Dick Bell Park

The Dick Bell Park is by the Nepean Sailing Club, bottom right on this map

Dick Bell, born in Britannia, just downstream of the park named after him, represented Carleton as an MP in the 1950s and 60s.

Next door to Andrew Haydon Park, the Dick Bell Park, as I thought (not for the first time) when I took a walk with a friend there yesterday, offers one of the wildest and most wonderful views in Ottawa. From the footpath to the small lighthouse at the mouth of the marina there, turn to the west! The Ottawa River (this wide stretch—2km wide—is known as Lac Deschenes) with the hills on the Quebec side stretching away into the distance is a sight that makes you forget you're still standing within the city limits. At this time of year the view of this stretch of the Ottawa looks particularly splendid, with the bay still covered with snow and ice: no water yet for the geese to land on, but when the ice melts here they'll flock here in their hundreds, to rest in the evenings after feeding from nearby cornfields.

I have often pulled off Carling Avenue here and parked at the entrance to the park in order to gaze at this relaxing view.

The northwest winds do bite at this spot in winter, though. This week's bright sunlight is deceptive. Our walk was bracing and rather short; we weren't properly dressed for it. Despite the fact that we have nearly reached the month of April, the "feels like" temperature has dropped as low as -19ºC these last two days. It pays to think positively and call it refreshing to breathe this cold air after being cooped up indoors or inside a car.

The Dick Bell Park is home to the Nepean Sailing Club and becomes a stopover for purple sandpipers in the autumn. "Without question," claims the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club, "the best year-round birding hotspot in Ottawa."

All the boats kept at the sailing club are lifted out of the water by crane at the end of the boating season and kept under covers on dry land throughout the winter, not returned to their moorings until Launch Day (this year scheduled for April 30th). So the dock and jetties are bound to look deserted for about two-thirds of the year. One day deep in winter a few years ago our Diplomatic Hospitality Group visited the club premises in winter, took some diplomats snowshoeing across the ice on the marina and encountered an ice-fisherman making a catch there. He actually handed over his fish as a gift to one of the Indonesians!