Well, it was a beautiful day, sun-wise. The temperature is starting to drop after a pretty warm January overall.
Too late to coordinate with Tom, but we met coming around the corner along Ravine Drive!
About -13C to -11C over a couple of hours. 10,170 steps
A lunchtime walk in the river valley along River Road, MacKinnon Ravine, and Glenora. Once again, micro-spikes were a must. I did not eat lunch at the same time. I’m incapable of to doing two things at once. I would hyperventilate.
It was spectacularly nice. Not super warm (about -2C) but blue sky and sunshine. I’m glad I went when I did because it was starting to cloud over by the time I was finished, about 90 minutes later. I need my blue canopy.
The river itself is not quite as frozen as it should be this time of year. One open area below the Groat Bridge sounded like it was deep in mid-spring melt.
0C by the time I arrived home/10,761 steps
So here we are. A new year. 2021. It’s nice out. That’s enough for now.
I walked for just under two hours. Into the river valley via the golf course through Victoria park, River road, MacKinnon Ravine, Glenora, museum and home. Funny, when I got to the museum, the sky was already dusking with that wintry pink/orange horizon. It was only about 2:30 pm. The sun is setting around 4:24 but when the sun is that low, sunset is always close.
We’ve had pretty nice weather and virtually no snow for most of December. The grass is really starting to show on the south side of things, including the museum grounds.
11,456 steps. About -2C.
A beautiful Sunday walk with the King of Glenora. Cool and sunny. Not the King of Glenora, the weather. But he can be cool too, and occasionally sunny…
-8C/14,758 steps
Much needed lunchtime walk through MacKinnon Ravine, up to Glenora and then home. Not surprisingly, I ran into Tom taking his walk, but he was just starting, and I was near the end. Sometimes we coordinate. Sometimes I just go when I go.
The day looked darker than it actually was, with bits of blue sky peaking out here and there. It can be challenging under those conditions to take good photos, when the ‘acetylene light’ of the harsh winter sun (thanks Sting), is glaring from behind the clouds, reflecting on the snow. The important thing was that I got a walk, not great photos.
However, I ran across a decorated tree in the ravine, guarded by a magpie! Maybe it was his handiwork? They do like shiny things.
Definitely needed the micro-spikes for the uphill’s (and downhills and pretty much every path in the ravine). The trouble with our now regular freeze/thaw winters is that there is always plenty of ice, but also lots of bare pavement. Hard to know what footwear makes the most sense, although I err on the side of staying upright…
Noon to 1:30 p.m. 4C.
We’re in the middle of a gross heat wave. I mean, some like it hot…I like it moderate. Moderately cold, and moderately hot. About -5C in the winter, and 21C in the summer. With sun and blue sky.
June was very wet, as was most of July, but this last week the temperatures have hovered near 30C with unusually high levels of humidity. Ugh.
Today, the first day of a mini five-day holiday, Sharon, Stella and I visited the newish Terwillegar bridge via Fort Edmonton, our starting point (just off Fox Drive). Once we hit the footbridge we went left (instead of my usual right) to the river so Stella could have a swim, and then on to Terwillegar.
We left at 9:00 am, but it was already warm and humid. The walk itself was brilliant. The sand bar where Stella had a swim in the river was surprisingly large considering the amount of rain we had prior to the heatwave. She had a blast. Wish I could have joined her.
The view on either side of the trail leading to the Terwillegar footbridge was spectacular. I’ve said this a thousand times, but we are so lucky to have all these trails and green space in the middle of the city.
The walk was about two hours in total, give or take many stops to let Stella play in the water and check her peemail. Will definitely go on this walk again…and again.
