Bicycling Ottawa - The Rideau Canal and Rideau River Trails

Our main purpose for stopping here in Cardinal/Iroquois was to get up to visit Ottawa - Canada's capital city.  We waited for today, a weekday with forecast sunny, warmer weather.  We were well rewarded!

We drove about 60 miles up the 416 and north along the scenic Prince of Wales Boulevard to Hogs Back Park, about 8 miles south of the center of Ottawa, where we parked and started our bicycle ride. Here at the Hogs Back Locks, the Rideau River and Rideau Canal separate on their journeys to join the Ottawa River below the Parliament buildings.  FOUR distinct bicycle trails can be accessed from here - along the west or east banks of the Canal, or along the west or east banks of the River.  We chose to bicycle down the east bank of the Canal into the city center, and then back out along the east bank of the River.

Here, Great White looks longingly after Kathy as she prepares to cross the walkway over the Hogs Back Lock to access the Rideau Canal East Bike Path:

In French, "rideau" means "curtain," which French explorer Samuel de Chalmplain used to describe the original presentation the falls of the Rideau River made as it approached its confluence with the Ottawa River.  Where the locks begin and separate the canal from the river, the water roars down a manmade precipice from the large lake that had to be built to supply the lock with water.  Note the high mist spray from the base of the falls:

Today, that roaring falls and mist created a rainbow as we looked downriver from the dam:

Looking further downriver, we could see some tall buildings of the city outskirts.  The river still shows some of the dramatic characteristics it exhibited before it was dammed, when the sharp cliffs and chasm created by the river reminded newly-arrived Europeans of a hog's back:

The canal is placid compared to the river.  Just after the two separate, they flow on opposite sides of Carleton University's campus.  On the canal side, all is peaceful save for the frantic pace of students heading to class:

Autumn is already showing some of its early colors here in Ottawa.  This tree was one of the more dramatic shows we saw:

Further down the canal, we passed TD Place Stadium,  It is the home of the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League and the Ottawa Fury of the North American Soccer League. It was previously known as Frank Clair Stadium:

While the Rideau Canal was originally built to permit commercial traffic an alternate water route between Montreal and Toronto in the event of a reprise of the War of 1812 with the Yankees, it ceased to be economically viable in comparison to rail and truck transport in the first half of the 20th Century.  Notwithstanding that obsolescence, the Canal actually sees more boats today, numerically, than it did at the height of its commercial use.  These, of course, are almost exclusively private craft. Here, a Paris-style tour boat wends its way lazily upstream as we cycle down:

Rounding a corner, we were gifted with this beautiful view of the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, which perches across the Canal from Parliament:

Pedaling closer to Parliament, we got a view of the government buildings themselves, watching over Sappers' Bridge and boats moored on the canal:

From a broad promenade at the Fairmount Chateau Laurier, we got a perfect view of the Ottawa Locks, with Parliament behind and to the left:

In the photo above, the Lockmaster's Office is on the left bank of the Canal in the foreground.  A smaller Commissariat Building is in the background.  The locks were designed and built by Lt. Colonel John By, and became the focus around which the city of Ottawa grew.

Presiding over the Canal, the Ottawa River and most of the center of the city is the great Parliament complex, highlighted by the Peace Tower (officially the Tower of Victory and Peace), a bell and clock tower that sits on the central axis of the Centre Block of the Canadian Parliament Buildings. The present tower replaced a 180-foot "Victoria Tower," which burned down in 1916, along with most of the Centre Block.  The Tower serves as a Canadian icon, and appears on the Canadian 20 dollar bill.

After taking in these sights, we repaired to D'Arcy McGees, a modern Irish Pub near Parliament, to have a scrumptious lunch.  David tried a traditional lamb pie, and Kathy tried a more trendy chicken tandoori wrap.  Here is Kathy showing off her lunch:

Thus reprovisioned, we set out to bicycle across town in search of the bike path back up the east bank of the Rideau River.  Here, Kathy discovers the Minto Bridges, spanning the Rideau River.  We've almost found our path!

As we turned up the path, we encountered an old inhabit-ent of the riverbank, who kindly let Kathy lean on his shoulder.

The Rideau River banks, while plentifully lined with parks and woods on both sides, are not nearly as finely landscaped as the Rideau Canal banks.  In fact, the wooded nature of the paths screened most views of the river, except in occasional spots.  At one of the few openings, we encountered a spirited Nunsuk holding court on the river:

Further up the river, we finally pedalled past the Carleton University campus, this time sitting across the river from us.  What a beautiful setting it has on the river.  In fact, we spotted two students fly fishing the riffles on our side of the stream.

As we neared our origin at Hogs Back Park, we stumbled on the remains of a major music festival that occupied the park this weekend:  the Ottawa Folk Festival.  Acts such as Blues Traveler and Foster the People performed here last week, but not when we were in the neighborhood, so we had elected not to attend on Saturday or Sunday.  Here, the sad remnants of the celebration remain, while the musicians and audience have found their way on to other activities:

Once past the festival detritus, we found our way back to Great White, mounted the bikes on its back, and headed out of the city, racing ahead of the early waves of Monday Rush Hour.  By the time we neared our campground, we were so far out in the country that one wouldn't even have known that a large city existed nearby.