Cycling.
The Chatham-Kent Waterfront Trail runs 16 km of gravel along the Lake Erie shore from Wheatley to Erieau. Added in 2016, a 63 km northern extension follows the Thames and St.
Clair Rivers — and the northwest section is co-designated Trans Canada Trail. Together with the rural concession-road grid, these routes carry more than 215 km of TCT through Chatham-Kent for rail-trail, road, and e-bike touring across the alluvial plain between the two lakes.
The brief.
The Wheatley-to-Erieau gravel section is the simplest entry — flat, scenic, lake-edge. The northern extension along the Thames and St.
Clair Rivers picks up around Wallaceburg and runs west toward the Lake St. Clair shore.
The Erieau Marsh Trail crosses a 2012 pedestrian and cycling bridge at Lagoon Road for a Rondeau Bay loop. Off-trail, the rural concession-road grid is one of the flattest road-cycling and e-bike networks in Ontario, useful for stitching together touring days between the lakes.
May through October is the comfortable window. The Great Lakes Waterfront Trail community page is the canonical routing source.
3. places.
- 01
Chatham-Kent Waterfront Trail (Wheatley to Erieau)
16 km gravel along Lake Erie from Wheatley village east to Erieau peninsula.
- 02
Northern Waterfront Trail extension
63 km along the Thames and St. Clair Rivers (added 2016); northwest section co-designated Trans Canada Trail.
- 03
Erieau Rail Trail / Erieau Marsh Trail
Short trail with 2012 pedestrian/cycling bridge at Lagoon Road for a Rondeau Bay loop.
Today's read.
Cold but firm — winter-ready conditions · light winds · clean air.