Thurston Drive

Biked to and along Thurston Drive, because I never have before.

From Pleasant Park I joined a bike path which takes you through the Kilborn Allotment Gardens – an amazing HUGE community garden. This photo doesn’t do it justice – you have to see it for yourself.

Mika and I tend a little vegetable plot in the much smaller community garden at Lisgar and Lyon. I highly recommend it, even if you don’t know how to garden. I never even grew my own dandelion before we started ours last year, and we managed to cultivate some wonderful veggies, especially tomatoes. Community gardens are a fabulous way to meet people of all walks of life and share their gardening customs and preferences.

So, turns out Thurston Drive is a business park, as this wonderful period sign announces when entering off Conroy Road. I’m thinking 1970’s, back when the city crest was it’s logo, and poured concrete was very stylin’.

It’s a nice little business park – lot’s of greenery.

Here’s what can be seen at the other end of Thurston Drive.

Petrie Islands Park

Here is a fabulous ride to Petrie Islands Park along the Ottawa River Pathway. Starting from Centretown it’s a 27 km ride one way, or 54 km return.

It’s always a good sign when long sections of the chosen bike route are designated as dark green in Google Maps. That means bike paths.

The Ottawa River Pathway is the most serene ride in the region. Long stretches hugging the shoreline without interruption and the sound of the tight packed stone dust crunching beneath one’s tires is mesmerising, particularly in the early morning as the mist rises up off the river and teams of rowers can be seen gliding across the water’s surface.

Once arrived at Petrie Islands Park you can go for a hike along the Turtle Trail and River Loop Trail. The info centre is very precious, run by volunteers who are passionate about conserving this natural habitat. There’s also a very nice beach on Petrie Island.

On the way back I took advantage of the NCC Sunday Bikedays whereby on Sundays throughout the summer they close off major parkways under their jurisdiction to motorised vehicules. The level of participation I witnessed along the Rockcliffe Parkway was incredible – all ages, on all sorts of bikes and rollerblades. Very inspiring.