Day 66: Brockville to Lancaster (120.65 km)

As you can see from the photo we hit 5000 km today! For our efforts
we were treated to a very uncommon day of cycling for a trip of this
nature. For roughly half of today's ride we coasted comfortably on
some incredibly well maintained bike trails. It's not often that we
get off the highway let alone onto paved trails so you can imagine our
delight to be almost exclusively off-road from Morrisburg to the far
side of Cornwall.

Most of the trails we hit, like the one you see above, are a series of
local trails that have been connected under the Waterfront Trail
Project: a trail system that strives to parallel the waterfront from
St. Catherine's to the Ontario/Quebec border. Around the Toronto
area, Vanessa and I have poked fun at the system in the past. Because
of the density of development on the waterfront, more often than not
the "trail" tends to be a secondary highway or if you're lucky, a
paved shoulder on the stretch from Hamilton to Toronto.

Up here you can really see what they are striving for and the huge
benefit such a trail system can bring. Specifically around Cornwall,
but stretching back to Morrisburg as well, there is an almost unbroken
string of parkland on the water via the St. Lawrence Recreation Trail.
Around Cornwall the trail was packed with runners, commuters,
picnickers and cyclists. After one visit to the trails I'm much more
attracted to the city of Cornwall and I would imagine anyone hoping to
attract staff to the area for new business would be as well.

Tomorrow, at long last we will be leaving the gargantuan province of
Ontario. Tomorrow night we'll be rolling into Montreal and meeting
with at least one staff member of the Point Claire rehab centre and
then enjoying a day of rest with which to work on our French.