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While travelling along Armstrong Street on my way to the Great Canadian Theatre Company where I’ve been designing the set and costumes for Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet, I often hear the wonderful bells of the Église Saint-François d’Assise ring out one block south on Wellington St. W. The church is a grand and important heritage edifice in the community of Hintonburg, but getting to it safely by bike isn’t obvious. Wellington is very narrow with lots of car and truck traffic. So, here’s my recommended safe bike route to get there, heading east.

Our short adventure begins on the Wellington St bridge over the O-Train tracks, at the top of the ramp that comes up from the path that runs along the tracks. You will find yourself on the south side of Wellington. Walk your bike a hundred yards west along Wellington to Breezehill Ave. It isn’t worth trying to cross Wellington at the top of the busy traffic bridge along the bike lane, only to have to cross back again to access Breezehill.

Turn left on Breezehill, then right on Laurel. This will take you along quiet residential streets, EXCEPT at the start of the school day when it becomes a bit frantic as folks drop off their kids at Devonshire School on Primrose.

Turn left on Irving St where Laurel ends. Continue along Irving for a short distance and be on the lookout for a little lane that cuts across to Fairmont Avenue. Take it, then turn right on Fairmont. You will be approaching the church from the back. Here it is as seen from Wellington.

This blogger posted more info on the church, including this great SoundCloud recording of the church bells ringing at noon.

Quite the site and sounds to behold, well worth the visit.

InsulBrick is a tar coated fibreboard siding introduced in the 1930’s which remained popular up to and through the 1960’s. It has a slightly embossed stone or brick pattern and added granular material on the outer surface. It hasn’t been manufactured since the early 70’s, so what’s out there is the original material. All surviving examples show signs of aging, some gracefully, others, some may argue, not so much. Regardless, all suggest a rich history of protecting generations of occupants through many decades. Here’s a tour of dwellings that I’ve noticed in the area still wrapped in the stuff.

First stop is on the edge of the Gatineau River along Rue Jacques Cartier, a bit north of the Lady Aberdeen Bridge. It appears to be holding its own.

Next stop is in Hintonburg at the corner on Hinchey and Armstrong, not far from the Parkdale Market. This one’s my favorite. It has a bunch of nice touches, like an old wooden front door (not in picture) and round wooden porch columns. One senses a lot of tender loving care goes into maintaining this home.

Last stop is in Chinatown on Arthur Street, a block away from home. This is the saddest of the lot, as it is gradually crumbling into complete disrepair. You can see the exposed original wood siding beneath where the Insulstone is falling away. (Nov ’13 update – This house recently caught fire. So sad.)

So there you have it – a tour of some of the few remaining InsulBrick covered houses in the region.

Oct 2014 update – I’ve posted a second tour of Insulbrick covered houses in the region. Click here!

 

Back in 1959 a Kingstonian by the name of Mel Barr bought a bunch of land Southwest of Ottawa with the intention of building a racecourse. Those plans got messed up when the Rideau Carleton Raceway beat him to it, so he sub-divided the land and sold it to various developers. This started a flourish of housing developments in what was previously an expanse of rural homesteads. And so it was…and so it continues to be, as the majority of the remaining landholdings in the area are owned by developers who continue the suburban trend started by good old Mel. Early Saturday morning I plotted two bike routes to Barrhaven and headed off to test them out. The blue line shows the route I took to get there, purple line is how I got back.

UPDATE 2018 : Modifications to Prince of Wales between Hunt Club and Standherd, including the addition of bike lanes, are happening!

There is a paved shoulder along Prince of Wales Drive from Dows Lake to Hunt Club Road that looks mostly like this ….

…except where the shoulder dangerously disappears just before and up to Rideau Heights Lane like so. I rode along the strip of gravel off to the side.

Beyond Hunt Club Road there is a paved shoulder to bike along, albeit narrower and in rough shape, like so.

Design plans do exist to widen Prince of Wales between Hunt Club and Woodroffe Avenue to include bike lanes but the project’s implementation phase is scheduled anywhere between 2016-2022.

Riding conditions improve dramatically along the sections of Fallowfield Road, Merivale Road and Leikin Drive that I followed. The shoulders are in much better shape and identified as bike lanes, like so.

The residential area I biked through seems to have been developed in the 70’s and 80’s, based on the size of the trees and style of architecture. A good thing about having various species of big trees on front yards in many suburban developments is how they lend some distinction to properties whose houses are very similar in design.

The area was also developed before the regional amalgamation when it was still part of the city of Nepean, as suggested by the design of these park signs. They have been around long enough now to have acquired a 70’s retro feel – poured concrete structures, big comfy corner radii and Helvetica typeface in all caps.

Time to head home. I followed Fallowfield to this very nice recreational pathway that runs along Woodroffe through the Greenbelt.

