One of the drawbacks of living downtown-ish and not owning a car, is not having the opportunity to just jump in the car and hit the open road. So when GO Transit expanded it's train route from Toronto and added a Niagara Falls stop on weekends and holidays last summer, my better half and I jumped at the chance to get out of the city for a few day trips with some friends. We would bike down to Union Station and take the 9:30am train, place our bikes in one of the train cabs and take in the sights through the window. The train was never too crowded. Once arriving at the Niagara Falls train stop, we simply hopped on the bikes and rode the 25 km trail north along the Niagara River to the quaintness that is Niagara-On-The-Lake. This trail is in the opposite direction of the Falls, which I'd seen enough times and it simply doesn't have the same effect on me as it does on the tourists.
The best part about the trip is the series of wineries along the trail. Our pattern involved riding for about an hour and then once reaching the wineries area, stopping every 20 minutes for a glass of vino and then continuing on. On our route we stopped by Riverview Cellars, Inniskillin, and Reif Estate. The town has other big wineries such as Jackson-Triggs, Stratus and Peller. Further west, past St.Catherines you have Tawse, Hillebrand, Cave Springs and countless other smaller estates equally as good, but unfortunately it is just too out of the way by bike. On the first trip, we simply sampled too much wine and almost resulted in missing the train on the way back, because we had to race for about 2 hours against the wind direction. So I advise against hitting the bottle too early in the trip. I'm not a daily bike commuter, infact I was afraid the hills might prove too much for me, but the trail is pretty even and my 3-speed cruiser performed just fine. The air is fresh and the greenery very pretty to take in, not to mention the gorgeous houses with their pristinely sculpted lawns. Also, the folks here love to take their fancy cars out and often, beautiful vintage convertibles passed us by. At one point we took a break and walked around the Butterfly Conservatory. These are not shy insects.
