I seem to be riding a lot more with my family and they like to have a destination rather than doing a loop. Any suggestions for cafes and bakeries in the area that we can support (especially in these COVID times when business can be slow)?
Ideally, on the Waterloo side of things but I’m happy for this post just to become a place for all the regional shops.
Ideally I’d like to know:
Name of the place
It’s location
what treats they offer
hours / days they are open (if possible)
Is there anything special about the place (beyond the treats!)
While it requires driving up to Linwood there is plenty of parking at the community centre.
My family enjoyed the bike ride on the G2G trail from Linwood to Milbank and Anna Mae’s for awesome Buttertarts and a coffee.
They are closed on Sundays.
There and back is 18km total. It is flat and a beautiful ride.
I’ve heard great things about Lady Glaze Doughnuts in Belmont Village. Old fashioned doughnuts from real ingredients. They look delicious!! Great for family’s as it’s just off the Iron Horse Trail for getting there by bike.
701 Belmont Avenue West
519-954-2424
Open Everyday 9am to 7pm.
Out of town, I’d recommend Baden Coffee Company (Gingerich Road, Baden) for coffee and great fresh baked goods… nice trail system in the bush just up the road for cycling fun… and lovely walking trails on the brand new Sandhills walking trail just off Sandhills Road.
As Tommy recommended the G2G trail is great for family cycling. Anna Mae’s is excellent choice for baked goods if you head west. If you’d prefer a quick meal dining option, the fry shack at the trail entrance in Elmira was amazing as well. Start in Wallenstein and work back to Elmira - or start at West Montrose and head to Elmira on the trail. West Montrose is a great starting point as you have the beautiful bridge to admire and the General Store in town will have good baked goods as well.
Elora has some amazing food options and the rail trail is phenomenal… with a view second to none on the trestle bridge crossing over the Grand River. Belwood General Store at the north end of Belwood Lake Conservation area would be a great destination ride from Elora on the rail trail. Best butter tarts in the area.
South of the city, Lucio’s in Ayr, 47 Northumberland Rd… it is a road ride destination though. Not many trails down that way. Most times we ride south of K/W we seem to end up here for our mid-ride sugar fix.
I’ve not had anything from their store in Waterloo (Phillip St), but Balzac’s in Stratford always has amazing baked goods. I highly recommend the Lemon Tart!
I haven’t been out on the bike in a while, but those are the places I am most looking forward to visiting once I’m back on the roads.
Lady Glaze has pretty tasty donuts! Bit of a lineup on Saturdays.
City Cafe is right on the Iron Horse trail if you’re ever on an urban trail ride. There’s buttertarts, date squares, sometimes some other treats I think, but the bagels are where it’s at IMO, the bread is also tasty. There’s the one at Victoria and one on Ottawa street slightly off the IHT. The former city cafe on Lancaster street is apparently also really good but has a new name and expanded offerings, but I haven’t checked it out yet.
Maryhill Market - corner of St Charles street and Maryhill road. nice selection and 2 places to sit outside (pick sun or shade). It’s about 16 kms from Waterloo.
In Uptown, Just Love Pie in the Atrium on Erb - backs onto the trail at Waterloo Towne Square. I’ve sampled butter tarts in many places and these are among the best. Open Tuesday til Saturday
Some awesome suggestions here! I’m going to add one myself we discovered today: Eco Cafe in St Jacobs. Coffee was great and muffins were huge. My son couldn’t finish his (most unlike him!). Also nicely open on Sunday morning for our family ride: EcoCafe St Jacobs
They have a an upstairs patio where other cyclists had their bikes out the way. Very solid COVID precautions too for this concerned by that.
If anyone can get to Stratford during the week, Brenda’s do very very good butter tarts. Made throughout the day so if you’re lucky, you can get some not long out of the oven
I have to wade in to mention Bellwood Country Market. You can park at the Elora Public School and then ride 20kms on mostly rail trail (18kms Elora-Cataract railtrail with about 2kms of roads through Fergus), grab some baked goods at the Market, and walk across the street to the picnic tables to eat them before heading back. Best buttertarts I’ve ever had! http://www.belwoodcountrymarket.org/ And if you want to ride further, the railtrail extends all the way to Cataract…94kms roundtrip from Elora.
I have complied all the entries so far into a single spreadsheet. As we get more I’ll try and keep this up to date. Hopefully there is a way to pin this to the top of the topic:
Quick update, a couple of friendly club members have updated the spreadsheet with some extra info. If you would also like the ability to edit it, let me know. Happy to grant access!
Also one of them created this rather great ridewithgps map with them all on there. Again not my work but they were happy for me to post it.
I’m not sure if they would like me to credit their work or would rather be anonymous benefactors (DM me if you would like the credit, I think you both deserve some!)
Hi Oliver - The RWGPS coffee stops map seems to have vanished. Did you save a copy of the map? The spreadsheet is still up so it’s just the map that seems to be missing…
