Backroads to Blue 2022 With Prince Adventures
Heliboarding? World Cup in Qatar? Supercar cruising in Ontarios backroads? Check, check, check, please and thank you. We hooked up with Prince Adventures for the annual Backroads to Blue supercar cruise and it didn’t disappoint.
Car meets and cruises usually have the respectable members leave early so the youth and careless can hoon about until the fuzz shuts the party down. What if your Friday night Tim Hortons hangout/cruise wasn’t patrolled by every Hyundai Genesis with a cat delete, or dually with something to prove? Is an off camber corner with sloping hills and winding ribbons of uninterrupted tarmac too much to ask for? Prince Adventures doesn’t seem to think so.
The annual Backroads-to-Blue Waterloo-to-Collingwood jaunt in the woods takes place on a warm Friday afternoon. 40+ super and sports cars cast their shadow on an unassuming Canadian Tire parking lot at 1pm. With traffic coming to a halt around us we sticker and saddle up. Go Pros mounted. Gas tank full. Extra gallon of oil in the trunk. We packed up and headed out onto the main road in front of a lineup of cell phones chasing the two groups of drivers.
After 15 minutes slicing through traffic at safe speeds we were in the country. The open roads and skies blessed our drive with perfect conditions. I would have never thought that Waterloo-to-Collingwood could be a fun drive. I truly believed it would be flat like most of the surrounding area in south central Ontario. Though I wasn’t entirely wrong I was thoroughly surprised with some of the roads we found. Porsches glued to my trunk in every turn. Lambos and Mclarens escaping me in every straight away. I was lucky to have put on a set of extra sticky summer tires this year. I managed to pedal my—by comparison—low level C55 AMG hard enough to impress a 560S or two. Bothered a Camaro or Mustang as they couldn’t quite escape me on every strait. And though I wasn’t fast enough to keep up with the serious cars, RS6, Viper, and their company, I believe we all still had a great time.
We descend upon Blue Mountain ahead of schedule. Nothing beats the view when you come through the bands of trees, rays of sun bathing the valley beneath the mountain, and the lake in the close distance. After we parking we noticed we had picked up a few extra cars along the way. Enthusiasts wanting to share in the experience with us. An R32 peeled out shortly after flagging a peace sign. The owner showing his appreciation for rolling hard with us. We were fortunate enough to have a visit from local law enforcement to remind us how to drive safely. Thanks to the boys-in-blue for having our backs and for all of their service.
Prince Adventures is for the enthusiast who wants to go at their own pace with a group of skilled drivers. The point is not to turn the 2 hour cruise into a time attack session. No one is setting lap records. This group of mature-by their age and state of mind-drivers push their cars as far as they are comfortable without being a menace to society. Safety and comfortable pacing is encouraged with this group of gear-heads. After all, you can’t go very fast behind bars, so why push your luck?
Day one ended with a jam packed dinner in the Blue Mountain village, then late to bed. Day two was a groggy start for some but we were all accounted for as the tour left on time to our next destination. The Prince Adventures team carefully planned every route and destination. We were all grouped together for a slow ride north to Sauble Beach. 40+ rev happy rockstar cars flooded an empty parking lot and the town fell over itself with anticipation to see what the fuss was about. Every Nona in the neighbourhood dropped their spaghetti to see the Lamborghinis. The youth eyes shot out of their faces for Mclarens, Astons, and Porsche poster cars. One teen nearly broke a high E sharp when he heard the RS6 Avant has 800hp.
The cruise continued after lunch with more safe driving and camaraderie. With breaks between drives to shoot the shit about how impressed everyone was with each other’s driving or vehicle performance, it was less a chest beating contest and more of a pat on the back.
Prince Adventures sets up a few cruises annually to enjoy Ontarios more scenic patches of tarmac. Taking care to book all of the stops, restaurants, hotels, and features for the participants, summer of 2022 has seen Muskoka and Collingwood on the schedule and we can’t wait to join them again for Backroads to Blue ‘23.
Check out Prince Adventures for the coolest car club in Western Ontario as well as custom destination vacations the world over.
