Barrie to Brampton - Part 1 (Thornton Cookstown Trail)

One trail I wanted to do for a while was the Caledon Trailway. However, I noticed on Strava Joric did a one-way ride from Barrie to Brampton in June 2023 using that trail plus the Thornton-Cookstown Trail which prompted me to consider that ride as a follow up to the Kitchener to Hamilton ride in July 2023. Yesterday, I finally crossed that Barrie to Brampton ride off my bucket list! Part one of this series covers the Thornton Cookstown Trail and the second will focus on the Caledon Trailway.

Per Jun N’s blog post, the best time to do this ride is on weekends given the GO trains leave Mount Pleasant station hourly then (though they need to go all the way to Kitchener on weekends too). The earliest GO train to Barrie left Union at 8:52 AM which got me to Allandale Waterfront at 10:34 AM. At the time, there were a lot of cyclists who got off at that station.

The route I used to get to the Thornton-Cookstown Trail consisted of Bayview Drive, Big Bay Point Road, and Veterans Drive for a total of 11 kilometres. Painted bike lanes can be found on Bayview from the GO station to Little Avenue, though construction was happening which will see cycle tracks get installed from Little to Big Bay Point by next year. Bayview also has the Allandale Recreation Centre which has washrooms if you need them.

Big Bay Point provides a safe option to get across Highway 400 with its buffered bike lanes. Would have been nicer if some barriers could be added.

A left turn onto Veterans saw some more painted bike lanes.

Unfortunately, those bike lanes ended at Salem Road which left a 3.5-kilometre gap to the Thornton-Cookstown Trail entrance. Fortunately, traffic was relatively light.

You can tell you are close to the trail entrance when you see the Georgian Downs casino on your left.

The trail entrance has a bike repair stand along with a bench and bike rack.

Feels good to be on the rail trails despite the heat!

Lots of farms can be found near the trail …

Along with lots of seating! Overall, the trail quality for the Thornton-Cookstown Trail was smooth enough to ride using a road bike.

There was a short 100 metre stretch of trail in Cookstown which wasn’t passable on a road bike, but it’s nothing a very short road detour can’t fix. 😉

One of the wood carvings found along the trail in Cookstown.

Can’t get enough of this countryside! This was taken at the Cookstown Creek Crossing.

Despite Google Maps claiming the trail ends where this photo is taken, it continues southwest to Sideroad 10. However, the Cookstown to Beeton part of the Trans Canada Trail doesn’t have any frills such as benches or bike repair stands, while the gravel quality wasn’t that great. The Town of New Tecumseth’s 2024 Parks, Trails, and Open Spaces Master Plan plans to add these amenities, though the question remains when.

While Jun swears by stroopwafels, trail mix is my go-to energy food when doing long rides.

The trail abruptly ends at Sideroad 10. The good news is you only need to turn left onto that road and ride on it for 1.2 kilometres to Line 10 and then take the first left to continue the trail. The Town eventually plans to fill this gap per their parks plan.

A nice trestle bridge welcomes riders to Beeton.

After taking Dayfoot Street – which has a bike lane part of the way – and a short roll east along Main Street, I stopped by Lickity Split for some ice cream. A must when the temperatures are in the high twenties. Their Blueberry Bliss is decent, though nothing beats Ed’s Real Scoop back home.

To deal with the eight-kilometre trail gap between Beeton and Tottenham, I took Line 8 and Tottenham Road. Until you hit Tottenham, there are narrow paved shoulders which help make this gap a bit more bearable.

As for why that gap exists, it turns out the South Simcoe Railway’s steam train is still in operation. Andrew (a.k.a. Cardiac Cyclist) pointed this out in his YouTube video about connecting the Thornton-Cookstown and Caledon Trailways. He has lots of great videos on various rail trails across Ontario.

To get around the active rail line, the Town proposed a couple of connection options with the preferred one in blue running adjacent to the rail line in some parts.

Part two of this series will explore the Caledon Trailway and why I think it could (almost) mark the gold standard for rail trails.