OttawaVeloOutaouais

Biking to the Westboro Superstore from Centretown

Centretowners are blessed with a multitude of fine grocery stores where they can purchase all sorts of unique yummy stuff, be it homemade dumplings on Somerset, or stuffed sausages on Preston. But many Centretowners also need to get to a store that sells the staples at reasonable prices. The Real Canadian Superstore in Westboro is the closest, but it can be a nerve wracking bike ride to get there, especially during regular shopping hours. Instinct would suggest riding down Wellington St W, which turns into Richmond Rd. It is the oldest westwardly street in the region, retaining it’s narrow layout, lined with heritage buildings and historical anecdotes. But over time it has morphed from a human scale promenade to a car traffic, not-very-bike-friendly, ‘artery’. Most surrounding streets have much fewer cars and more room to safely bike along. Here are two suggested bike friendly routes that weave their way through such less travelled vehicular veins, one I take to get there (in orange), the other I follow to get back to Centretown (in blue).

Assuming all Centretown biker’s have discovered their favorite way to get to the O-train bike path, this route starts along the path at the base of the long incline on the south side of the Somerset bridge.

Head on up the incline to Somerset, cross the street, ride along the bike lane over the bridge, and take this mini-flight of stairs (bike trough included) down to Breezehill Ave N on the north side of the bridge, right beside Takaki’s.

Mini stairs with ramp at Somerset and Takaki's — Mini stairs with ramp at Somerset and Takaki’s

You can avoid Somerset/Wellington by weaving your way to Armstrong St, as shown on the map. (n.b. If you choose to return along this route there is a bike lane along the short stretch of Garland St which is otherwise a one way heading north). Big bonus to this route is you get to go right past Parkdale Market and pick up any farmer fresh produce that might be on your shopping list.

You’re going to eventually have to cross Wellington. I suggest you do so at Caroline and Wellington. It isn’t a direct crossing, as per the photo below, so walk your bike all of 10 yards or so to the lights.

On the other side of Wellington you will find yourself on Harmer Avenue. Continue along Harmer to Byron, then follow the paved path that runs along Byron. This is one of the most civilized paths in Ottawa, accommodating a harmonious mix of bikers, dog walkers, kids walking/biking to school, etc.

From this path you can pop right through to the Superstore parking lot and weave your way to the bike racks at the western corner of the store on Richmond.

Et voila!

Now, how do you get all of THIS back to Centretown?!

Chaque à son gout (big back pack; trailer; cargo bike; etc), but I recommend expandable panniers like these ones. They are also excellent for touring. And buy your milk at the Shoppers Drug Mart at Bank along the Laurier bike lane. Cheaper, and avoids those heavy milk bags taking up valuable pannier real estate.

OK, alternative route #2 – heading home.

Cross Richmond Rd (which was Wellington further East) at Kirkwood.

At the end of Kirkwood take this path link to W. Village Private. Assume W. Village is the name of a distinguished Canadian soldier and carry right on through.

Cross busy Scott to Lanark Ave.

Lanark eventually veers West, which isn’t where you want to go, so hop the sidewalk over to Latchford Road, like so. Fear not, the sidewalk is ramped on both sides.

Weave you way easterly along quiet streets shown on the map until you reach Carleton Ave. Head north along the link to the Ottawa River Pathway. Here’s the elegant Parkway underpass that gets you to the river.

Follow the Ottawa River Pathway all the way to the turn off to the O-Train path, and head on home. Whoda thunk grocery shopping could be so much fun?

Ahhh Spring…. the schmaltzy tour.

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.

Early morning family outing — Family outing

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

Path to Experimental Farm off Baseline. — Path to Experimental Farm.

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.

40 km Bike Loop to Aylmer, Almost Entirely Along Pathways

Here’s a good early morning loop to Aylmer and back.

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Every time I see a biker heading over the Pont de la Chaudière I cringe in fear for their safety due to the speeding traffic and limited space. However at 5:30 am it isn’t so bad. It also affords the only view of the Chaudière Falls, an amazing natural formation hidden from all other vantage points by an assortment of crumbling industries.
UPDATE- Summer 2015: The industrial buildings surrounding the falls have been sold to a developer. Plans include providing public access to the site with views onto the Chaudière Falls. See 30 second mark into this promo video.

The Voyageurs Pathway mostly twists and turns along the rivers edge like so, all the way to Aylmer.

There are a number of clearings along the way where you can pause and ponder the majestic Ottawa River, such as this spot looking out upon the foundations of long abandoned mills.

This pathway bridge floats above a boggy stretch.

In the Spring there are a few spots along the path that risk being a bit waterlogged, but they usually can be negotiated along short impromptu desire lines.

The path veers away from the river on the outskirts of Aylmer and continues straight through towards the centre of town.

Once in Aylmer I cut north along Front Street to check out these two heritage buildings, the Symmes House and the Parker House, both described on this web site.

