2020 Canal Skateway Season Ends

At just 31 days of skating, the 2020 season of the Rideau Canal Skateway has been among the shortest, but it’s been wonderful nonetheless. After returning from Dublin in early February, I managed to get out on the Skateway a total of 11 times. Now that I can look back on some wonderful times.

The season opened on January 18 with ceremonies attended by Mayor Jim Watson, Hon. Catherine McKenna, the Ice Hogs and other dignitaries..

It was a bitterly cold day in Ottawa.

Not far away at the Lansdowne Skating Park, the Scottish Society of Ottawa hosted its sixth annual Great Canadian Kilt Skate.

Meanwhile, I was in Dublin, Ireland, drumming up support for the international kilt skate phenomenon and hosting the first-ever kilt skate on that side of the Atlantic.

I returned to Ottawa in time to meet Michael, a young Airbnb guest who had come up from Florida specifically to skate on the Rideau Canal.

His original plan was to arrive in January. I recommended February instead. Not only would the more consistently cold temperatures give a better chance that the skateway would be open, but Michael would be able to enjoy Winterlude — the winter festival hosted each February by the National Capital Commission.

Our first canal skate of the season was with Michael on February 6. We made the Bank Street Bridge.

We put on our skates at the entrance point.

Over the next 16 days, the Bank Street entrance to the Skateway was one of my favourites. It’s about a kilometer walk away from my home.

It’s a place where you can strike up a conversation with just about anyone, and a place where you run into old friends.

You run into lots of friends while skating on the Rideau Canal.

That first day, Michael and I skated northward toward downtown. I was able to show him some of the favourite places. First stop was the hut at Fifth Avenue where we could leave our boots to keep them warm.

Fifth Avenue is where you’ll also find one of the shacks where you can purchase that Ottawa delicacy: the Beavertail.

Some days when the blizzards blow in, the usually festive atmosphere at Fifth Avenue can appear forbidding.

Some days the chalets are a welcome place to put on your skates in the warm.

This year, Fifth Avenue was perhaps the most photographed spot along the Skateway. It featured a new vista with the opening of the Flora Footbridge across the canal.

In the winter, it’s easy enough to walk across the canal. In the summer, the new Flora Footbridge helps pedestrians and cyclists take a kilometer or two or three off the traverse.

The next stop on Michael’s first skate on the Rideau Canal was Patterson Creek where Queen Elizabeth Drive crosses a picturesque bridge.

Patterson Creek forms a quiet little backwater — or back ice — where skaters can usually find smooth ice and open space.

Next feature along the Skateway: Pretoria Bridge.

In the summer, boats pass under the drawbridge, but no sign of boaters in February.

And on we go. Because of construction to repair the canal walls, the Concord rest stop had been removed for the 2020 season. And because of the mild winter Ottawa has enjoyed this year, the canal was not open all the way to the Rideau end of the skateway.

In past years it’s been possible to skate all the way downtown. I used to skate to work, shoes in my backpack, briefcase in hand. This year, if I wanted to go to the Byward Market, I put my boots on at Somerset Avenue.

That first day on the ice, Michael and I returned to Pig Island, the closest skateway entrance to my home.

In recent years, the National Capital Commission has erected fire pits at Pig Island.

On that first skate with Michael, the skateway was closed further up the system, but in the coming weeks I took full advantage of the opportunity to continue west and south as sections of the skateway opened: the narrows:

Bronson Bridge.

The Bronson Avenue rest area.

Dow’s Lake.

Dow’s Lake Pavilion.

The final stretch toward Hartwell Locks and Carleton University.

And at last, Kilometer 7.8 — the terminus of the Rideau Canal Skateway.

These lads had driven with their family for seven hours to come to Ottawa and enjoy the last weekend of Winterlude on the Rideau Canal Skateway. They come every winter. For others, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. During the skate season I try to get out there every day.

That Saturday morning, February 22, I went early for my skate. The ice was perfect. By early afternoon, it was turning to slush. From Pretoria Bridge I watched skaters labouring to cover the ground.

The National Capital Commission closed the Skateway later that night. We hoped that colder weather would enable them to reopen but, alas, it was not to be. Still, 11 skates on the canal over the course of 16 days is pretty good. It’s great to be back in Ottawa for the skate season.