The Rideau Canal widens west of yesterday's pic where it forms Dow's Lake. The Skateway travels up to the top of the lake before coming back down and heading towards its end at the Hartwell Locks at Carleton University- the last turn can be glimpsed at the center of the pic. Many students commute to the city's three universities by skating too, since Carleton, the University of Ottawa, and Saint Paul University are all within reasonable distance along the length of the Canal. The full length of the Skateway is 7.8 kilometres, and the cleared ice has a surface area equivalent to 90 Olympic hockey rinks. Guinness World Records lists the Skateway as the largest naturally frozen skating rink in the world.
The snow at the right side is fine for walkers like myself who don't happen to know how to skate (I know, it's positively un-Canadian). The plows maintain a path along the ice with a thin layer of snow that makes for surprisingly easy walking.
I love this photo!
ReplyDeleteEnvy your your long cool walk! Nice shot
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
<3
Lovely way for long distance skaters.
ReplyDeleteIf my hobbies would be skating, I would be terribly envious.
Shame on you not being able to skate, thought you lot were born with skates on
ReplyDeleteQue imagem belíssima! Sinto o frescor só de olhar pois aqui no Brasil estamos passado por um tórrido verão.
ReplyDeleteUm bom dia para você William
Um abraço
In short, this is a highway to the skate.
ReplyDeleteTomás.
That's disappointing, William. I, too, thought all Canadians could skate. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou don't skate. I don't believe that. In fact, I've read some of your stuff that makes me think you're often skating on thin ice. Ha, ha, ha!
ReplyDeleteWell, if you ever decide to learn to skate (wait until your leg is fully healed!) you've certainly got one of the best places in the world to do it. I love that canal!
I'm very impressed that it's on the official world record list!
ReplyDeleteHaha I'd be walking along the sidelines taking photos too - skating requires balance and stuff...
ReplyDeleteYou have my solidarity of un-skater!
ReplyDeleteso beautiful and peaceful!
ReplyDeletePretty amazing!
ReplyDeleteI heard something about Canada making changes to their citizenship requirements. Does that mean you might get kicked out for not knowing how to skate?
ReplyDelete@Linda: thanks!
ReplyDelete@Cloudia: thank you!
@Orvokki: there's no shortage of changing scenery for skaters.
@Bill: that's just an urban legend.
@Gracita: thanks!
@Tomas: that's a good way to put it.
@Revrunner: I know, I should hang my head in shame.
@Lowell: I am often on thin ice!
@Marleen: it's a good record to have.
@Aimee: well my balance is very good!
@VP: if I really wanted to, I could learn.
@Hilary: thank you!
@Luis: and cold!
@Norma: if I get kicked out, it might be for insulting the Dark Lord Harper.
commuting by skating! so cool!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry William we won't hold it against you... although :)
ReplyDeleteWould I ever like to spend a couple of hours on this piece of ice even though I don't like outdoor ice...it's too hard for good skating. Now in the summer I expect to see boating on the canal or come to think of it what would be wrong with a few boating posts in the winter?
ReplyDeleteToo cold for me!
ReplyDeleteWhile skating the canal would be awesome, I think it's great that they leave some snow for walkers along the side so they may get out and enjoy the fresh air (and take pictures). I'd be a walker too. ;)
ReplyDeleteYou don't skate. How un-Canadian of you :-) Well people say I'm not Japanese when I say I don't like sushi so much!
ReplyDelete@Tex: a nice way to get to class. Depending on the class.
ReplyDelete@Grace: hah!
@Red: I'll have to photograph boats in the summer. I really haven't done much of that until now.
@Sharon: Oh, I love it!
@Pamela: it does make for much safer walking, particularly if the ice is slippery as it tends to be when it gets up towards the freezing mark.
@Tamago: I don't go into Tim Hortons either, which is a big Canadian thing to do.
I didn't know there was a third university there! I don't go to Timmie's either.
ReplyDeleteYou conjure fine memories on ice skates.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a nice place to walk. I've never been to Ottawa, but as kids growing up in Ontario, we always knew about the Skateway. Always sounded so neat. It is something to be proud of!
ReplyDeleteGreat winter image!! I guess that wasn't you on a pair of skates out there :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great place to learn to ice skate!
ReplyDeleteNice and wide, no commuter traffic jams!
ReplyDeleteNot skating in Canada = not riding a kangaroo in Australia?
ReplyDelete@RedPat: Saint Paul is quite a small one. I've only photographed the area one time- there's something inside one of the campus buildings that I should photograph though.
ReplyDelete@Birdman: thank you!
@Jen: it's a pleasure to live so close to it, so I always have access to it. I often take it when I go to get lunch and dinner.
@Bill: definitely not!
@Cheryl: and there are medics about if you do twist an ankle learning!
@Ciel: definitely no traffic jams!
@Peter: crikey! that sounds about right!
I would love to see some ice here too, but I don't think it will happen this winter.
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to skate there but never have. Now we have a huge lake outside our door and we considered keeping an area clear... but it's a LOT of work!
ReplyDeleteFantastic place!
ReplyDeleteGreat picture. I would need the snow. There was no place to ice skate in my part of Iowa even when the drifts were up to the second story.
ReplyDeleteI used to love to skate, but I would be walking along with you these days.
ReplyDeleteI can't skate either, though I tried as a child. I think I'd try again if I were living in Ottawa, though it's much easier said than done. I can't ride a bike, either.
ReplyDelete@Marianne: I remember my parents mentioning how every few years the canals of the Netherlands might freeze up enough for the skating from town to town thing to go on.
ReplyDelete@Hilary: it is a lot of work when you see the plows on the ice.
@Mariusz: thanks!
@Mari: here it's just a matter of clearing the ice or making the ice.
@Lois: fortunately there are plenty of spots along the ice for a hot chocolate or a Beavertail.
@Kay: I can ride a bike, though I actually learned rather later than some kids.
As I recall, I gave up once I reached Dow's Lake from downtown. I also went back and took skating lessons in my 40's; made a huge difference and I still love skating.
ReplyDeleteAnd from Dow's Lake it really isn't that far to the start or finish, depending on how you think of it.
DeleteI think it's too darn cold to skate, although I have!
ReplyDeleteI used to take a Sp.Ed. course at uOttawa in the 80s and after classes I'd take a skate. It was so lovely in the dark, with few squirrelly boys, flitting in and out amongst us slower skaters. It was cold and dark and crisp. Great memory!
I've seen skaters regularly on it as of late, day or night.
DeleteI didn't realize the Skateway is 7.8 km long!
ReplyDeleteThere's quite a lot of ice for skating on.
DeleteFor the sake of photography (and blogging!), you must learn to skate so we can see some close-ups. And perhaps, William, some nice motion effects as you slide ...
ReplyDeleteThe best I do is walk on the ice for a good stretch, at least once a season and photograph that way.
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