Date of Walk: Saturday May 17, 2025
Total Distance: 20.72 km
Total Time: 4:10:54
We knew most of this walk was along roads, so made some great time at the beginning. About 5 minutes after we started out at 15E, we heard long rolling thunder. About 10 minutes later, the rain started and continued pretty heavy at times until we approached a to-us-unknown dirtbike track. I made sure to complain the whole time and be miserable about how wet my pants felt (my rain jacket held up well in terms of keeping me dry). Luckily, it stopped raining for a good chunk of time and things dried out for the most part….until later.
Anyhow, back to this dirtbike track. From miles away we could hear the drone of engines and speculated about it being the airport or nearby boats…nope – MX101 Sand del Lee Motocross Park is located right alongside the trail. There was a full race weekend going on, and we may have “snuck in” and made use of the washroom facilities 😉
The next section of the walk continued along roads that eventually turned into a “road allowance” that according to the Rideau Trail text descriptions this dirt track “may be overgrown and muddy in places.” This really meant the entire trail was flooded out for long stretches. All kinds of downed trees, perhaps from the recent ice storm, criss crossed the trails. And there were more mosquitoes on the hunt than we have ever seen. Yikes! This was a terrible section of the walk (the sort of 16D-16F part). That said, lots of raspberries in progress along this segment. Maybe in another month it will dry out and offer free candy!
We finished at 17A, and walked down Shea road to the plaza where we left the Jeep in the morning. After lunch, we drove back to Landy, and headed home through Merrickville for a change of scenery. 3 more walks to go!
I did some googling in advance of where we might like to go for lunch and found a few stellar reviews for the Indian food at the Blue Diamond. Knowing they had a broad menu, I convinced Bryan this is where we should go. Knowing he likes pakora, I convinced him to split vegetable pakoras as an appetizer…and wow was this the right decision, probably the best pakoras I have had, at least that I remember! I also had lamb vindaloo, and a garlic naan, and 11/10 will be back to try more Indian dishes some time in the future. Bryan had a Tandoori Chicken burger with fries that he enjoyed, but I think would order something else next time. He was as enamored with the pakoras as I was though! Made for great leftovers as it was a huge order.
**Bonus** The Richmond Village Bakehouse
While eating lunch I mention something along the lines of wondering if there was a bakery in this town/I should have checked for a bakery and Bryan did some quick googling and found the Richmond Village Bakehouse right around the corner from where we were. Based on photos we knew we were going for dessert. What a gem! We ended up buying 6 items – save the tax 😉 including 2 chocolate chip cookies (outstanding), a s’mores bar, an apple fritter, and 2 raspberry white chocolate scones. Good thing we did a 20k walk this morning!! Definitely a place to visit in the area. Such a great atmosphere serving delicious breakfasts and lunches too. Richmond rules!
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