Cycling from Downtown to Home Hardware through Parkdale

Every now and again I find myself in need of something from the hardware store, and the handiest, Home Hardware, is conveniently a short cycle from home.

The challenge of cycling there from my house is that it means cycling up either Longworth Avenue and St. Peters Road, or up Kensington Road, none of which are particularly cycle-friendly (there are wide cycle lanes on St. Peters Road, but also a lot of sneaky sunken sewer grates).

I discovered a much quieter “back way” to Home Hardware on the weekend:

Take the Confederation Trail from Joe Ghiz Park, then, after you pass Kensington Road and are running in back of the How Bazaar building, veer right onto a dirt trail that connect to a parking lot that connects to the intersection of Belmont Street and Dresden Court.

Take Dresden Court north as it turns into 2nd Street; when you get to J. Frank MacAulay Park, take the paved trail right through the heart of the park, emerging onto Owen Terrace. Take Owen Terrace north to St. Pius X, turn left, and when you reach St. Peters Road it’s a quick jog up to Home Hardware.

Here’s the GeoJSON of the route I took (one of a growing collection of GeoJSON Collectibles).

For the route back, I opted to brave the sneaky sewer grates and fly down St. Peters Road to Euston, Euston to Prince, and Prince to Home.

The cycle out to Home Hardware took 12 minutes; the cycle back home took 9 minutes.