The Passionate Hiker

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Swanning around

Mon. March 20, 2023

Swanning around

We were hiking along the K&P Trail in Kingston today. I noticed this swan out on the Cataraqui River, seemingly enjoying a rest on a midstream ice flow.

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Today I was strolling down my street in the small town of Perth when I heard the sound of a woodpecker knocking on a tree. But it wasn't a tree - it was a high voltage electrical pole, and he was right at the top, surrounded by wires and insulators.

I only had my old cell phone with me, but it captured the scene, albeit a bit fuzzy.

The bird was a large pileated woodpecker.

It was quite a shock to see it up there on the pole - and I hope it didn't become a shock for the bird too!

The Passionate Hiker

Friday, September 30, 2022

Two Bridges (Part 2)

29 September: Two Bridges (Part 2)

The old CN rail bridge across the Ottawa River - view from the Quebec side

It didn’t take us very long to return to the Ottawa River to complete our bridge exploration – just two weeks in fact. Today’s explorations turned out to be much more than just a visit to the second bridge mentioned in my 15 September blog.

This old rail bridge crosses the Ottawa River from Morris Island, east of Arnprior, into Quebec. It seems to be known as the Fitzroy Harbour bridge, despite not being particularly close to that location.

This bridge has a latticed steel superstructure making it a more interesting sight than the Dingo Crossing bridge further upstream. And it is slightly longer. We crossed the bridge on our bikes, into Quebec, and then continued along the rail line for a few kilometres as far as Pontiac Station. Here the line emerges from the gloomy forest, drawing near to the northern shore of the wide Ottawa River. On the distant southern shore lies the town of Arnprior.

The surface of the track is very rough, and only suited (barely) to mountain bikes, which we both had. We made surprisingly good, if bumpy, progress, as long as we concentrated on the stony route beneath our tires.

Back at the Morris Island Conservation Area, we now set out on part two of our day’s adventure.

The long straight pathway leading eastwards through the Conservation Area is actually the railbed of the original Canadian Northern railway, built in 1915. The route of the line had to be shifted a few hundred metres to the south when the Chat Falls Dam was built in 1928-31. We found a forest trail leading to that line and turned east for a couple of kilometres to a fine railway bridge over a wide swampy river. The downstream side of the Chat Dam was partially visible to the north, with the overhead power lines striding southwards across the landscape.

The rail surface along this section was even more challenging, but we made it all the way back to the parking lot, making the day’s journey just under twenty kilometres – and with no punctures!

I doubt if many cyclists will have done what we did today. They are missing a good challenge, and a rewarding experience.

Sudden signs of Fall at the Morris Island Conservation Area

The route heads north to the river

At the bridge

A more interesting bridge than at Dingo Crossing

And a slightly longer bridge

The bridge structure

A sturdy superstructure

Into Quebec on a rocky surface

Baie du Chat, Pontiac, Quebec

Heading back

Deterring unwanted visitors

Ottawa River from the Quebec side of the bridge

Close-up: Arnprior on the far shore

The original Canadian Northern railbed - now a trail

Another fine bridge not far from Chat Falls Dam

A swampy arm of the river downstream from Chat Dam

This bridge was our easterly point (turned around here)

The first leg: 10.6 km

The second leg: 8.4 km

Sunday, September 18, 2022

Two Bridges

15 September: Two Bridges

A huge railway bridge unknown to most travellers

Not many people will know where this magnificent bridge is, unless they are keen snowmobilers. At this time of year, it lies hidden from view, on a remote section of the Ottawa River. Its unofficial name appears to be “Dingo Crossing”, and it lies a few kilometres up-river from Portage-du-Fort, only easily accessed from the Quebec side.

Looking south from Quebec towards Ontario

It's worth a special trip to see it, although it’s not easy to get down to the water’s edge for a better view of the whole bridge. The rail track approaches the river on a high embankment with steep sides. I decided not to try the steep gravel slopes, covered in undergrowth. It's about 400m across the river at this point. The views from the bridge are of classic Canadian scenery.

View of the Ottawa River from the bridge

And further downstream is a second large bridge near Fitzroy Harbour, which I plan to visit very soon.

These two bridges carried the CN railway across to Quebec and back, until only a few years ago, on its journey from Ottawa to Pembroke and beyond. I found on the internet this photo of an excursion train crossing the Fitzroy bridge in the late 1980s. I wish I had taken that journey.