The path circles behind the Nepean Sportsplex and crosses West Hunt Club Road at this dedicated cross walk.

Eventually the path meets Woodfield Drive which I followed to Merivale Road. This section of Merivale doesn’t have the generous bike lane experienced further south. But it does have a paved strip one sometimes finds between busy roads and sidewalks, like so.

I followed it as far as Colonnade Road. Colonnade has no shoulder. Fortunately a bike path turn off is just a short ways along, like so.

UPDATE – August 2015: A new bike path along Colonnade, linking Merivale Road to the bike path described above has been installed!

I continued along the path until I reached the option to turn along a path that follows Nepean Creek, which I did.

I then followed it up to Viewmount Drive, which has this great big allotment garden running alongside it.

I followed Viewmount until it reached Fisher Avenue. Ah, Fisher, if only it had bike lanes. It would accomplish wonders in advancing the popularity of bike commuting for so many Ottawans living south-west of downtown. The room is there. At present however, there are none and it’s a dangerous stretch as a result. It wasn’t too bad at 7 am Saturday morning, but I’ve riden down it during regular weekly working hours and it’s pretty scary. If I was following this route as my bike commute from Barrhaven I might consider heading south on Fisher and riding along Prince of Wales into town. But for this route I headed north along Fisher until it met up with the Experimental Farm Pathway.

So there you go – two ways to bike to Barrhaven. Neither perfect, but still very do-able and, for the most part, very pleasant. I look forward to re-visiting Mel Barr’s old stomping grounds, to further explore the subtle layers of character introduced over its relatively short history of modern development.

p.s. Here’s another route I followed to get to Barrhaven last summer – (click on this red text).

Cuteness abounds all over the city at this time of year. Here’s a tour that will take you some seasonal sweet spots.

I caught this little guy feasting on some remaining bulbs in the tulip gardens at Dow’s Lake.

Along the canal between the Hartwell and Hogs Back Locks there’s a good chance you’ll catch a peek of this ducky family.

To get to the Experimental Farm I followed this well worn path off Baseline.

These feathered fellas were having breakfast in Pinecrest Creek.

The Deschenes Rapids Lookout is an important migratory bird hangout, with interpretive panels telling you all about it. These Canada Geese were settling down for a nap.

I’ve come across a number of folks in Ottawa who aren’t terribly fond of these guys, due to their appetite for expensive seeds, or their propensity to ‘fowl’ up the pathways along the river, but c’mon, you gotta admit, these goslings are CUTE!

I leave you with this wee little Inukshuk spotted along the pathway at the entrance to Nepean Bay.

All the excitement surrounding the new bike ramp at Hartwell Locks inspired me to come up with this tour of ramps I know of in the area. Felt like a giant version of Snakes and Ladders!

First, the new ramp itself at Hartwell Locks. Mmmmm, very nice!

The curbs have yet to be ground down at the intersection of the O-Train Path and Beech St, so someone poured these mini-concrete ramps to compensate. Much obliged. UPDATE 2017: The city has made this crossing level to the road.

A bit further along, where Louisa joins the O-Train Path, the city has installed this fabulous ramp.

To get up the stairs to Somerset St W from the O-Train Path path this steep ramp is there to help. What’s great about the black and yellow cross-hatched road decal isn’t so much it’s visual punch, but how it has a grit impregnated into it’s surface making for a much more controllable push up this particularly steep incline.

Should you wish to continue north there’s this mini-set of stairs and ramp to access Breezehill Ave on the north side of Somerset.

After circling along the Ottawa River Pathway behind the War Museum you can avoid the steep and nasty climb up Nanny Goat Hill along Bronson by heading a bit West and pushing your bike up this fabulous series of ramp joining the two sections of Empress Ave. You would be amazed the number of bike rides this mother of all Ottawa bike ramps has saved with tired kids in tow.

So, bravo for city of Ottawa for coming through on these ramp initiatives, any others I have yet to discover, and many more to come (fingers crossed).

p.s. Here’s a very interesting post by Hans on the merits of ramps, written a bit before the Hartwell Locks were installed.

Last week an essential component of my bike helmet snapped in the cold, so on Sunday morning I set out in search of a new one. Armed with great advice from friends in Twittersphere, I consulted the list of local bike shops on the Capital VéloFest links page and chose as many I felt confident I could get to within a 1-1/2 hour ride, stops included. Many shops were closed Sunday morning which eliminated a few along the way. Here’s how it panned out.

First stop, Tommy & Lefebvre on Bank Street. No helmets. Still in ski mode.

Next stop, Kunstadt Sports on Bank. Slim pickings, none of which fit. The helpful fellow serving me promised more would be arriving within the next two weeks. He also suggested some folks use ski helmets in the winter because of the built in ear warmers. Interesting concept. I’ve become accustomed to the versatility of using a balaklava when required.

