The Swift Flow Of The River

These first shots date back to the morning of March 12th, a week after the last shots from yesterday. The cold spell we were having at that time meant some of the ice that had broken up had started to rebuild along the sides. The first view looks west, while the second looks east.

As you can see, the water at the sides had frozen up again. This is reflected in the water that comes up over the banks and tends to flood the bike path under the bridge at this time of year. This is one of the reasons all of the land immediately alongside the river in the core is parkland.

There was a flock of Canada geese. They were resting along the water- these would be early migrants heading for places further north. They might have been thinking at the time that it would have been a good idea to hold off for a couple of weeks.

I took these last two shots a few days ago, further downstream along the river. The Cummings Bridge crosses the river where Rideau Street ends and becomes Montreal Road, east into the Vanier area. Thus the Rideau River becomes the eastern boundary of the downtown core as it heads towards its outlet at the Rideau Falls. This first view, taken on the Vanier side of the river, looks across to the west side, where the Sandy Hill neighbourhood resides. There's an island in the foreground, close to the bridge, that makes ideal nesting grounds for birds.

Moving to the north side of the bridge here, this view looks downstream. Vanier is on the right here, while across the river is the Lowertown neighbourhood. From here, the Rideau Falls aren't that far away.