I continued north along Front street to join the Pionneers Pathway. Beyond the two buildings previously mentioned, Front Street is pretty boring, filled with lots of traffic, so after you’ve checked out the two heritage buildings I recommend getting back on the Voyageurs Pathway and continuing around through Parc des Cèdres, as I’ve hi-lited in orange on the above map.

The Pionneer Path follows along the Boulevard des Allumeteries most of the way. It’s more of a commuter route than the Voyageurs Pathway, but still a very pleasant ride.

Eventually it veers south through a mixed area of woods and houses and gets a bit confusing as it twists and turns southward. Fear not, it eventually intersects Boulevard des Trembles and its bike path that runs directly east across Boulevard St-Raymond.

Once beyond Boulevard Saint Raymond the path becomes the Moore Farm Estate Pathway. It’s a stone dust path that heads south through this heritage farm. There are a few well preserved old farm buildings on the estate including this fabulous barn.

Looks like someone has torn off a small piece of barn board to look in.

And this is what they saw.

The Moore Farm Estate Pathway ends at Boulevard Alexandre-Taché, which I qualify as one of the worst roads to bike along in the region, however one need only follow it for a very short distance before cutting through the STO Park-and-Ride parking lot to Boulevard Lucerne. This is a quiet street which brings you to Moussette Park and then on to the Voyageurs Pathway for the ride back in to Ottawa. Rather than crossing back over the Chaudière Bridge, follow the path to and over the Portage Bridge.

Et voila!

Bike Ramp Tour

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.

Concrete Ramp at Louisa — Concrete Ramp at Beech

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.

Bike Ride to Stony Swamp to View the Incredible Remains of Last Summer’s Forest Fire

On two previous occasions I’ve tried to check out the remains of last summer’s Stony Swamp forest fire, as described here and here, but was denied access to the site. So when Pedro suggested we ride out there Sunday morning I thought OK, let’s try again! Well man-oh-man it was definitely worth it. Here’s how it went.

Blue line is how we got there. Orange line is the route home.

On my previous trips to the swamp I headed out along the Ottawa River Pathway, but this time we scouted out a route through the Experimental Farm, and made it all the way, mostly along paths, without ever having to ride along a busy road. The trickiest part was figuring out how to get from the end of the Experimental Farm Pathway at Woodroffe to Stony Swamp. It helped that Pedro almost grew up in the area during his teen years. Here he is in front of the house he lived in on Hobart Crescent.

Pedro in his old 'hood — Pedro in his old ‘hood

OK, straight to the site of the forest fire. It was mind blowing. Check it out.

The path from the pond through the area affected by the fire is covered in this mulch, which requires extra energy to bike through, although it shouldn’t take too long before it’s all packed down.

We chose to head home along the Ottawa River, taking advantage of NCC’s Sunday Bike Days to ride on the parkway devoid of vehicles.

Pedro taught me about drafting. Mostly me behind him. Now he’s a much stronger rider than I, so we kept up a pace that was challenging but didn’t leave me exhausted. Nor did he make me feel like I was holding him back. It was a whole lot of fun. I highly recommend everyone get themselves a bike buddy like Pedro.

Andrew King’s Tee Tour

Local guy Andrew King has put out two clever series of t-shirts with screen prints borrowing from some Ottawa sign graphics from yesteryear. Here’s a tour with images of the signs that still exist from his first series of tees.

First stop, Jules Patry, as seen from the Somerset Bridge over the O-Train tracks. It’s on the southern facing wall of the City Centre building. On his web page Andrew acknowledges the tongue-in-cheek typo on his shirt, Pastry vs Patry, because most folks do mistakenly think it reads as Pastry, or Party. EDIT 2017 – The Jules Patry sign is long gone.

Speaking of City Centre, There used to be big distinct channel letters on the hi-rise part of the building, but they’ve been removed! Fortunately they are depicted on another one of Andrew’s t-shirts from the same series.

Stop #2 – West Park Bowling on Somerset near Holland Ave. Great sign, great bowling alley.

Next stop – Civic Pharmacy on Carling. Love it.

And finally, the Elphin. Hope they replace his foot.

Andrew’s t-shirt designs help remind us how these and other great heritage signs are to be cherished, and how much they contribute to the city’s character.

Bruce Garner – A bicycle tour of his sculptures, Part 2

After posting my first bike tour of Bruce Garner’s sculptures in and around downtown Ottawa, his wife Tamaya got in touch and generously forwarded me locations of a number of other pieces throughout Ottawa I didn’t know of, or didn’t realise were his creations. Pleased as punch, I subsequently put together this second tour.

First stop – Children of the Wind, tucked off of Wellington across the street from the Library and Archives Canada building.

The next two are in Lowertown. To get there I rode along the Voyageur Pathway on the Quebec side.

Phoenix is located on the lawn of a private home at 152 St Patrick St.

Succor is located a few blocks north at the entrance to the Elizabeth Bruyère Centre.

