Yesterday after Megan got off work we decided to take a quick paddling trip up the
Rideau Canal. It's a short waterway here in Ottawa not far from our house, although we were just going to do a short section of it as it heads over by Parliament.
We went in down by a place called Patterson Creek because there's a nice dock there and there's lots of parking, which is important when you have a good sized SUV and a trailer with a 17 foot boat on it.
the above pic "borrowed" from our previous adventureUnlike the last trip which was an hour's drive from the city, this one was just a few blocks across the city, although rush hour traffic with a trailer and boats hanging off the back is a bit of a challenge in it's own right!
This is the little offshoot of the Canal called Patterson Creek and it is nice because it offers a decent dock to get in and out of the water- although it is a bit high and getting the boat on and off is a bit difficult because of the narrow bridge to the dock and the handrails all around it. But, it's sheltered away from the larger boats on the main canal, so when the canal is busy (like in the summer) it really shines.
Patterson Creek is a couple of hundred meters long and maybe 40-50 wide with an island in it as well. Last year we paddled around the island on our first trip to the Canal but last night we didn't bother cause there really wasn't much to see there. And, unlike last year, we headed north on the Canal, towards Parliament and the locks to the Ottawa River, while last year we had gone south to Dow's Lake and (eventually) the Rideau River.
It's a very different experience to paddle through the heart of a city than it is to paddle out in the woods like we usually do, and honestly I enjoyed it quite a bit. Sure the traffic noise and thousands of people along the shoreline was a bit distracting, but it made a nice change from the massive amount of bugs we had to deal with in Gatineau Park!
I had taken a number of photos on the way towards the locks, but most ended up like the one above as the sun was in front of us- the pics I took on the way back were a lot better! Still, they show some of the cool stuff in Ottawa, for example, the castle you see in the background is the
Chateau Laurier.
There was some cool stuff along the way, like random art installations and historical architecture, which I realize may not seem that historical to our European members, but here in Canada it counts.
But what I really wanted to see were the locks- they are still operating and this summer I think I may have to actually go through them. It isn't cheap, but I think it's something that I really want to experience. It's an 80 foot (or so) drop to the Ottawa River and I think it is a series of 8 locks to get down, and the cost is measured by the length of your boat. Since we have a 17 and a 13 foot boat it will add up!
The first lock is pictured above, and is a bit intimidating when you are sitting at the top of it, especially since I don't think it's been operated yet this year and the water around it is kind of nasty!
Plus, you know, the HUGE drop!
Did I mention the nasty water? It was worth it to see in the lock and some of the old gear mechanisms, which are just decorative these days.
This photo was taken from the top of the lock back the way we came- this is a huge bridge that goes under one of the main intersections in the city, but as you can see is so much more impressive from the underside.
On the far side of the arches is my usual bike path and it looks cool in there too.... but I
really wanted to see it from the water, because the perspective really changes.
Being a wealthy city (Canada's version of Washington DC) there is art everywhere. I tried to get a photo of this painting under the overpass, but as you can see, that was a bit of a fail.
Still, the canal is a beautiful place. Yeah, there's traffic and people and it smells funny, but it is really cool paddling right through the heart of the Capital of Canada. The glass dome on the left in the above photo is the Shaw Center, and it is kind of cool to have modern architecture like that intermingled with the stone and brick work of the rest of the neighbourhood. I am sure some think it's an eyesore, but I think it just contributes to the fabric of a city with lots of diversity, lots of history (at least for Canada
) and all of the money from all of the other provinces....
We passed under this pedestrian bridge that I have biked past a million times but never over, so I never noticed that this is a Love Lock bridge.
People write theirs and their lover's names on a padlock, lock it to the bridge and throw the keys in the water to pollute it and kill the fish. I believe this practice was started on a bridge in Paris, over the Seine River. This of course lead to me making a joke about how people in Ottawa obviously thought they were "in-Seine" and I tended to agree.
But what city built on a river would be complete without a drawbridge? Ottawa certainly has one, and I of course was fascinated by it, as I am with all drawbridges. I can only imagine the conversation that took place when they were invented....
"We need a way to get across this river"
"Ok, let's build a bridge"
"But boats use this, we can't build a bridge"
"Ok, let's build a BIG bridge"
"That sounds like too much effort. There's not really that much on the other side worth that much effort is there?"
"Ok, so let's build a small bridge, and screw the people in boats."
"Dude, my
brother has a boat. I can't do that to him."
"Ok, let's build a small bridge, but leave a gap in it that we can jump across, but will still let boats pass"
"Man, my mom needs to get to the other side and she can't jump that far"
"Oh for Pete's sake..... Ok, fine then, let's build a bridge that isn't big, goes all the way across and, despite being an immovable object, it moves out of the way when boats come. Are you happy now?"
"I know that was sarcasm, because it was just invented last year, but I think you might be on to something...."
But, getting back to our trip....
Finally we got back to the bridge over the mouth of Patterson Creek and I figured it was also such a pretty bridge I would snap a picture of it. This was made easier by the fact that this wasn't one of those bridges that moves.
It is however, one of those bridges that is lit up at night by three LED units, which I also thought was really cool.
That's it- all in all it was a very short trip, at least by our standards, but it was exceptionally cool, and I doubt very much that this will be our last trip on the Rideau Canal!
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