The Passionate Hiker: The Rideau Trail: Kettles Road (15E) to Richmond (17A)

Mon. 27 October: The Rideau Trail:

Kettles Road (15E) to Shea Road, Richmond (17A)

Marching north to Ottawa

I’m getting close. The signs that I was entering the gravitational field of the big city were plain to see. An “Ottawa Citizen” newspaper mailbox here; a golf driving range there; even the faintest distant roar of jets taking off from the international airport. And along the Franktown Road I came to my first Ottawa Transit bus stop sign – albeit still with over fifty kilometres to go to the end of the trail.

Yet at the same time this was still a wilderness walk in places. Starting at the northern end of the Marlborough Forest at Kettles Road, I crossed the railway line. This line carries the passenger trains from Toronto to Ottawa. Today it was a silent strip, with no sign of any trains. Having left the main section of forest behind me, I enjoyed the contrast of a stroll across open farm fields and tracks, heading northwards to Soldiers Line road.

From this point I followed a number of roads heading alternately northwest and then northeast, zig-zagging my way closer to Ottawa at each turn in the road. First Munster Road, then Jock Trail, followed by Greens Road, all quiet country byways.

At the end of Greens Road I came to Franktown Road, which is our particular favorite route when traveling from Perth to Ottawa: a country highway with long straight stretches and relatively free of traffic. If I had continued northeast on this road, I would soon have arrived in the sprawling village of Richmond. However, I turned off the highway at Conley Road, which dived back into the forest.

There had not been a lot to catch the eye along these stretches of road. I noticed a few signs that I was approaching the city, such as the first bus stop sign along Franktown Road. Here the #283 Ottawa Transit bus runs a weekday commuter service into town in the morning and back out to Munster Hamlet in the evening. At this point I was still about fifty five kilometres from my final destination in Ottawa - a surprisingly long way out of town to encounter a bus stop.

The biggest surprise along today’s route was the lonely road allowance which stretched for over five kilometres along Bleeks Road in a straight northeasterly line to a point to the north of Richmond. I had wrongly imagined an easy stroll beside farmers’ fields. Instead, I found myself negotiating a series of large puddles under a canopy of trees, mostly bare but some still showing their Fall colors. It was a soggy path, but I managed to keep my feet dry by hopping from one side of the trail to the other.

As I moved further towards the distant city, the forest started to give way to more open fields, until finally I came out onto a paved road, beside acres of cornfields, under a largely blue sky. This was much closer to what I had expected as I moved out into the wide Ottawa Valley.

Turning southeast, I marched beside the narrow Shea Road towards Richmond. Today’s journey ended at the Garvin Road junction, where the Rideau Trail turned northeastwards again. This would be the start of my next adventure. I seemed to be picking up the pace the further north I had come. This next section would see me reaching the streets of the City.

Statistics:

Total Distance: 18.9 km (hike)

Height Gain: Negligible

Time on Trail: 4 hrs. 2 mins.

Kettles Road (15E): 9.27 am

Soldiers Line (15F): 10.00 am

Jock & Munster(16A): 10.18 am

Greens Road (16B): 10.40 am

Franktown Rd (16C): 11.04 am

Bleeks Road (16D): 11.38 am

Joys Road (16E): 12.33 pm

Huntley Road (16F): 1.03 pm