Having headed south of Ottawa for a couple of stages, the route of Around The World is now trying to get itself back on track and although stage 694 is heading in the right direction for Montreal, the start from Actons Corners near Merrickville is still due south of Ottawa which is now forty miles away as the crow files. This stage is billed as a descender but that’s mainly down to the start which manages to shed the difference between climbing and descending in one long descent to five miles. After that it’s a lumpy one.
As predicted at the end of stage 693, the route heads into Kemptville from the rollout, descending down the straight highway to cross Kemptville Creek at four miles before bending right/left through the town. Between those two bends, Highway 416 runs north/south under the road: H416 links Ottawa in the north to Johnstown in the south. The climb up over H416 is a steep one, but it’s short. The road drops down on the other side but that’s followed by a much longer, lumpier climb to Tanager Woods at eight miles where the road hangs a right/left to the Sandy Mountain Camp Ground which is the highest point on the stage at just over three hundred feet.
The descent off the top is as gentle as it is straight, which is a roundabout way of saying that’s it’s neither. Yes, the road descends, but after turning right at Hallville at eleven miles, much of the lost elevation is regained before the subsequent left hander north of the community of Mountain.
Having taken care of all of the lefts and rights, the route gets on with the business of heading straight and north east to North Dundas. It’s nine miles of relative calm if you leave aside the climb and descent either side of Mulloys at eighteen miles, just after the junction of County Road 3. Beyond Mulloys, the roads remains straight and lumpy flat into Winchester. Highway 43 gives way to Highway 3 on the run through the centre of town and on the exit, Main Street becomes Boyne Road for the final mile to the finish line just past Belanger Road north east of the town.
Distance: 22 miles / 35 kilometres
Ascent: 243 feet / 74 metres
RGT Magic Road: hbmlsx2bQjnL
Max elevation: 306 ft
Min elevation: 212 ft
Total climbing: 244 ft
Total descent: -316 ft
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