Next stop – Ulysses, in the courtyard of the University of Ottawa Arts building. A majestic grouping of figures in a wonderful setting. This has become my favorite of Bruce’s sculptures.

The final sculpture on the tour is Play Pals, located in Brewer Park.

There is also a sculpture Tamaya mentioned located downtown in the World Exchange Plaza, titled Moon Fragments, which I did not include on the tour as it is indoors, however I have marked its location on the map below, along with all of Bruce’s sculptures from tours 1 and 2, for those who may wish to plot a bike or walking tour of their own.{“type”:”block”,”srcClientIds”:[“5373212b-4257-4464-a624-cf1336ce3ca9″],”srcRootClientId”:””}

UPDATE – July 2018: While biking through Barrhaven I discovered this work by Bruce, located on the south-west corner of Malvern Drive and Greenbank Road. I’ve added it to the map below.

UPDATE – March 2021: Here is another wonderful sculpture by Bruce from 1975 located in Ambleside Park, as noted by Tania Garner-Tomas in the comments. Thank you Tania! I’ve added it’s location to the map below.

Thank you Bruce.

Green’s Creek in the East End

Our three big rivers – the Ottawa, Rideau, and Gatineau – get all the attention when it comes to local waterways, however there’s a little creek in the east end full of charm and grace that quietly weaves it’s way north. I was very fortunate to happen upon a short section of it by accident during one of my rides. You can too. Here’s how.

This all happened while on a bike errand to the Home Depot in the east end. I decided to make the most of it and explore a trail noted on Google Maps a bit further east off Innes Road as it heads through the Greenbelt.

While venturing along, I noticed another path turning off to the right. It lead me over this old abandoned train bridge…

… winding up at the back of this big box store that fronts onto Innes Road…

…so I turned around.

Crossing back over the train bridge I noticed another unmarked path that continued along the bank of Green’s Creek. Couldn’t resist. Now this is pretty much a foot path, so I recommend either walking/carrying you bike most of the way, or locking your bike to a tree and exploring by foot. You will not be disappointed.

Little falls along Greens Creek — Little falls

Along the shore there are many hints that this was not always a predominantly natural environment, as suggested by these remains.

The path eventually veers away from the creek as it comes upon the Trans-Canada Highway, and ends a bit further along at some train tracks.

I turned around and headed back to the marked trail, which takes you between two farmers fields like so.

This leads to the wider stone dust Prescott Russell rail-to-trail path that you can follow all the way to Quebec.

I headed back along Anderson Road.

Fantastic bike loop through Gatineau!…usually…

This route is one of my favorites through Gatineau because it is entirely along bike paths… most of the time… but not right now. The swollen Ottawa River has flooded sections of the path near and around Lac Leamy. Another section beyond the lake is closed due to construction of rapid transit facilities, forcing one to detour along a road. This section of path will be reopened in the Fall. HOWEVER, it’s still a fine ride, which will become great once the water recedes, and fantastic when they finish building the rapid transit.

Blue line is where I biked. Red lines are the flooded sections of path. Orange line is the section of path blocked off until the Fall.

The tunnel where the Ruisseau-de-la-Brasserie Pathway goes under the Autoroute de la Gatineau is flooded. I rode through and got my feet soaked.

The section of path along the eastern shore of Lac Leamy is flooded as well, but avoidable by biking inland to the parking lot.

The Leamy Creek Pathway weaves it’s way through the woods like so.

Along the Gatineau Park Pathway heading south there are a number of huge impressive boulders like this one gathered at the top of a hill. I’m guessing they were dragged there by a glacier.

Sisyphus' training grounds — Sisyphus’ training grounds

I was worried the Voyageur Pathway along the Ottawa River above the Chaudiere dam would be flooded as well, but it wasn’t, so smooth sailing all the way home.

La Côte d’Azure à la Gatineau

The Côte d’Azure, or French Riviera, is a beautiful hilly region overlooking the Mediterranean sea. There is an area of La Ville de Gatineau with streets named after popular spots along the Côte d’Azure (Rue de Cannes, Rue de Monte Carlo, Rue de Roquebrune, etc). It’s hilly too, and looks out over its own body of water, the Gatineau River. That’s where the similarities end. It’s a fine residential area of Gatineau to bike through. You can do a little bit of switch back climbing while taking in a few interesting house designs.

To get there I biked along Boulevard St Joseph, which isn’t too bad at 6:30 am, but I suggest the much more pleasant route hi-lited in green. Mostly along bike paths, it follows Boulevard de la Carriere for a bit, as a section of the Gatineau River Pathway is closed this summer for rapid transit construction.

Here’s an interesting house I spotted on the Gatineau Riviera.

Try to find the front door... — Try to spot the front door…

I followed this short path at the top of the hill through Parc Saint-Exupéry, named after the author of Le Petit Prince.

Here’s another interesting house looking out across to the Gatineau hills.

The path along the Ottawa River just west of the Lady Aberdeen Bridge is partially flooded out, but there’s a beaten path you can follow to get around it. The rest is clear sailing.