CAC Summer Niagara Region Outing – 2023
by George Dyke…..
It has now become an annual tradition to have the Citroën Autoclub Canada summer outing take place in the Niagara region. Numerous wineries and some lovely back-roads make for an enjoyable day, and this year was especially so with the sun and warm, but not ridiculously hot weather that graced the day!
The event started off at 10:00 AM with a coffee and cake get-together at Chis Deja’s home in Oakville. We unfortunately had to leave one Citroën behind as Larry Lewis brought his newly restored 1949 Traction 11BL on its first major run. It started fine for him at his garage and seemed to run fine, but once stopped at our start location, he could not get the car to start.
While Larry waited for a flatbed tow home, the rest of us headed toward Lakeshore Rd to drive by the impressive homes along Lake Ontario’s north shore in Oakville and Burlington and to avoid the traffic congestion in the Greater Toronto area that is getting worse, making our Niagara outing more of a challenge each year.
An unexpected closure to a section of Lakeshore Rd in Burlington meant that we had to divert north in heavy traffic, but managed to get through some side streets to eventually get back on Lakeshore Rd as it turns toward Hamilton. We had planned to cross the lift bridge at the canal into Hamilton and avoid traffic on the Burlington Skyway and the QEW, but a another traffic jam on Lakeshore Rd had us make a change of plans again and head over to the Burlington Skyway where traffic was moving and we managed to exit back onto our planned route on Centennial Pkwy before the QEW turned into a parking lot!
Cutting across Hamilton on Centennial Pkwy, we lucked out on an efficient route to get us to Ridge Rd on top of the Niagara Escarpment putting any sign of traffic congestion behind us. The rest of the drive was lovely open road.
We made our first stop for wine tasting and brunch at Fielding Estate Winery before moving on to an hour of fun back-roads driving near Pelham. Bonus – we got to venture along Sulphur Springs Dr as it was open again after a multi-year closure due to flood damage from a bad storm.
Our second stop for the afternoon was Pelham Estates Winery. Our arrival was captured on video by Lisa Tomlinson; https://www.instagram.com/p/CvA_CLAJuBp/
We relaxed there for a half-hour before heading back along the top of the Niagara Escarpment the last leg of our planned outing and going down the twists and turns of Fifty Road into Stoney Creek where we stopped at Leaning Post Winery. By the time we wrapped up there it was 6:30 pm and with some of the group heading back toward Oakville, a decision was made to stop in Burlington and have dinner at the Piper Arms Pub. – a great choice as it turned out!
View a full photo gallery of the day here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjANvEq
