Winter fun-time

Depending on where you're living, you may have been a bit cold this week. Much of Canada, Britain, the US, and Europe have been much colder than usual.

Where I'm living, that meant temperatures going down to lows of -40*C with wind chill. To put that into perspective, have a look at this video. It's so cold that boiling water instantly freezes upon contact with air. It's cold.

So to put it mildly, I've been staying inside.

The upside of this cold weather, however, is that Ottawa's famous Rideau Canal skateway fully opened yesterday, and the conditions are fantastic.

If you're not familiar with the Rideau Canal, it's original purpose was to connect Ottawa and Kingston, to facilitate communications and movement of troops between the old and new Canadian capitals. To say the least, it no longer serves this purpose. Instead, every autumn the canal water is drained to a lower level, carefully monitored until it freezes, then opens as the "world's large skating rink", with a length of 7.8 kilometers, and a size equivalent of about 90 Olympic ice hockey rinks (all numbers taken from Wikipedia).

The canal is incredibly well maintained, and posts regular updates about ice conditions. It has food stalls, rest areas, roving paramedics, skate rentals, and heated changing chalets.

And the best part? It's COMPLETELY free to the public (skate rentals and food aside)!

I was so happy this morning when I woke up and checked the weather forecast (about -20, so pretty reasonable), and ice conditions (good!). I packed up my thermos of hot chocolate, a pack lunch, and my skates, and headed off to the canal.

 This is the first time I've been on the canal for over 6 years, and it felt really good to be back! There's something lovely about skating along on a frozen body of water, surrounded by children just learning to skate, families taking their sick relative out for a day (you can rent sleds or bring your own), people using all types of skates, from figure skates, to speed skates, to hockey skates, to sledges.

 The most important things to remember when you're skating on the Rideau Canal are:

- bring a back-pack to carry your boots, food, etc, and any layers you might want to remove
- bring water!
- bring extra layers, just in case
- have fun!


Got my skates on and I'm ready to go!

I paid a quick visit to my former primary school. A yearly school activity was always a night-time scavenger hunt on the canal. Fun for the whole family (except my mum, who couldn't skate... but that's ok! You can walk on the canal too!)

There are these little rest-stops along the way, where you can get hot drinks, beaver tails, and other snacks. Or just have a little rest! I needed to sit down at this point because I had tied my skates too tight. Muscle pain and shin splints ensued. So I stopped, let my muscles relax, then re-tied my skates a bit looser. (In this photo, you can also see a child-carrier - these are normally pulled behind bicycles, but are really handy to push your kids or your stuff on the ice, too!)

After about an hour, I reached Dow's lake - just about the furthest edge of the canal. This is where I had my lunch and turned around. It's about 5km away from where I started.

Lunch time! A thermos full of hot chocolate, a peanut butter sandwich, an orange in slices, and a piece of Christmas cake. This was my little way of trying to defeat the urge to have a BeaverTail. It worked, but mostly because I didn't have enough cash for one.






After a half-hour skate, I was back again! (I tied my skates properly this time, so no need to pause to ease my muscles). Tired, sore, but happy :)

One of the reasons I wanted to post this is because, for me, it's proof that you don't need a gym membership to be physically active. Ottawa is a fantastic place for outdoor physical exercise. In the winter there's the canal, but in the summer there's an incredible network of dedicated bike paths, and lots of open areas. These outdoor spaces are my gym, no membership required!

What outdoor activities are available in your area? Do you take advantage of them?