Ottawa and Quebec City got cancelled yesterday, so now we wait for the appointment at the dealer on Wednesday, but on the bright side, today we head down to spend a few days at the spectacular Niagara Falls. Ottawa and Quebec City or Niagara Falls, which one would you pick?

Friday 22nd August 2014

Cookstown Ontario to Niagara Falls, Ontario

Temps – mid 20’s, especially closer to Niagara Falls

Weather – initially dull and overcast, but clear blue sky on arrival Niagara Falls

Wind – light airs

Cloxs – no change (Z-4)

Distance today – 115 miles

Total Distance – 3,199 miles

Navigation

Other than having to suffer navigating through Toronto, this short 115 mile hop was easy, being motorway except about 3 miles. Biggest challenge was ensuring being in the correct lane for going under the frequent low bridges. Ontario sure doesn’t waste money providing excess clearance under the bridges, even on motorways.

One option today was the Toll Road in Toronto, for less than 10 miles, but checked their website and the cost would have been about $60 to $70, due to my heritage we set the GPS to avoid tolls. 

Departure Cookstown

One of the easiest departures from our wide open pull through site, and within about 5 mins of starting to move we were on the # 400 motorway, heading South.

Detailed Voyage to Campark Resort, Niagara Falls

With just a short hop down to Niagara Falls we were in no rush to get on the road this morning, so a leisurely start to the day was in order. Got the inside cleaned up and everything stowed, then outside to get the BBQ, chairs, table, etc in the basement or back of truck and got chatting with the couple behind us, who were also packing up. Probably spent about an hour chatting when we finally realised the time – 10:30 and we are supposed to vacate the site by 11:00. Oh well, social hour over it was back to work. Got the tanks dumped, slides in and hooked up all in short order, departing shortly after 11:00.

Within minutes we’re heading South on the # 400 motorway for the dreaded Toronto gridlock, but before even getting to the Toronto suburbs we have really low bridges to contend with. Shortly after getting on the # 400 we see the warning sign for a bridge with 4.2 m clearance, which I quickly estimate to be only 13′ 7″ or 13′ 8″ and as it is sloping, it’s considerably lower at the inside of the lane than the outside of the lane. As we are 13′ 4″ I prefer not to pass under any obstruction at 60 mph with only 3″ or 4″ clearance. Fortunately we managed to change to the centre lane, which had 4.4 m clearance, or about 14′. Anticipating more bridges before Toronto we stayed in the centre lane, which is the lane used by many of the trucks.

Having survived the bridges with air conditioners and satellite dish still in place, our next challenge was Toronto, which in the direction we headed was rather an anti-climax. The traffic slowed slightly at the # 400 to # 401 intersection, but at no time did we actually stop, however the same could not be said for the opposite direction. The # 401 East was a parking lot, nothing moving other than at a snail’s pace. Stayed on # 401 for about 4 miles then switched to the # 427 or Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), which takes us down to Niagara Falls.

Life is grand, we survived Toronto and were cruising down QEW at about 55 to 60 mph, in the inside lane and boom, yet another 4.2m bridge. Signal on to move into the middle lane and fortunately some nice chap let us and the semi following us out of the inside lane. I’ll never complain about the 4.4m bridge on the # 1 in the Fraser Valley again.

As we cleared Oakville the sky started clearing and the temperature increased, so by the time we arrived in Niagara Falls it was clear skies and temperatures in the mid 20’s. Once we hooked up we had to turn on the A/C, the first time since arriving in Ontario.