A Sunday bike ride

Another day of occasional summer showers today; we only needed to shelter once on our ride to the Hogs Back Falls. The trail from New Edinburgh follows the Rideau River all the way, only winding a short distance from it at the end to zigzag through a sloping field. We kept pedalling until we reached the outdoor "Cantina" at the Falls, now a Lone Star outlet, where we stopped for some lunch and took a look at the Falls, then turned around and pedalled back the way we'd come. We could have crossed the Hogs Back Road bridge and returned beside the Rideau Canal, except that would have meant riding amongst the holiday traffic in town for the last few kilometres.

The 25km ride was fun and good for us, no doubt, with small uphills here and there to increase the heart rate. We passed ducks, geese, rapids and innumerable picnic tables in the parks. Many other cyclists were doing the same. In the Vincent Massey park where a large party of people were enjoying a barbeque, we noticed a stone monument telling passers by about the Canadian Workers Mourning Day (my birthday, April 28th) "in recognition of all workers killed and injured on the job."

The Capital Pathway network in our city extends for 236 kilometres, apparently. The distance we covered today was the same as my husband's (one way) cycle ride to work from downtown Ottawa to Kanata. That route is mostly beside the Ottawa River and also almost entirely on the NCC's recreational trails.

By the river on wheels

Green grass and willow trees by the Rideau,
between our house and the Minto Bridges

Cyclists and walkers are out in force today, everyone desperate for the sunshine after last week's cold, grey days, I assume. I'm glad to see so many parents teaching young children to ride their own little bikes along the paths. Chris and I have just come home from a short bike ride ourselves, following the trail by the Rideau River to the Hurdman corner and back, with a detour to the Rideau Falls where the viewing terrace is presently inaccessible, sealed off by a fence. I hope that means some reconstruction of the site will be happening soon.

Further upstream near the rapids between Strathcona Park and the Vanier park we sat on a bench watching the ducks, geese and people go by and enjoying the sparkle on the water. The trees are all turning green now (with catkins on the birches and bright red blossom on the maples) and there are many dandelions flowering in the green grass. We day-dreamed about cycling all the way to Kingston which at a pace of three or four hours cycling a day would take three or four days, depending on how strong we felt.