If you are looking for something to do when the weather is too cool for comfortable cycling, why not join us for some fun and social walks. Starting in the fall (exact date to be determined), we will run a full schedule of City Walks. We will have a walk every Sunday, starting at the usual time of 10:00 AM. As we did last year, we also intend to offer some walks on Thursdays this fall, again starting at 10:00 AM.

Our Fall walk schedule will be provided in the Calendar in advance, and these walks will continue until just before Christmas.

In the winter, from the beginning of January until it is nice enough to cycle in the spring, we will offer a more informal program of Winter City Walks, also starting Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM, (and perhaps on some weekdays, too). The start point, end point, and route will not be announced until a few days before the walk. This allows us to select a route appropriate for the expected weather conditions, reflect current events, or other items of interest.

City Walks start at various locations around Toronto, and typically:

• Start at or near a subway station
• Are about 10 Km in length,
• Some walks are loops back to the start and sometimes they are end-to-end walks to a different subway station
• Wherever possible we have early exits providing shorter distances (often 4 to 6 Km) for those who do not want to do the entire walk
• And, just like the bike rides everyone is required to register for the walks

If you are interested in helping us prepare for the upcoming season, please plan to attend one of our City Walk Planning Meetings, or if you are unable to attend, please email me at citywalks@tbn.ca with any suggestions you may have.

We will have two City Walk planning meetings, one in person on a patio, and the second online using Zoom. If you are interested in having some input or have some suggestions, please join us.

The first City Walk planning meeting will be an in-person event at The Pilot, 22 Cumberland St (near Yonge and Bloor), an historic watering hole with a partially covered rooftop patio, which provides shade from the sun and protection from the rain. We will meet on Saturday, September 16, at 2:00 PM on the 3rd floor rooftop patio. There may be live music on another floor, but if you tell them you are going to the rooftop patio, there is no charge. (Please note that the weekend brunch menu will be in effect until 2:30 PM, and the regular menu will be in effect after 2:30 PM).

The second meeting will be an on-line Zoom meeting, Tuesday, September 19 at 7:00 PM.

I have set these meetings up as TBN events in the calendar, which will require you to register. This way I will know how many people will be attending in person at The Pilot, and be able to email the Zoom link to people registered for the online meeting, to prevent Zoom bombing.

Topics that we may discuss are:

• Review of last year:
• What worked well.
• Possible improvements/changes:
• Suggestions included possibly walks for a slower group of people.
• What date to start the walks this fall
• Are people ready for mid-walk coffee stops and/or snack/lunch/beverage stops at the end or do we want to continue COVID related protocols such as:
• Starting/ending outside when possible
• Making most walks loops so that walkers can return to the start without using TTC
• Avoiding crowds when possible
• Who would like to volunteer to lead a walk or two?
• Would anyone be interested in becoming a co-coordinator for the City Walk program?
• Do we want Thursday walks in the Fall only, or in the Winter as well?
• Any other related topic you wish to discuss.

Please email me at citywalks@tbn.ca if you have any questions or suggestions or are interested in leading a walk.

Looking forward to seeing you on a walk,

John Burdett – City Walk Coordinator