Month: February 2013

This is my first season winter biking in our Nation’s Capital. Shortly after the first few accumulations of snow I realised our fantastic local network of bike paths is geared towards the summertime recreational cyclist versus the all season bike commuter. That’s because, apart from a few routes like the Laurier bike lanes, most bike paths aren’t cleared. As such, I have found myself riding down treacherous roads which I wouldn’t dare bike along even in the summer. So I was encouraged when I read about Craig Daveys successful attempts to clear short bike path links in Lowertown through his often humourous ‘Meet me halfway’ email correspondence with the city, which he describes here. That was back in mid January. (UPDATE May 2014 – The link has disappeared, but the benevolence of his lane clearing spirit lives on).Today I chose a route that took me along most of those bike path links mentioned in his emails, as identified by the blue markers on the map below. Red markers are interesting buildings I clicked along the way.

Lowertown is filled with wonderful old two and three story dwellings like this.

As you can see, the first section of bike path at Guiges and Dalhousie described in Craig Davey’s correspondence unfortunately hasn’t received recent attention from local shovelers or the city sidewalk plow.

At 158 Guiges sits this interesting dwelling partially constructed with big old square timbers.

The second section of path at St Andrew and King Edward HAS been kept clear! Why someone chose to interpret it as a parking spot, even with signs saying don’t do that? I dunno.

Lowertown has historically been a workers neighbourhood, as described in stories like Angel Square by Brian Doyle, and represented by the few remaining dwellings those residents built and lived in. A selection of these are slated to be demolished to make way for a new Claridge Homes condo development in an area called the wedge, defined by King Edward Avenue, St Patrick St and the Rideau River. That is not to the liking of the authors of a report titled ‘Lowertown East, Our Disappearing Heritage’.

The Gauvreau Rowhouse shown below is one of those buildings, ironically being used by Claridge as their sales centre.

Around the other side on St Andrew Street sit these two condemned dwellings which are described in the above mentioned report as important to preserving the working class heritage of Lowertown. The buildings now sit empty and abandoned while Claridge banners hang triumphantly from temporary flag poles on the corners of each of the properties.

Path link at St Andrew and St Patrick – CLEARED!

This Rather well preserved building sits at the corner of Cumberland and Bruyère. It was originally constructed as a store in 1862, which I’m guessing explains the big corner entrance.

The final Lowertown bike path link at Cumberland and Bruyère wasn’t cleared. Here’s hoping Craig Davey’s generous spirit and good intentions provides encouragement to make bike commuting safe throughout snowfalls to come.

Here are couple of other glorious old buildings along Dalhousie with truncated corners.

I made a final stop at Stubbe chocolatier on Dalhousie. A friend told me it was the best in town, and Carla is a chocoholic.

Arts Court is a very important facility for local artists and art lovers. Located right downtown in the old court house, it sits on a small plot of land encircled by four busy streets that aren’t particularly velo friendly. So, how do you bike there? Here’s a route I took this weekend to attend a rehearsal for Third Wall Theatre’s production of God of Carnage, with a pit stop at Mags & Fags on Elgin Street.

Cooper is a quiet one way street heading east from Bronson as far as the canal. Most of the houses along the street between Bronson and Kent date back to the late 1800’s, like these two well preserved gems.

Here’s the view looking down Cooper from Bay Street.

The Czech embassy is at 251 Cooper and described in this Urbsite post.

After stopping off at Mags&Fags I biked a few blocks north up Elgin, a busy bike-able street with lots of pedestrians keeping it civilized. I then crossed the Mackenzie King Bridge which has bike lanes hugging the inside meridian like so.

But then the bike lane suddenly ends on the other side of the bridge when it reaches Waller Street.

Waller is a very nasty road. Not only is it lacking any shoulder or bike lane, it is filled with transport trucks who use it as an awkward winding link through downtown from the Queensway to King Edward Avenue to the bridge over the Ottawa River. I suggest avoiding it all together by going over to the sidewalk on the left and walking your bike along the well trodden path to the Arts Court parking lot, as per the photo below. By doing so you can catch a glimpse of the back of the old jail, the building behind the tall stone wall. It is now a youth hostel. The boarded up arched opening beneath the pediment was where they publicly hung condemned prisoners, the wall being just tall enough so onlookers would avoid seeing the dangling body. I know – freaky.

Down through the driveway brings you to the entrance of the wonderful Arts Court.