Listen as you ride.

You are on the Gordie Howe International Bridge path, forty-six metres above the Detroit River. For as long as anyone can remember, you could not ride a bike between these two cities. Now you can, toll-free, on a path of your own. Somewhere under your wheels, Canada becomes the United States. Keep to twenty kilometres an hour, give walkers room, and have your documents ready for the booth at the other end.

Welcome to the Windsor riverfront. Look across the water: that is downtown Detroit, the Renaissance Center in the middle. A short walk east, the Tower of Freedom remembers the people who crossed this river to escape slavery. Its partner stands in Detroit’s Hart Plaza, facing you. Today, you will ride between them.

The Windsor Sculpture Park lines the river for a long stretch of the trail. Bronze, steel and stone, some playful, some serious. Ride slowly here; the path is shared, and the best photos of Detroit are on your right.

Above you is the Ambassador Bridge, opened in 1929. For almost a century it was the busiest crossing between the two countries, and it never had room for bikes. That is why the new bridge downriver matters so much to riders.

Olde Sandwich Towne is older than Windsor itself. It was laid out in the 1790s, and the old county courthouse, Mackenzie Hall, still stands on Sandwich Street. Grab a coffee here; the bridge is next.

Welcome to Detroit. Historic Fort Wayne was built in the 1840s to guard the river against a British attack that never came. Its star-shaped walls are still here. The army used it from the Civil War to the Vietnam era.

This is Mexicantown, the heart of Southwest Detroit. Look up at the murals, follow the smell of the bakeries, and lock up for a pan dulce. Xochimilco, on Bagley Street, has fed this neighbourhood for decades.

Michigan Central Station opened in 1913, the grandest train station in the city. The last train left in 1988. For thirty years it stood empty and became a symbol of Detroit’s hardest times. Ford bought it in 2018 and reopened it in 2024. If you remember the empty windows, look at it now.

This modest house on West Grand Boulevard is Hitsville U.S.A. From 1959, Berry Gordy ran Motown from here. The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and the Temptations recorded in the studio downstairs. The sound of a generation came out of this building.

Car money built the Fisher Building in 1928. The Fisher brothers made car bodies, and they wanted the most beautiful building in Detroit. Walk into the arcade and look up. The painted ceiling is the reason to stop.

In this brick factory, in 1908, Ford built the first Model T. Before the giant plants, before the assembly line made it famous, it started on these wooden floors. This may be the most Motor City stop on the whole ride.

The Detroit Institute of Arts holds Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry murals, painted in 1932 and 1933. Twenty-seven panels of workers and machines cover a whole courtyard. If you only have an hour, go straight there.

The Fox Theatre opened in 1928 with about five thousand seats. Look for the marquee on Woodward. A few doors down is Mom’s Spaghetti, Eminem’s walk-up spaghetti shop, if you need a refuel.

Hart Plaza is Detroit’s front porch on the river. Every Memorial Day weekend, the Movement festival fills it with electronic music. At the water’s edge, the Gateway to Freedom memorial looks back across to Windsor, where your ride began.

The Renaissance Center is the building you have been looking at from Windsor all day. Behind it, the Detroit RiverWalk runs east along the water. It is a beautiful way to end a ride between two countries.