Author: ottawavelo

There’s an area east of the Gatineau River where most of the streets are named after French regions, cities or communes. Yesterday morning I biked over and checked some of them out.

Here is the Gatineau River where it flows into the Ottawa River, as seen for the Lady Aberdeen Bridge.

From Rue St Louis along the river I turned up the bike lane that runs parallel to Rue de Picardie, (below on the left) which joined this dedicated bike lane along Rue des Flandres (below on the right).

The area is bordered on three sides by the Gatineau River, highway 50 and avenue Gatineau. Based on the styles of houses I’d guess the area was developed in the fifties and sixties.

Many of the front yards are graced with full deciduous trees looking glorious at this time of year.

On Monday afternoon Carla and I headed east to explore Richelieu Park. We took a slight detour along the way to have a peek at Gamman House, purported to be the oldest house in the pre-amalgamated city of Vanier. Here’s the route we followed.

I was anxious to see what shape Gamman House was in, since the image on Google Street view shows it boarded up and seemingly abandoned. According to this article recent plans to turn it into the Ottawa’s Workers’ Heritage Centre Museum have fallen through. When we pedaled up to it I was pleased to discover the exterior in good shape. Renovations are being done on the inside. What it will be used for I don’t know.

UPDATE, April 12, 2013 – Gamman House has been turned into an artists studio!

On the way to Richelieu Park we came across this eye catching and well preserved old house. A little plaque says it was built in 1923. A sign on the gate post reads ‘CHAT LUNATIQUE’.

Further along just before turning up Avenue des Pères Blancs sits this fantastic house with a front yard that pulls out all the stops. UPDATE Summer 2017 – All the lawn ornaments have sadly been removed.

Avenue des Pères Blancs is a nice long street leading up past stone pillars into Richelieu Park.

The Pères Blancs is a Catholic Society of Missionairies of Africa whose scholasticate occupied the site of Richelieu Park. They were expropriated by the city of Vanier when the province ordered the city to acquire more park land. This statue of the Virgin Mary left by the missionaries greets visitors as they enter the park.

Sneaking around the back of the building on the right, we came across this impressive communal garden.

Other vestiges of the Pères’ presence are scattered throughout the Park, like this white cross sitting in amongst the trees.

But the trees themselves are the most memorable offerings the Pères left for us to enjoy – hundreds of sugar maples which continue to be tapped annually, boiled down to maple syrup in their sugar shack, and celebrated during the Spring Maple Sugar Fest. Never been, but I hope to now that I know about it. Here’s the sugar shack.

And here is one of the many paths we followed through the trees.

We exited to the East and biked up Saint-Laurent Boulevard. Carla lived in this part of town when she was really young, and remembers this great vintage DQ sign always being there.

Too chilly for ice cream, so we retraced our path down St-Laurent and worked our way back through Beechwood Cemetery, which is extremely picturesque especially at this time of year with all the leaves on the huge trees changing colours. So why didn’t I take any photos? I dunno.

Beechwood Avenue to the north of the cemetery is a nice street but not so great for biking. Cars go fast and there isn’t much of a shoulder.

So if you don’t find it too creepy, biking through the cemetery is a much better option.

I love re-visiting favourite routes with friends and family, so yesterday I led a bunch of kinfolk down paths through the Central Experimental Farm. Here’s where we went.

We started at the western end of the farm where my sister lives.

My sister discovered this swap box a few days ago while biking to work. She knew I’d be interested as we have our own homemade one in front of our house. Turns out both share the same inspiration – the fabulous artist Elmaks, who used to mount his own wonderful boxes throughout the city. The folks who made this one did so in honour of him. You can read all about it here.

We approached the box all prepared. We swapped a mini skate boarder figurine, little rubber duck and party horn, for a dog poop bag (empty of course), a sketch book with mini pen, and a marble dispenser. That’s my talented young artist nephew on the left who is studying in Montreal. That’s my very talented architect sister on the right who works in Ottawa. And that’s my extremely fantastic but a little bit shy daughter in the middle.

Next stop was the Canadian Organic Growers Demonstration Garden which my brother-in-law told us to look out for. It sits on the edge of the Ornamental Gardens, and consists of a wonderful display of various types of beds, including a rockery, perrenial bed, herb bed, fruit bed and fragrance bed. There’s even a bed of plants attractive to bees and butterflies, and all organically grown. They’ve got free pamphlets available from a dispenser at the entrance to the garden that tell you all about it.

Next we headed down Morningside Lane. In various locations along the edge of the larger farm plots are maps such as this one just off Morningside Lane explaining what’s been planted in the surrounding fields.

After crossing Prince of Wales Drive we headed over to the Fletcher Field Wildlife Garden.

A narrow path with interpretive signs meanders through this intimate natural garden, so intimate and sensitive that I recommend walking versus riding along it. It’s a short path and well worth the stroll.

And finally, the Arboretum, my favorite part of the Experimental Farm. Wonderful wide trails meander past all sorts of trees, familiar and exotic. There’s a map here explaining the various groupings of trees, or this book published by the Friends of the Farm which also serves as a guide through the Arboretum.

And finally home, where our own happy swap box was there to greet us upon our safe return.