NOTL to Thorold, Ontario
What a great time we had at Pillittieri Winery yesterday. We ended up being there much longer than I thought, 3 hours! She just kept pouring the wine!! and of course we just kept drinking the wine!! She gave us some great deals and we made some purchases for us to pick up on Friday on our way home. We just better not forget about them. They will ship out to you too, I think free in parts of Ontario (depending on how much wine), and $30 out of province (e.g. Calgary) for up to one case of 12.
We rented an AirBnB on Mary Street. It was a nice little cottage with a nice backyard. It was about 10 minute walk to the historic town. The only thing we did was drive into the dowtown to pick up our pizza yesterday. Otherwise, we didn’t have any time to do any shopping or strolling. If we had, NOTL is a great place. Actually it holds the Best of the Best Popular Destinations in Canada award and is rated 7th of the top destinations for all of Canada.
Debbie and I took over the livingroom as it was also our bedroom (on the pull out). We could spread out to start packing for our cycle trip. We brought bacon, eggs, fruit, etc. and cooked our own breakfast before heading out.
Debbie brought her own e-bike and got it all packed up and ready to go at the house. We had to load our gear into the car – wow, how we going to get all that on our 5 bikes!!
We are all packed up and ready to go!! We were on our way by 11 a.m. Ben at Zoom Bike Rentals was so great – from months ago when I started chatting to him, to getting us set up on our bikes.
Check out our shirts! We found the bike (with wine bottle) on the internet, designed our logo quickly using Canva program. Debbie gave it to someone she knows and made our shirts. They were perfect. If you are looking to get shirts done, reach out to Bee Creative.
Our first stop was Silversmith Brewery. It is in Virgil which is just 4 kms from NOTL, and it is in an old church. We sat outside on the patio. It was so windy!!! We started checking the weather watch. Janet’s phone said “warning of squalls” – that is a new one. We had never heard that before. But it didn’t look like any rain coming so we were happy.
Our server was funny. He thought we were “6 pain in the asses” lol, and at the same time he told us we were the best!! We had a good time there. I had their signature flight of their Helles Lager, Nut Brown Ale, and their Black Lager. Yummy!!!!
Betty found a great place to have a little rest. The first 15 kms or so is on the road, so some of our group was nervous about this. From NOTL to Virgil we were on a shared multi-use path so this was good. We passed many wineries (Jackson Triggs, Stratus, Pillitierri) and they were all accessible by trail so easy to cycle to from NOTL. I might have to organize a “bike and wine” day trip with some friends one day!!
Ben at the bike shop gave us the most safe route from NOTL to Port Weller where we will get the cycle path. He told us not to take the first part of Lakeshore Road as it has no shoulder. So we went Hwy 55 to East West Line to Lakeshore Road.
and along the way was Shiny Apple Cidery. Debbie and I are members of Creekside Winery, which are partnered with Shiny Apple Cidery so we had complimentary tastings!
Shiny Apple Winery used to be Small Talk Winery and before that Stonechurch Winery. Often the Niagara wineries rebrand and rename. Some of our ciders that were our favorites were Mojito and Dark Berry. I loved their ice wine and the Merlot was nice. I left with a bottle of each!
Yay!! We made it to Port Weller and onto the cycle path. We had planned to go to the end of the pier to the light house in Port Weller and Sunset Beach, but when we checked the weather, in addition to the high winds (it was so windy!) there was a storm blowing in. Thank goodness we decided we had to keep going to get to our accommodations before the rain.
It is so nice cycling along the Welland Canal. We kicked up our e-bikes into Turbo so we could get to our B & B before the rain comes.
We passed by the Canal museum and viewing platform as it was starting to rain…..and we didn’t want to get stuck in the storm. So we get flying by using turbo power!
Part of the cycle trail is also the Bruce Trail and so it looked familiar as I have hiked this section about 10 years ago when I started that adventure with 5 friends. I like both hiking and cycling, but if I had to pick only one…..cycling wins!! In total we cycled 27 km today.
We arrived at Robinsong B & B. I booked this 6+ months ago, and had been in contact many times, but unfortunately there was an error and they were double booked for one night. We were to have all 3 rooms with private space and bath, but there was a couple from England in one of the rooms. The owner felt so bad. She offered to put 2 of us up in the Inn around the corner, only to find out that it was all booked up. So we made do. We suggested 2 of us sleep in the living room, and she brought a cot in. It wasn’t ideal…..but sometimes sh$@%t happens! We made the best of it.
We were happy that we got their before a major storm came through – it poured so hard!! Also there were tornado warnings for the area, so we kept our eyes and ears open. Then the sun came out and we found a place to sit outside.
We sat out in their tiki bar outside at poolside, after the storm came through. Cheers!! Too bad it wasn’t hotter out, as we would have gone in for a dip!
It is 5 o’clock somewhere!! Cheers to a great day!
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