Fitzroy bridge with an excursion train (1980s): photo from the internet

If you are looking for a different sort of adventure, and you are interested in old railway lines, then put both these bridges on your itinerary.

The Passionate Hiker

Sunday, September 11, 2022

The Royal Mile, Edinburgh: 1968

The Royal Mile, Edinburgh: 1968

What an introduction to Scotland – to be mistaken for Royalty. But that’s exactly what happened.

On our family tour of Scotland in 1968, we (my parents, my younger brother and myself) arrived in Edinburgh, which was crowded with visitors. Armed with tickets for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, we drove through the heart of Edinburgh and we turned off the main street (Princes Street) to find parking somewhere close to the castle, where the Tattoo was to take place.

Edinburgh Castle: 1968

We were surprised to find helpful policemen waving us on up the hill, and very soon we seemed to be the only vehicle in a sea of people walking up the Royal Mile to the castle. This felt very strange, but we continued to obey the traffic police until we found ourselves directed into a small parking area immediately in front of the castle gates. A policeman was standing there. My father wound down his window. The policeman looked into the car and said:

“You ARE part of the Royal party, aren’t you, sir?”

To which my father, with great presence of mind, took out our tickets and replied:

“There, does that make us any more royal?”

The policeman didn’t seem very amused, and we were ordered to relinquish the parking space immediately. The rest of us quickly jumped out of the car and my father drove carefully back down the Royal Mile through the oncoming crowds as the royal motorcade, containing the Queen and other important people, pulled into the vacated space.

People were looking at us curiously, wondering which of the royals we were. We quickly blended into the crowd and found our seats for the performance.

It was some time before our Dad joined us, having had some difficulty finding a non-royal parking space. Perhaps this was all recorded on the TV cameras, as the Tattoo was being telecast live on BBC, in front of the Queen.

Such was our arrival in Edinburgh.

The Passionate Hiker

Posted on the day that the convoy carrying the coffin of our late Queen arrived in Edinburgh from Balmoral Castle, driving down the Royal Mile on its way to Holyroodhouse.

Thursday, September 8, 2022

Long Live the King!

Thursday September 8: Long Live the King!

Today, Queen Elizabeth died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. I was just seven months old when she came to the throne. If it's possible to remember anything from such an early age, then my very first memory is of rows of small Union Jack flags hanging outside our house for the Queen's Coronation in 1953, when I was just two years old.

This picture I took when she visited the Nigg Bay oil platform construction yard in northern Scotland in August 1974.

The Queen is Dead - Long Live the King! King Charles III.

And here he is, as Prince Charles, in 1976. I took these photos of his visit to the Loch Kishorn oil platform construction yard in the northwestern Highlands of Scotland:

Finally, here is the view of the flagpole on the top of Perth Town Hall today. The sad news reached us as a small group of us was playing music in the park next to Town Hall. We immediately stopped, and found the music to play "God Save the King" - perhaps the first in Canada to do so after the news was broadcast. How appropriate that would be, since our group are all members of the oldest town band in the Country.

The Passionate Hiker

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Muskrat Ramble

6 September: Muskrat Ramble

Can you ramble on a bike? If so, we did plenty of it today.

It was just one year ago that we reached the end of the bikeable section of the Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail (OVRT), at Turcotte Road, about 2.5 km north of Cobden. Thanks to another miraculous effort by the construction teams, the trail has now been improved all the way into Pembroke, thirty kilometres further up the Ottawa River valley.

An overcast morning in Perth gave way to cloudless skies to the north, on a day made for bicycling. We based ourselves exactly halfway between Cobden and Pembroke at the Muskrat River bridge, where there is an ideal parking area beside busy Highway 17. From there we travelled south to Turcotte Road, the end of last year’s journey, then north right into the heart of Pembroke, at the colorful oasis of Waterfront Park, beside the Ottawa River. By the time we returned to our car at the Muskrat River, we had biked just over 57 kilometres.

These photos - in a south to north sequence from Turcotte Road to Pembroke - will show the interested traveller what to expect along this latest stretch of biking trail. Don’t miss the experience.

Having already completed the next section from Pembroke to Petawawa, this Passionate Biker now awaits improvements to the railbed further up the valley to Mattawa. Knowing the amazing work done to date, I’m sure it won’t be long until we can continue our journey northwards to the end of the trail.

In the meantime, enjoy this classic piece of jazz from the one and only Sid Phillips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7N8Tsh0ceU