The Lièvre and the Ottawa in winter

The Lièvre north of Buckingham

Autoroute 50, bridge over the Lièvre

Sunset over Ottawa

Flying in January, you need a good reason to get airborne, because it takes such a lot of uncomfortable effort preparing the 'plane before the flight and refitting the wing-covers, etc. afterwards. Once in the air, though, the views make all that effort worthwhile.

After flying up the Gatineau valley and across the hills towards Gatineau, my pilot decided to practise a long approach into Gatineau airport. With the wind coming from the west that meant having to land on runway 27, which entailed an instrument approach procedure taking us beyond the Rivière du Lièvre to the east before we could turn back towards the runway. That day, the rivers were ice covered rather than snowy, which made them easy to detect. We also had a good view of the new highway (Autoroute 50) to Montreal, now completed, with all its bridges in place.

Looking across the frozen Ottawa from the northern side,
Rockcliffe airport on the far bank

As we turned for home towards Ottawa, the sun was beginning to set and the light glinting off the ice on the Ottawa River made for some spectacular views in that direction, too.