A FRIDAY GETAWAY: CYCLING FROM BREWERY TO BREWERY ALONG THE ELORA CATARACT TRAILWAY
WORDS & PHOTOS BY CHRIS TIESSEN
Friday afternoons in the summertime are made for getting out of town: for leaving work early, hitting the open road, and – several hours later – arriving at some idyllic slice of Canadiana for a weekend of great food, cold drinks and, perhaps most importantly, time in nature with loved ones. In theory, at least. The reality tends to go a bit differently. Taking hours to pack the car. The awful traffic heading north. A cottage property that seems to demand more in upkeep than it returns in fun. I won’t even get into the stop-and-go Sunday drive back home. (Even mentioning the number ‘four hundred’ to the cottage set is a surefire way to trigger some residue of PTSD.)
And yet it doesn’t have to be like that. Consider this case study:
It’s early-ish June. Lunchtime on a Friday. And while our small but mighty crew hasn’t skipped out on work early (because, technically, this story has us on the clock), we’ve left behind any vestiges of our respective ‘offices’ to meet up for our own interpretation of hitting the open road, with great food and drinks, and wonderful slices of Canadiana all along the way. Today’s adventure: a fifty-kilometre bike ride along the Elora Cataract Trailway – a former railroad turned-multiuse trail that joins the picturesque town of Elora to the Forks of the Credit Provincial Park some fifty-odd kilometres away. Our itinerary: lunch and pints at Elora Brewing Co, and then cycling the Elora Cataract all the way to GoodLot Farm & Farmstead Brewing Co (located just a few kilometres from the other end of the rail trail) for dinner and pints. One promised land to the other. No Friday traffic.
Along for the ride: myself, of course, as well as my fiancée Liz (who manages The Friendly Society just a short stroll from Elora Brewing Co), my TOQUE Partner Cai, and our friend Lee (who’s an owner at Paramount Sports in Guelph). We all meet up on the patio at Elora Brewing for one o’clock to get this adventure underway. Let’s go there now.
‘I’ll grab a ‘Maxin’ Relaxin,’’ Cai lets our server, Rae (who happens to be Liz’s older sister), know when she pops by our table to see what we’re feeling. A session IPA. Lower ABV. A smart move – considering the ride ahead. ‘I’ll do the same,’ I tell Rae – mimicking Cai’s astute decision. ‘I’ll go for one of the guest taps,’ Lee pipes in, ‘the pilsner from Mascot Brewery.’ While Elora doesn’t usually feature product from other breweries (although it’s always got ciders, wines, and Willibald seltzers for the gluten-averse), we just happen to be here for the launch of Pilsfest – Elora Brewing’s annual festival that celebrates pilsners from breweries across Ontario. Sawdust City. Storm Stayed. True History. Henderson. Flux. The aforementioned Mascot. And GoodLot, too – where we hope to be a few hours from now. ‘I’ll stick with water,’ Liz tells her sister – making arguably the smartest decision of all.
To complement the brew, and provide energy for the ride, we order food too. Two pounds of wings. A dish of olives. Loaded fries. And a brie and prosciutto flatbread that’s most divine. While we’re enjoying our time on the patio (honestly, across the region there are very few better spots to be than Elora’s patio in the summer – if you can nab a table), brewery owner Jon Laurencic joins us to chat about the upcoming trek. ‘I wish I could come along,’ Jon remarks, ‘but Pilsfest calls.’ And we’d love to have him, too – although I’m sure that if Jon joined our little troupe, he and Lee (both seasoned cyclists) would put Liz, me, and even Cai (who’s on a pedal-assisted carbon e-bike from Flow State Bike Co) to shame. But while he can’t join us, Jon still provides us with two cents. ‘Be sure to stop at the country store in Belwood for butter tarts,’ he proclaims. ‘It’s located at the perfect spot along the route – right when you’ll want a ‘pick-me-up’ – and the tarts are to die for.’ A great photo-op, too, I think to myself.
By two-o’clock we’ve bid the Elora patio adieu and within minutes we’re at the trailhead (less than two kilometres from the brewery), located behind Elora Public School. And so the trip begins. Past Groves Memorial Community Hospital. Then through Fergus (via Garafraxa to Gzowski and then back onto the trail). Over the Belwood Dam. (Pro tip: be sure to take a quick stop in the middle of the dam for stunning views of the Grand River valley – a flyfishing mecca – below.) And into the tiny hamlet of Belwood proper (just over the Grand River, across the South Broadway Street bridge) for butter tarts. Two plain. Two Skor. One raisin. And one pecan. Fifteen bucks for six. A fantastic investment for the amount of joy these homemade morsels of heaven provide for each of us. ‘Just over thirty kilometres to go,’ Cai pronounces as we mount back up. While it’s only been an hour since I was enjoying a cold one at Elora, I’m already more than ready for another at GoodLot. Giddyup.
The second half of our ride unfolds in a series of painterly vignettes: through rolling farmland, under lush forest canopies, past historic barns. We even spot a couple of snapping turtles laying eggs along the trail – as well as a small group of conservationists carefully placing protective screens above each nest site.
Then things grind to a halt. Trail construction along the Elora Cataract from just before the rural community of Hillsburgh until the town of Erin, five-plus kilometres down the rail trail.
We accept this diversion as a welcome change of pace and, once we’ve negotiated it, it’s smooth sailing for the remaining few kilometres of our adventure. The final leg: turning left off the rail trail onto Shaws Creek Road, which leads us straight to GoodLot.
If you’ve never been to GoodLot Farm & Farmstead Brewing Co, I can assure you that you’ve been missing out. Indeed, this farm brewery might just provide the most glorious backdrop for enjoying fresh beer of any brewery I’ve been to. As we cycle into the gravel parking area, I’m struck by the distinctive panorama: rows of towering hop plants; clusters of communal tables set under bright canopies; free-range chickens darting here and there between groups of patrons; a corrugated silo-turned-bar. The whole place is evocative of some upscale bohemian retreat. At the far end of the outdoor seating area, a singer-songwriter perched on a small covered wooden stage performs for the growing Friday afternoon crowd.
To the stage’s left, a hand-painted sign points patrons toward a second bar and pop-up food stand. While Liz, Cai, and Lee settle at a large wooden table under the canopies (GoodLot ‘Philsner’ pilsners and ‘Yonder’ IPAs on their way), I beeline to the food and order for the table: three servings of pierogis, two kielbasas on buns, and a cabbage roll. (The menu here varies; we’ve ordered tasty jerk in the past.) We’re pleased to embrace the homemade Polish fare, which pairs wonderfully with the GoodLot brew and offers satisfying nourishment and soothing comfort to our tired bodies and sore legs.
For the next hour or so we revel in a sort of post-ride bliss. We share food and drink and tell a few stories. Recollect. Laugh. Mostly we simply sit quietly together – letting the day’s adventure, and this blissful setting, soak in. Once we’re fully composed and ready to leave, we pack our rigs on the back of my truck’s four- bike rack (thanks Lee) that Cai and I dropped here much earlier and make the trek back to our respective lives at home – refreshed and grateful. No Friday traffic
ELORA CATARACT TRAILWAY
trailway.org