Starting out early on September 4, hours before another summer would be a distant memory, we were determined to bike as far today as possible. Since the weather was agreeable, and the western ride along the waterfront trail is a fairly easy one, I didn’t expect any difficulty with this. 
Passing through familiar parks I’ve recorded and blogged before meant more time for traveling and less for stopping to take pictures. Some familiar sites were the Beaches (Ashbridge’s Bay, Tommy Thompson and Cherry Beach), through Old Toronto (Exhibition Place, Humber Bay Parks) to New Toronto (Colonel Samuel Smith and the stinky-in-summer “Marie Curtis Park”). The stink is caused by the Sewage Treatment Plant, which although is necessary, I am sure very much unwelcome by the neighbourhood. 
About a half hour west is the Lakefront Promenade Park near Port Credit. I waded into the fresh water at the bay inlet up to my shorts and splashed the cool water on my arms before continuing west to the Rattray Marsh Conservation Area in Clarkson. I didn’t want to stop to take many pictures here, partly because the scenery was familiar and because I had a dislike for the name of the park (I have been known to have pet-peeves with words). 
With a nice cool off and full stomach, I was concerned about the time lost in the day, as the darkness was over shadowing the sky, it would be just another few hours before we would have to stop. Heading south on Southdown Road west along Lakeshore Blvd to Oakville is a really pretty waterfront trail ride. Finally it was time to consider a final stop in Bronte where we went north to the Provincial Park. 
Bronte Creek is a Provincial “landlocked park” which means there’s no access to any public streets to get to it. It has a lot of parking, a lot of field space, and that means wide open areas for picnics, family dos and barbeques. 
There are a few cute trails like one of which are probably endearing to children like the fairies trail. We saw the Children’s Petting Farm, but no children. Unfortunately at this point late in the day most everything was closing up. My favorite part here was the looking at the horses that were outside and allowed me to pet them. Not a horse-lover myself, I still found them quite beautiful. My fear of them came from being thrown off of one when I was young as the owner wasn’t taking into account that the horse had been straddled over the winter in the stalls, and he allowed people to sit on her in the dawn of spring. This is apparently why I was thrown. I think even then that they were making excuses and that it was very possible the animal sensed my fear. 
So that’s about it. It was a challenge getting here, but looking forward to the Go Train ride back from Bronte Go.
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Victoria Day - came back in May 2021 - - for a picnic with my hubby
Free Admission today!
