We had such Beautiful weather here in Halifax that I just
had to get out on my bicycle. While I do commute back and forth to work on the
thing, I find I don’t often have many chances to just do some free riding.
Sometimes the weather is crappy, sometimes I’m busy and sometimes I just don’t
feel like cycling. While none of those things has to deter from cycling,
sometimes it does.
For those interested, my route went like this:
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| Total Distance: 27km |
The first stop was going over the Macdonald Bridge, which
for a newbie can be a bit challenging and scary going over the first time. I
know the first time I attempted to cross the bridge it was a windy and rainy
night, I got about a quarter of the way up the ramp before I turned around. Its
challenging because if there is any wind then it will be multiplied by about
100x when you’re actually crossing the thing as the wind whips across the
narrows. This can make it challenging enough when the bridge is basically 50%
steep incline and 50% steeper decline, but it doesn’t help that every car going
over the bridge plates causes the side plates to rattle and shake. Did I mention
that the bikeway and pedway are hanging off the sides of the bridge proper? Because
they are.
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| If you just added some googly eyes this picture would just scream: Om nom nom Imma gonna eat you |
It’s also possible that people may be afraid of the bridge
is because the entrance basically looks like the entrance to the lair of some
evil monster. It even has signage saying ‘Helmets must be worn past this point’
and ‘cyclists only’ as if to ward away non-bicycle knights from entering. Who knows
what evil may lurk past its overhanging metal sheets.
It could also be daunting because the beginning of the
bikeway looks like it just rises to infinity and there is no guarantee that
over the horizon it isn’t just going to dump you into the harbour. While it is
pretty easy to convince yourself that no public planner would purposefully
allow cyclists to go careening into the harbor, given some peoples opinion on
cyclists it wouldn’t be entirely surprising. Also given that this is the human
brain we’re talking about, the same one that tries to convince you that that
shadow beside you is totally a ghost and that van that’s been tailing you for
20 minutes might be a hit squad waiting to kill you, it’s possible in a fevered
state that a demon bridge might try to have you go tumbling into the harbour.
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| This is oddly familiar to the art project I was sujected to in Grade 10. |
Once on the bridge you can get a pretty good view of the
North End assuming you want to stick your camera between the slats of the big
fence. Also you have to brace yourself against the bajillion mile an hour winds
that will try to blow you (and your bike) over. If you can manage to do that,
you can get a pretty reasonable picture assuming another cyclist doesn’t come
along and accidentally try to run you down because you’re standing in their
lane. The picture of the south end doesn’t come out as nicely as there are
three lanes of traffic and a pedway obstructing the view, also then you might see
the netting they have under the bikeway/pedway and have to wonder WHY that has
to be there. I mean, I know what it is there, but it just gives me the heeby
jeebies thinking that it is there in the first place.
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| Alternatively its a screen shot from the lowest of budgeted films, one where the set provides the big widescreen blocks |
Over the bridge you wind up in Dartmouth, which don’t let
anyone tell you otherwise (including me) isn’t actually all that bad of a
place. Especially the downtown area has a lovely assortment of parks and
waterfront that is less crowded than the Halifax side. While every city has its
bad areas, I think Dartmouth just has an overly bad reputation, either that or
on the weekend all the crime makers sit back and relax… it is the Maritimes
after all.
At Alderney Landing you can get some pretty good pictures of
the Halifax waterfront that you see in all the promotional material for
Halifax. It also happens to be a very nice park to stroll around in.
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| As long as the rest of your promotional material doesn't come from Picnicface |
There was also a really neat amphitheatre shaped like a
pyramid. When I went inside I expected to see the traditional half shell (or in
this case half point) seating arrangement, however there was also some sort of
rock exhibit. It featured rocks and bricks from all over the world and was
created in honour of a G20 summit in Halifax many years ago. I wasn’t quite
sure what the reasoning behind it was, but it was neat to look at.
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| IGNORE THE DASHINGLY HANSOM MAN IN THE REFLECTION |
The whole thing was very interesting and I wonder if there
are any shows that actually perform in there, or if it is more of a public
display of bricks. Either way it goes to show what can be hiding on your
doorstep.
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| It's like the Egyptians came to Halifax, started building and then gave up because it was too cold |
Leaving Dartmouth I was able to see my all time favourite
street name. In downtown Dartmouth resides the Street of Ochterloney. I’m sure
it was someone’s name and they wouldn’t enjoy the pleasure I derive from seeing
it, but it’s just so bizarre. I feel like it was the mistranslation of some
Scottish guy trying to describe how crazy his friend was. Although I never know
if I’m pronouncing it right, I would personally pronounce it Ok-ter-lone-y, but
apparently even Haligonians don’t agree. Either way, it’s an awesome street.
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| I'm not making it up! |
From Dartmouth I rode to Point Pleasant Park, which to those
that haven’t been there and live in Halifax you definitely should. It’s a huge
public park nestled at the very bottom of the Halifax peninsula and offers
great walking trails along with excellent views of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s
exposed to the water so it’s great for kite flying, and it has plenty of
greenspace for Frisbee, throwing a ball around, or croquet (which I saw played
there for the first time today). The park had a wonderful variety of trees and
an excellent canopy up until Hurricane Juan in September 2003, where the park
was severely damaged. Combined with an infestation of Brown Spruce Longhorn
beetle decimated the treescape of the park and it is still recovering to this
day.
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| Unfortunately, this picture is not photoshopped |
I went there because I had an idea to blog about how the
Martello tower in Halifax was named such. I knew that it had a name other than
the Martello tower, but being from Saint John where there is more famously ‘The
Martello Tower’ I was all ready to call out Parks Canada on its lazy naming
policies. However once I got there I was corrected by the helpful Parks Canada
info panels, so I guess they were prepared to strike back.
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| If you look closely, the tower has a face that is shocked to see you here |
Where I thought that the Tower at Point Pleasant Park was a
Martello Tower, which was a type of tower built by the British during the
colonial period in defense of the empire all over the world, it turns out the
tower in Point Pleasant predates even them. Built as a Prince of Wales tower,
it was later upgraded to Martello style, hence the name (and my confusion), so
while it is the Prince of Wales tower, it later became a Martello tower as
well, so I guess Parks Canada wins this round. I’ll get them some other day on
a historical inaccuracy.
From the view however, it is not hard to guess why the tower
was built in the place it was.
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| That's right! It was the towers ability to have trees obstruct their view of the water! |
I biked down to sea level at the base of the park and was
treated a full blown collection of Maritime sterotypes. There were people
looking out towards the sea (while enjoying a nice picnic),
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| We just need one of them in a rain slicker for it to be perfect! |
boats racing,
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| Either that or it was a mother boat attending to it's boatlings, I wasn't quite sure. |
there was even a lighthouse!
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| If it was possible for there to be one on every street corner, there would be. |
All of these things are reasons I enjoy
coming down to Point Pleasant Park. That and all the nice monuments, being the
entrance to the city from the water makes it a great place to put very pretty
statues, mostly military monuments.
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| The sword is there for when the soldiers rise up as Zombies, because someone has the fight the Nazi Zombies! |
From the park I went to the grocery store and then home. It
was a good day.
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