The posted speed limit on County Road 32 (CR32) is 70 km an hour. That’s just ridiculous. Why would anyone choose to barrel down this delightful slip of paradise? CR32 represents all that is real and good about country living. It is one of my favourite roads.
CR32 offers a beautiful short-cut into Picton. It starts just south of Bloomfield and runs north-east. It bypasses the village which is just nuts this time of the year, what with all of those cyclist and ice cream cone licking tourist spilling off the sidewalk. CR32 is only 3 km long but it is packed with charm. It dips and curls and runs high up on a ridge with huge vistas of the gentle rolling farm land on both sides of the road. It is delightful.
There are no sidewalks, ditches or curbs on CR32. The setback from the asphalt is so minimal that you can almost tough the hay bales stacked outside the cedar rail fence. Holstein cows graze just a few metres away and there are several dogs guaranteed to be sleeping at the end of their lanes. It offers a slice of rural living all served up in your face.
No less than four active dairy farms are nestled along this short road. I’m patent and don’t mind following slowing behind a tractor. They are not going far. Usually the farmer is just moving a bale over from his barn to the cows across the road. It allows me time to peep into the farmer’s world and study him at work completing his daily chores. It feels intimate. Without fail the farmers give my passing car a friendly wave.
My favourite time of the day to take CR32 is late in the afternoon. The sun casts long shadows and the cows are herded into the barn yard. It is time of their milking. They silently watch my car go by as they munch on their dinner.
Summer flower gardens are bright with old fashion hollyhocks and rudbeckia. The tree limbs arch over the road and provide cool shady tunnels sheltering my car from the hot sun. Three minutes tops and then the road ends. I must merge with the larger highway. Sadly I am forced back into the other reality.
westlakemusings 
What a wonderful picture you paint of your trip along this country road. My daughter, Darla, when we would go for a drive she would always say “lets go the country way” and when she was learning to drive, she would love to drive the “country way” to get some practice.
The other reality comes too soon doesn’t it?
When we were looking for our farm I said that I wanted to live in a place where tractors drove down the road. I do not mind those types of traffic jams at all!
I passed Mallory Road the other day during a trip through the County. From Picton, we took the Schoharie Rd. to Consecon, then north to the 401. Prior to that, we had been on another old favourite of mine, the Old Belleville Rd. I love the stretch of that road that is completely shaded, and it’s always nice to see the farms, cows and horses, etc. I never get tired of travelling those roads, and it doesn’t happen often enough. Before I knew it, I was back in the concrete jungle, *sigh*.