Greenbelt Route a path to discovering Ontario
There’s an all-new way to explore Ontario’s Greenbelt — on two wheels — launching this summer.
The Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation is on the verge of unveiling its new Greenbelt Route, which creates one seamless cycling trail from the Niagara Region all the way around the Golden Horseshoe to Northumberland County in the east, while highlighting hundreds of diversions to explore along the way.
Born of a desire to help people stay active while they discover all that the regions surrounding Toronto have to offer, the new cycling route hopes to capitalize on what has become a burgeoning tourism segment.
“Cycling tourism is an incredibly growing industry,” says Burkhard Mausberg, chief executive officer of the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation. “It’s now worth $300 million in Ontario alone per year.”
Mausberg says cycling tourism is being called “the new golf” and is particularly appealing to the same people who enjoy the golfing lifestyle.
“People in a certain age group — who can afford to cycle, can afford to stay in a B&B, can afford to eat in restaurants — are recognizing it’s great for their health to go out and be active,” Mausberg explains.
A cycling route through the Greenbelt seemed a natural fit for connecting such people with a part of the province that might otherwise be overlooked ot thought of as too difficult to navigate.
“It’s one of those very special parts of Ontario,” Mausberg says. "It has all these great villages and hamlets, natural areas, working farms and on-farm markets and historical sites. And it's protected by law not to be paved over by subdivisions and industrial lands. We wanted people to actually get out and experience it."
The grand opening opening of the new route is Aug. 16, when hundreds of cyclist will be
brought together to explore it over the course of the following week in an event being called the Great Greenbelt Adventure.
“We’ll take as many riders as want to participate,” Mausberg says. “We’re going to start in Northumberland, at the easternmost part of the route, and take it all the way around, travelling with hopefully hundreds of people from town to town. We’ll celebrate the end of it seven days later in Niagara with a big party.”
More information about the Great Greenbelt Adventure will be made public in the coming weeks. In the meantime, to explore the route, download and print maps, plan out an itinerary and much more, visit greenbelt.ca/route. Freelance writer Stephanie Wallcraft is a frequent contributor to Toronto Star Wheels. For more Toronto Star Wheels stories, go to thestar.com/autos. To reach Wheels Editor Norris McDonald: nmcdonald@thestar.com