On my way west towards Wellington I was happy to discover this nicely packed footpath through Commissioners Park beside Dow’s Lake. Perfectly fine for biking as long as you are prepared to hop off and walk your bike on the side of the trail when encountering pedestrians coming the other way. Following this packed path allowed me to avoid biking down a good length of dangerous Carling Avenue.

Sherwood Avenue, which cuts diagonally through the Civic Hospital neighbourhood, is lined with impressive big old houses. In contrast, this more recent interesting design at Sherwood and Fairmount caught my eye. Love how it conforms to its angled property. The choice of exterior materials is also interesting, particularly the glazed plywood panels. I’m guessing the panels are designed to be easily removed should they require replacing, as glazed ply doesn’t always age nicely in our climate.

Next shop stop – Fresh Air Experience on Wellington. Again, limited selection as they too are still in ski mode. The fellow serving me did manage to retrieve a couple of Bell helmets from the basement which fit, however the slim pickings were making me contemplate putting off my helmet hunt until the spring. Then I got to … BUSHTUKAH!

Great selection of helmets, from some on sale to newly arrived models in the pricier range. I liked the fit and price of this Giro model, and this Bell model.

One more stop on my itinerary – Mountain Equipment Co-op. I was pleased to discover they have a fine selection as well. Not as extensive as down the street, but still lots to choose from. They definitely have the best selection of funky helmets, such as these shown below. I tried a black one on but it didn’t quite fit. Many others were equally as comfortable as those I tried on at Bushtakah, but none matched in price.

Kudo’s to MEC for keeping their bike racks cleared of snow.

I headed back to Bushtukah…..

In the end I chose the Bell helmet – equally comfortable to the Giro, and slightly more comfortably priced at $32. Wore it on my ride back along Scott Street and arrived home pleased as punch with my purchase.

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.

I wanted to figure out a safe bike route to New Edinburgh, so yesterday I chose the old Fraser School House on John Street as my destination and set out. Along the way I happened upon a few other old teaching facilities. Here’s how.

The Laurier Street bike lanes are indeed a fine way to travel east-west through downtown, but another less busy option heading east is along Nepean Street. Google Maps shows it cut in two by Centennial Public School between Percy and Bay, but you can bike through the school parking lot and a paved lane on the south side of the school. Here’s the view down Nepean Street.

At the eastern end of Nepean Street where it intersects Elgin Street, sits the old Teachers College. Built in 1875, it was originally called the Normal School. Now it’s owned by the city and has been renamed The Heritage Building. Although it is connected to City Hall at the back, it remains true to it’s original character and detailing.

You can avoid riding along Elgin by continuing down the lane to the north of the Heritage Building, and then along this plowed and salted path between the court house and City Hall.

The only nasty part of this ride is along Laurier over the bridge. The bike lane was mostly snowed in, and cars always love to fly crazy like along this section of Laurier. But once off Laurier at Ottawa U, all is calm.

New Edinburgh is north, so I turned and headed that direction along Friel Street, which ends just north of Rideau, then continues as Beausoleil Drive. At the corner of York Street and Beausoliel Drive sits York Street Public School with wonderful ornately carved front and side entrances.Built in 1922, this school figures prominently in Brian Doyle’s popular book Angel Square.

There is a crosswalk where Beausoleil reaches busy St Patrick Street. Biking further north through residential streets, one arrives at Bordeleau Park on the edge of the Rideau River. There’s a path through the park, but it needs a few more days of trampling before it is firm enough to bike along.

Worth the short hike though, as there are great views to be had along this park such as this one looking out towards the old footings of the B&P Rideau River Bridge.

Opened in 1855, here’s a photo showing what the bridge looked like right around when it was removed in the mid 60’s.

The path between the park and Sussex Drive, on the other hand is plowed AND salted. I had hoped to cross the little white steel bridges along Union Street to avoid Sussex but the first bridge to Green Island is completely engulfed in plastic tarp and blocked off. Renovations I’m guessing.

Here are the pretty white bridges as seen from Sussex Drive. I also love the details on the building on the right and how close the windows come to the waters surface.

And this is where John Fraser taught children of workers from the New Edinburgh community shortly after it was built in 1837 by Thomas MacKay.

A great way to get across New Edinburgh heading west is along River Lane.

I walked my bike along the sidewalk over the St Patrick Street bridge so as to be able to access Charlotte Street on the other side. At the opposite end of Charlotte Street there is a path that winds through Macdonald Gardens Park. A gazebo sits atop the hill in the park which seems very popular with tobogganers.

A fine winters ride. Oh, I hear Santa! Better get to bed and pretend I’m asleep.