The Church And The Waterfront

This view of the Gatineau River from the Lady Aberdeen Bridge looks south to its outlet at the Ottawa River.

Close by is this impressive Catholic church, Saint-Francois-de-Sales, standing over the river.

A view from the east shore shows us the bridge itself.

Aside from the church, there's a good sized waterfront here, with wooden boardwalks and stairs heading down towards the river. Leamy Lake Park is visible on the west shore of the Gatineau River.

The church itself dominates the location. There was a mass going on inside at the time, otherwise I'd have been able to show you the interior.

This rather large boat was moored here on the waterfront, with work going on aboard while I was here.

A final view of the Gatineau River, this looks north from the bridge as the river goes past Leamy Lake Park. I'll be wrapping up this walkabout tomorrow.

Reaching The Joining Of Waters

Here we are close to the east end of Leamy Lake Park.

The park's eastern boundary meets the main channel of the Gatineau River, which flows from its headwaters to the north along a route of 386 kilometres to its outlet just south of this spot. Across from here is a church; you may have spotted the spire in one or two distance shots in my first post from this series. Before amalgamation of the city of Gatineau, this would have been the boundary between the cities of Gatineau, on that shore, and Hull, on the shore where I was standing.

The path takes us to the meeting of two great rivers. The Gatineau River reaches its end here and joins the Ottawa River. The Gatineau shoreline is at the left, and the Ottawa neighbourhood of Rockcliffe Park is wooded at the right on the far shore.

There is a large house up in Rockcliffe Park that can be seen closer here. From comparisons to shots I've found online, I believe it is Lornado, the official residence of the American ambassador. The name of the place comes from a shortening of the novel title Lorna Doone. Lornado hosts a Fourth of July party every year held by the ambassador- the latest one has taken forever to actually get around to filling the post, months after the last one was told by the incoming administration that he was out of a job. I doubt I'll be invited anytime soon, particularly with my rather low opinion of Agent Orange, but then again, how much longer will that insufferable, dementia ridden, insecure, knuckle dragging, dimwitted, narcissistic, thin-skinned jackass and world's oldest temper tantrum throwing crybaby be fouling up the Oval Office? 

Looking off to the left takes in another view of the church I showed above.

A side trail leads up to a spot a short distance away overlooking the Ottawa River. The Macdonald-Cartier Bridge, where I began all of this, can be glimpsed to the west.

Here, on the bridge crossing the main channel of the Gatineau River, is another glimpse of that church, which we'll see more of tomorrow. The bridge itself is the Lady Aberdeen Bridge, the oldest of the bridges connecting the two sectors of Gatineau. A bridge has been here since 1894, and the original span here was named for the wife of a governor-general, while a second span crosses on its north side.