Dwyer Hill Road (Regional Road 3) connects Highway 17 (near Antrim) to Burritts Rapids on the Rideau River. For most of its length it is an ordinary secondary road. Paved, straight, and pretty dull except for scenery consisting of farmland and meadows. A pleasant ride but nothing to go out of your way for.
However, the south most portion of the road contains pleasant surprises. Between Richmond Road and Burritts Rapids you will suddenly come upon a series of consecutive S-curves where the road passes through a forest. They’re just moderate sweepers, but are the most fun for many kilometres in any direction. Soon after enjoying these curves you arrive at the town of Burritts Rapids where you can rest and snack, or you can cross a one-lane wooden bridge and rest at the park located at Burritts Rapids Lock, a working and fascinating lock on the Rideau Canal system.
The best way to access this section of Dwyer Hill Road (DHR) is to use Fallowfield Road (Regional Road 12, which is the North boundary of Barrhaven and the South boundary of Kanata). Go West on Fallowfield until the pavement ends, and turn left onto DHR.
Go south on DHR 5.5 Km to a four-way stop. Go straight through this intersection, and continue south. The twisty section is 4 Km south of the four-way stop.
When you get to the very end of DHR you are in Burritts Rapids. Turn left at the stop sign, then turn right almost immediately and proceed across the one-lane wooden swing-bridge over the Rideau River. Turn left at the stop sign and follow the road East, staying beside the river. You will need to do one left turn to stay on the road that follows the river. It’s only about one kilometre, total, from the wooden bridge to the locks.
There is a picnic area and washrooms at the locks. During the summer, the locks are operating and you can watch the boats go through. A restaurant/pub is across the street from the locks.
Let’s ride there from Kanata:
Once your hit Burritts Rapids again you can cross the river there (one lane bridge) or continue on #23 until you hit the 416 or other convenient route back to Ottawa
Once your in Burritts Rapids you can continue into Merrickville on the #2 (by turning right) which is a nice ride if you don’t get behind farmer Brown. In Merrickville you can go out on #43 (just for a change) and shortly out of town there is a left turn onto a backroad (I think it is Regional Rd. #23). The sign at the turn says Burritts Rapids. This is a nice little road but some of the corners are very tight so be alert.