Biking to Strathcona Park, where there’s a whole lotta theatre going on!

Strathcona Park is a picturesque tract of greenery that runs along the west bank of the Rideau River at the eastern edge of the Sandy Hill neighbourhood. One can meander along a network of paths, past big old trees and features like the Strathcona Fountain sculpted by Mathurin Moreau , donated by Lord Strathcona in 1909, or the unique play ground structure designed by artist Stephen Brathwaite that incorporates carved blocks of stone recovered from prominent Ottawa heritage buildings.

Strathcona Park is also the staging ground for professional theatre throughout the summer! Odyssey Theatre has been performing Italian commedia inspired productions there since 1985. This is the opening weekend of their production Lysistrata and the Temple of Gaia.

Odyssey Theatre – Lysistrata and the Temple of Gaia
Clockwise from top left – Catriona Leger, David Warburton, Natalia Gracious & David DaCosta

A Company of Fools, Ottawa’s longest running professional Shakespeare company, performs their travelling show in the park every Monday evening throughout the summer. This year it’s the Bard’s comedy Twelfth Night you can catch them there, and in various other parks around the region for the rest of the week right up to August 18th.

Fools Twelfth Night — A Company of Fools – Twelfth Night
Left to right – Garrett Quirk, Kate Smith, Kate McArthur

UPDATE- September 2018: Another fine season of theatre has come and gone, but fear not! Next summer promises to once again be the staging grounds of more wonderful productions by Odyssey Theatre and A Company of Fools!

With the 2015 opening of the Adawe Bridge over the Rideau River, Strathcona Park became much more accessible to cyclists from points east. This route explores how to get there from the west, starting in Centretown. The purple line is an alternative deviation on the return trip to avoid having to ride amongst traffic on Laurier, as the west bound segregated bike lane only starts at Elgin. If anyone needs a different bike route to get to Strathcona Park let me know & I’ll figure it out.

We begin our journey at the western end of the Laurier bike lane at the intersection of Laurier & Bronson.

Start of Laurier Bike Lane heading east from Bronson

Head all the way east along the Laurier Bike Lane to where the path passes infront of City Hall after crossing Elgin Street. Just before Laurier heads over the canal, turn onto the sidewalk along the exit to Queen Elizabeth Driveway. Just a few feet along the sidewalk it becomes bi-directional shared pathway.

Exit off Laurier Bike Lane before going over the bridge.

3 - sidewalk to MUP — Sidewalk along exit lane becomes multi-use path

Cross Queen Elizabeth Driveway at the 4 way stop and head south along the Rideau Canal Western Pathway.

Crossing the Queen Elizabeth Driveway to the Rideau Canal Western Pathway

Riding along the Rideau Canal Western Pathway

Not too far along you will see the Corktown pedestrian/bike bridge to your left heading over the canal. Cross it.

Exit off the Rideau Canal Pathway onto the Corktown Bridge – follow that guy.

Continue down to the signalised crossing at Colonel By Drive and ride under the transitway and up along the winding path to the Ottawa U campus.

Crossing Colonel By Drive heading under the transitway (they were putting down nice new pavers)

Ride straight ahead along Marie Curie Private and across King Edward Avenue at the lights. Head straight on down the hill along Somerset St East. Bike lanes appear a couple of blocks past King Edward that lead all the way to Strathcona Park.

Entrance to Strathcona Park at Somerset St East.

Odyssey Theatre’s performances are at the northern end of the park, while The Fools set up a little closer to Somerset, as indicated on the above map. I’ve also spotted the location of the Strathcona fountain and the Brathwaite play structure on the map.