The Passionate Hiker: Biking the O&Q (9): Twiddy Road (Kilometre 120) to End of Line

Tues. 19 July: Biking the O&Q (9): Twiddy Road (Kilometre 120) to End of Line

Mission accomplished: 148 km journey
from Glen Tay was completed today

It’s done! I have completed my journey along the old Ontario and Quebec railway line from Glen Tay southwest to Preneveau, a distance of 148 kilometres.

Since each journey involved biking back along the line to the car, I have in fact travelled 296 kilometres, in nine legs - an average length of 33 kilometres per leg. This may not sound very impressive, but the surface was unpaved gravel, often rough, and I used my heavy mountain bike the whole way.

This final stretch of 28 kilometres (total 56 km return journey) was the longest of the nine legs. I had driven over 127 kilometres from Perth to the trailhead at Twiddy Road, and so it seemed sensible to persevere and finish the job today.

A couple of features stood out on this final journey: First the railway crossing just west of Bonar Law (Highway 14), where two railway lines crossed at an angle, called a “diamond crossing”. It’s now just two snowmobile trails intersecting in the wooded countryside. A tiny shelter sits at the junction. More impressive, another few kilometres west, is the Crowe River crossing. Here the railway had to negotiate the river by crossing an island, requiring two substantial bridges. Today’s structures are light-weight steel lattice bridges sitting on the old bridge abutments. The river flows peacefully below, and there are plenty of perfect picnic spots where the traveller can relax at the river’s edge.

The end of the line is sudden. The trail hits a wire fence, beyond which lies a rusty railway track, hidden by tall weeds. If I trespassed onto this line, it would take me into Havelock and the old station building in 4.8 kilometres. At the spot where I stood, the eastbound tracks swung north, crossing the busy Highway 7, to some hidden destination. It seemed to me that no trains had been this way for many years. A simple sign on a post proclaimed: “End of Track: Mile 90.8”.

It had taken me three hours and twenty minutes to travel west from Twiddy Road to the end of the tracks. My return journey took a whole hour less. I was flying. There were only a couple of places where I felt much of a gradient. It seemed mostly flat.

Along the way I came across two or three quad drivers, and each were careful to slow down and make room for my bike. There was little in the way of wildlife today, for no particular reason. At just one isolated spot along the line was a gigantic patch of wild parsnip. Luckily this was the only place I saw it today.

Perhaps I’ll write a brief summary of the highlights of this fascinating journey. In the meantime, here are some of the pictures from today’s last leg.

Now what’s next?

Note: click on pictures for full size view.