Wednesday, March 6, 2019

A Walk Along The Skateway

Today happens to be the two thousandth published post of Ottawa Daily Photo.

On the second Sunday of Winterlude, I was down at Lansdowne Park at the farmers market and decided to walk for a stretch of the Rideau Canal back downtown. It was one of those days when you'd look in one direction- in this instance south and west- you'd have a hazier sky, and in the other direction- north and east- you'd have blue skies. I start with this view at Lansdowne. The Aberdeen Pavilion is at the center here, and it houses the farmers market over the winter. The stadium is at its left, and at right is the Horticulture Building.


From here I headed over to the Rideau Canal, which passes by Lansdowne in one of its curves through the downtown core. Skaters were on the surface as I looked to the south.


Turning around and looking in a northeasterly way shows what a difference the sky was that day. Both the above and below views were taken in the same general spot.


I got down onto the ice and photographed one of these chalets, to be found along the ice here and there. These are placed in the fall and removed in spring. They're used for changing your skates.


This panel shows some of the facts about the skateway.


I headed along the Canal for the downtown. This bridge is a new one, seen in an above shot. The Flora Bridge is a new pedestrian bridge being built connecting the Glebe and Old Ottawa East, due to open later this year. I'll have more of it in a coming post, but wanted to introduce you to it here.


The Canal led me on. I never learned how to skate, but the ice surface is walkable- though ideally you prefer to get along the sides as you see with the couple on the left. There's usually four feet of a thin layer of snow on the ice surface at the sides, between the skating surface and the piled up snow. We'll pick up with more of this tomorrow.

40 comments:

  1. ...the skateway looks like you are in The Netherlands, a neat way to enjoy the winter.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy thousandth! :-)
    And happy it didn´t went on like "you look in one direction, walk and boom!", cause that was what I was afraid to read!
    Don´t do that, early morning here ;-)
    Impressive how different the sky looks!
    I like the chalet, reminds me of Switzerland.

    ReplyDelete
  3. William - congratulations on your 2,000th post. I can't imagine - I am only a touch over 100! I am curious about the red structure being used by a child in the seventh picture - is that to help the child learn? Thanks so much for your ongoing visits to my blog - it is much appreciated!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tom is right ... some pictures are similar to the Elfstedentocht of the Netherlands! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. What fun they have ! I never managed ice skating, roller yes ! Congratulations to your 2000th post, I have to look how many I have I started in 2007 !

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congrats on 2000. You have been blogging quite a while to get to that big number.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great to get to 2000 posts. The difference between the two skies grey one way and blue the other is amazing:)

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Tom: it is quite an attraction.

    @Nancy: that it is.

    @Iris: I think the chalets were a good idea. They replaced the former ones several years ago.

    @Angie: yes, it's a common sight to have one of those supports for youngsters just learning how to skate.

    @Ella: lots of Dutch people come here in winter just to skate the Canal.

    @Francisco: thank you.

    @Gattina: I've managed every day thus far.

    @David: it's a wonderful part of the city.

    @Joan: yes, it's been a few years now.

    @Rosie: yes, that really struck me.

    @Italiafinlandia: lots of people enjoy it.

    @Jennifer: thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Congratulations on 2,000 fine posts! And I am reminded that although I learned to skate long ago, it's been ages since I've strapped on a pair of skates. Probably my ankles would give out immediately, so I'll just imagine I can still skate. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Congratulations on the 2000th post, that's a huge milestone!

    ReplyDelete
  11. First of all: congratulations with your two thousandth published post of Ottawa Daily Photo.
    Your skating photos are wonderful as ever. We can only dream of those Skateway Fun Facts ... it's been six years since we've had a a fairly severe winter. ;-(

    ReplyDelete
  12. I’d be on the side walking too.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Congratulations on the milestone! Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Happy 2000! Wow Congratulations!
    You are much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  15. One of the great skating venues in the country and you never learned to skate. I'd love to say I skated on the canal.

    ReplyDelete
  16. @DJan: I never learned, so I'm confined to walking it.

    @Sami: yes, it just takes a few years!

    @Jan: a lot of the Dutch come over just to skate this in the winter.

    @Marie: it makes more sense to. You can walk in the middle, but better to be off on the side.

    @Sharon: thank you!

    @Maywyn: thanks!

    @Red: over the course of a skating season, I do tend to walk each part of its length at one point or another.

    ReplyDelete
  17. A great spot if you like ice skating.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Yay you, glad you've published so many blogs! I'm glad I found you from someone else's blog list. That's been the way I expand my reading group daily. Unfortunately some bloggers just disappear. It's a strange life. Loved seeing the canal and skaters as well as walkers!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Congratulations on your 2000th post! Wow, what a milestone!
    Love these photos. I would love to go ice skating there one day :-)

    ReplyDelete
  20. It is surprising that you never learned to skate when you were a kid. I haven't skated in years but we lived outside in Winter on the rink when I was a kid.
    Congrats on the 2,000th post!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I was just trying to figure out what you'd do with your shoes if you wanted to skate a long distance. Maybe tie the laces together and drape them around your neck?

    ReplyDelete
  22. @Marleen: it is.

    @Barbara: that's often been the way with me- notice enough comments on other blogs, and one feels compelled to go have a look at their blog.

    @Tamago: thank you!

    @RedPat: I was quite clumsy as a kid. A couple of times falling on my butt in grade two or three skate field trips was enough to make me decide I didn't want to learn.

    @Catalyst: some people carry them in kit bags or backpacks. Others will leave their shoes at a given spot and trust that they'll be there when they get back. I wonder if the chalets have something along the lines of lockers.

    ReplyDelete
  23. People sure are enjoying themselves out on the ice. Congratulations to your 2000th post, William.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I haven't ice skated in years. I always wonder why no one ice skates on Deep Creek Lake here where I live. They do a lot of ice fishing though.
    Congratulations on all those posts.

    ReplyDelete
  25. 100 million visits ... that is amazing ... love hearing all those ...neat!! ( ;

    ReplyDelete
  26. Congratulations on 2,000!
    Pretty impressive: 1 million skaters a year. And that's quite a difference between your views.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Congrats on the milestone post, William. And, if I were to walk on the canal, it would definitely be very carefully and perhaps with ice grippers on my shoes as I am not a skater either.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I think that must have been a pretty fair hike on a cold day. I know it was cold because they have all been cold lately. :)

    ReplyDelete
  29. Beautiful images William.. The Flora Bridge is going to be very useful come spring/summer ✨

    ReplyDelete
  30. Wow -- 2,000! Very impressive. Congratulations, William!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Some fascinating views along the canal...Love the style of the little chalet...

    ReplyDelete
  32. My favourite part of winter in Ottawa - when the canal is frozen.

    ReplyDelete
  33. The chalets are nice, William! Port in a storm!

    ReplyDelete
  34. @Bill: thanks!

    @Happyone: thank you.

    @Beth: thank you.

    @Kay: it is, yes.

    @Beatrice: I've tried using ice grippers, but prefer not using them.

    ReplyDelete
  35. @Anvilcloud: we can get some cold winter days.

    @Grace: I still have to actually get up onto it.

    @Jeanie: thank you!

    @Gemma: I do too.

    @Klara: mine too.

    @Jeanie: indeed.

    ReplyDelete