Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019

Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019
On the Archduke's Path in Mallorca

Monday, 6 February 2012

Monday 6 February 2012 – A Short Ski from P3

A view to Ottawa from Gatineau Parkway near P3

Just 15 minutes from home, Parking Lot P3, on the eastern edge of Gatineau Park, is just about our closest trail head.  It’s not generally a preferred venue despite the good trails, as there are no convenient cabins for lunch stops.  But today we just wanted a brief bit of exercise to punctuate what is essentially our annual ‘beach’ holiday.  So Helen joined Sue and me for a 12 km saunter from P3, along #5 for a while, then back along Gatineau Parkway.

You can see from the above picture how close these cross-country ski trails are to the centre of Ottawa.  The image below is just five minutes further along the trail, after diving off onto #5, still very close to the centre of town.

Sue and Helen head along trail number 5

So, we enjoyed another sunny day on the trail.  It was however unseasonably warm, rising to around 6C in Ottawa, a record for this time of year.  At least it didn’t rain, though!

Back at home, it’s probably colder, but the season of unhappy news continues.  Dot (my mother) has made a habit of falling over kerbs and is back in hospital recovering from her second hip replacement within twelve months.  We wish her a speedy recovery.  Meanwhile our condolences go to Pam, whose husband Len has died after a long illness.

We are pleased however to hear that John, who I visited on my way to Tyndrum a couple of weeks ago, has been putting ‘Poor Michael’ through his paces, and we also hope that Sue’s aunt and uncle, Rachael and Frank, have enjoyed their own cross-country skiing trip to northern Italy.  They are possibly, in their own understated sort of way, the fittest of the lot of us.  Keep it up, R+F!

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