"The prettiest Sunday drive in the world" ~ Winston Churchill 1944 - on driving (or biking) down the Niagara Parkway. 

I spent the weekend in beautiful Niagara On The Lake, on a little getaway. This is a favourite spot of mine to spend the weekend and take in the wineries, restaurants, theatre and overall quaintness of this beautiful spot in our province. We tried to get a wee bit more active this time a took a leisurely bike ride down the Niagara Parkway from Niagara On The Lake down to Queenston. Our hotel (The Oban Inn) had bikes to rent, so we didn't have to bring our own bikes down. If you're a road biker...NOTL is THE spot to bring your bike down for a ride. The roads are smooth and perfect for riding. Who doesn't want to bike through vineyards without the airfare to Provence? 

We started our ride around 9 a.m. from the Oban through the side streets of NOTL to meet up with Queen's Parade. From Queens Parade were took a short detour through the historical Commons - now popular as an outdoor concert venue and came out right by my favourite vineyard, Two Sisters.  Incidentally 'Live with Kelly and Ryan' were there later in day doing a little shooting for their show which is in Niagara Falls this week. Can't believe I missed them (their loss, right? We continued down the beautiful bike path along the Niagara River which is absolutely picture perfect. You're sandwiched between vineyards,  fruit stands and lovely homes on one side, and of course the Niagara River on the other.  Since we left early, it was fairly quiet and not crowed at all. I can imagine that later on in the day you would definitely have more bike traffic. We decided to head back just short of the town of Queenstown. We had already biked about 12 kilometres down, so another 12 back would leave us just shy of a 25 k morning ride, clocking in at about 2 hours....which includes the stop at Balzacs for a quick cold brew in a cone (I earned it).

P.S. This is first in a (semi-regular) series of fun things to do with your partner within two hours of Toronto!!!