Very few neighbourhoods in the world can say this: in a cold enough winter, you can walk to the end of your street, put on skates, and skate to work. In the Glebe, you can.
The Rideau Canal Skateway runs from downtown Ottawa to Hartwells Locks, including Dow’s Lake, along the Glebe’s eastern and southern edges. The NCC maintains it, and when it’s open, it’s free and open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Glebe has two of the most popular stops. The Fifth Avenue rest area is right in the middle of the neighbourhood, with washrooms, food vendors and picnic tables. At the south end, Dow’s Lake has skate rentals, heated change rooms and the biggest cluster of food stands. There are about 30 staircases and five accessible ramps down to the ice along the whole route.
The season depends entirely on the weather. It usually runs from sometime in January into early March, but some winters it opens for only a few weeks, and some years it barely opens at all. The NCC posts conditions daily on its website and app.
For people who live here, the Skateway is part of what makes a long Ottawa winter feel worth it. It’s also a big reason many buyers pay attention to how close a Glebe home is to the canal.
Sources: National Capital Commission, Rideau Canal Skateway and access points.
Photo by Nairg, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.