Bewdley to Aurora was going to be following the Oak Ridges Moraine Trail and be about 140k. But the trail was such soft sand with constant steep climbs and careful descents, that it took me about four hours to do the first 34k to hwy 35. Much of the time I was ploughing rim deep through the sand in first gear at 5-10 kph. The trail was at least twice as sandy as when Hal and I rode it in 2020. A horse rider told me that there had been trail maintenance done to repair damage done by the summer’s heavy rain. So now smooth deep sand!
Also the trail head near Bewdley was very overgrown and an ORMT trail closure without any rerouting signage required finding an alternate way on atv trails.
My shoulder was hurting after the tough slog through Ganaraska.
Therefore, after exiting Ganaraska Forest, for the rest of the day I mostly took roads and a direct route to Aurora, finishing with 115km and 1,475m of climbing.
Tomorrow I do plan to follow the ORMT to Palgrave and then south to the Humber River trail and home!
My blogs from this 2,000km bikepacking trip and others are available at:
https://gregbikingwithoutborders.blog/
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https://instagram.com/gregbikingwithoutborders
http://www.bikeswithoutborders.org/ Please donate. For ~$100 we provide a repaired used bike, lock and helmet to a marginalized person, empowering them with mobility.
Happy Trails!
Greg Andre-Barrett
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