The Ice

I start off today with a series on Winterlude, which has already wrapped up here in Ottawa and Gatineau. An annual celebration of winter, the festival has events on both sides of the Ottawa River. Its centerpiece is the Rideau Canal skateway, which has been having an exceedingly good year. Opening its full length of 7.8 kilometres in the first half of January, the Canal has been open since, blessed by consistent cold. A difference from some recent years, when only a portion could be opened due to warmer temperatures. And people will skate it, any time of the day. I've been on it several times this winter, and I start this first visit at the Bank Street Bridge, which spans the Canal between the Glebe to the north and Old Ottawa South on the south.

I was heading west for home, taking shots along the way, back and forth. It was good walking. The Canal is regularly maintained, flooded when the ice becomes rough, and even patrolled by skating first aiders.

I took two shots of the ice surface, with a flash and without. Imagine these as a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle.

And then I carried on.

Up ahead, the Bronson Avenue Bridge.