Skating Along The Canal

The Rideau Canal opened for the skating season early in the month, starting initially with one section of it before opening up the full length of the skateway, 7.8 kilometres winding through the downtown core. It holds the Guinness World Record for world's largest outdoor naturally frozen rink- the equivalent of 90 Olympic skating rinks in surface area. There are webcams from select spots along the Canal if you check the skateway home page and scroll down. 

These two shots are from a snowy day early on. Standing on the Bank Street Bridge, I photographed to the east, then crossed the street to take in a western view. 

This was the view some days later, again, first to the east, then the west. The volume of skaters varies- it's busier on weekends, and at particular times of the day, with things picking up during Winterlude, which gets underway on Friday.

This is the view looking south from Plaza Bridge one morning. The National Arts Centre is at right, while the Government Conference Centre and Ottawa Convention Centre are at left. The Canal's start point is at the fence line, with a kilometre marker bearing the numbers 0.0. These can be found every two hundred metres.

A few minutes later, after running errands, this was the view looking north towards Plaza Bridge from the Mackenzie King Bridge.

I then crossed the street to look south. National Defence occupies the building on the left hand side of the Canal here. The Cartier Square drill hall can be seen at the right, on the far side of the Laurier Avenue Bridge.

I finish where I started, on the Bank Street Bridge, with a view looking east at skaters on the ice at night.