanna and took a picture of the standing Teepee, and walked a bit around the property. This natural area, bordering Rice Lake, has a globally significant tract of tall prairie grass – it is one of the last remaining habitats of prairie and savanna ecosystems.

The Harwood Fish Culture Station is open to the public and is where fish are artificially bred to release for sport fishing and conservation. I passed this by and continued westbound taking in the views of Rice Lake and its many partially submerged drumlins (islands).  The lake is only 28 km long and 5 km wide, and views on the north side were bright with the changing colours of fall. 

At the County Road 15 stop sign, make sure you hang a right on Front Street taking you to the water’s edge where a plaque commemorating the mid 1800 Cobourg and Peterborough Railway sits. The rail line crossed from here to Hiawatha on a 4 kilometre line of wooden trestles. Apparently winters won as the railway no longer exists, but some of the hazardous trestle supports still do.

By Petra Hartwig