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Barrie Ridge Road / Shanty Bay Road - Hawkestone Road Cycling Loop

This 60km loop takes you on a scenic road trip along rolling rural roads past tidy farms, quaint villages, lakefront cottages, shorelines, beaches, historic sites and tranquil rest stops. There are options for shorter loops and options for hybrid bikes as well.
    

• Start at the free parking lot downtown on Shanty Bay Road at Johnson's Beach. Take Shanty Bay / Ridge Road to the 5th Line of Oro where there is a little grocery “the Village Milk Store” that sells drinks and packaged snacks in the hamlet of Shanty Bay. There is a rich history here of 19^th century African American settlement via the Underground Railroad. Also visit St Thomas Anglican church founded in 1842 to see one of Canada’s oldest surviving churches. 
   
• Turn right (south) toward the water and Lakeshore Drive then turn left. Follow Lakeshore Drive to the 9th or 10th Line and head back up to Ridge Road. Along the way, you will find several beaches and public docks. Bayview Memorial Park has a lovely swimming beach with summer washrooms on Lakeshore Drive between the 8^th and 9^th Lines. 
   
• From either the 9^th or 10^th Line, turn right (east) on Ridge Road and ride to Hawkestone at the 11th Line. 
   
• Turn left (north) and go over Highway 11 (via the diversion to the left) to the 15/16 Sideroad. Turn left (west) and follow 15/16 through challenging rolling countryside back to the 3rd Line. For another interesting historic site, take a short drive north (about 3 km) to Old Barrie Road to visit the old African Methodist Episcopal Church established in 1843 by resettled refugees from the American Civil War.
   
• Turn left at the 3rd Line and ride south back to Ridge Road at Shanty Bay and the return trip back to Barrie.
  
  You can make this trip as long or short as you like. You can loop back either going OR coming by taking the 5th, 7th, or 9th Lines. (Odd number Lines go over Highway 11). Hybrid bikes can take a shortened way back to Barrie at any point before Hawkestone via the Oro-Medonte Rail Trail. The trail has a crushed gravel bed and does not allow motorized vehicles. Between Line 4 and Hawkestone, the trail lies south of Ridge Road and north of Lakeshore Drive. Between Line 1 and Line 4 the trail lies north of Ridge Road.
   
  
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