Rideau Blog

The past few weeks have just been great for skating on the the world’s largest skating rink, the Rideau Canal. This time of the year, the temperature during the day is just below freezing. This temperature is perfect for skating on the canal since it is relatively warm, but the skating conditions are great since the ice does not get soft. The ice is also very smooth and the entire canal is open for skating.

If you are thinking about going for a skate on the canal, now is the time to do it. The weather is perfect now, but we probably only have a couple of more weeks before it will too warm for skating. So go out and skate for several hours, and then have a coffee and a Beavertail to warm up. That is what we did, and we really enjoyed it.

I went for an early morning skate on the Rideau Canal this morning. Getting an early start is nice since there are fewer people on the canal, and it is easier to find parking. Of course there are some drawbacks to being an early bit since most of the services are not open until around 10 a.m., and it will be colder in the morning than it will be in the afternoon. Because of this, it is a good idea to bring a backpack for your boots, and a thermos of something hot.

The Canal surface is a little bumpy, and I think it will need to be flooded a few more times before it will be really good. You can currently skate from Bank Street to Sommerset, which takes about 10 to 15 minutes in each direction. It was snowing a little bit this morning, but not enough to cause any problems. It is supposed to warm up this afternoon to a few degrees above zero Celsius, and it should be a perfect day for skating by mid aternoon. As you can see from the photos below, there were already many skaters on the canal by around 9 a.m., and I expect it to be pretty crowded by this afternoon. Of course even when it is crowded it is still fun, and some people prefer going when there are lots of people.

You can also look at the Rideau Canal Map, for more information.

The Rideau Canal is open for skating between Somerset Street and Bank Street Bridge. After the big thaw, I was beginning to wonder if it would be open by March of this year. I have created a map showing the section of the canal that is open for skating at the following link:

rideau canal skating map