The trip home starts downtown on a wide path along the Bow River, shared by throngs of pedestrians, cyclists, skateboarders, tai-chi'ing Chinese, and inline skaters.
In the summer this one entrepreneurial guy bikes in every day pulling a trailer which he turns into this bicycle repair shop. I've never seen him without a line-up of customers.
For all but a few of the next 30 minutes and 15 kms, the bustle and the fumes and the noises of traffic will be but a faded memory.
This stretch is far enough from downtown that there are seldom even pedestrians, so benches like this one appear rather lonely.
An old bridge, now reserved for foot and bike traffic, over the Bow River into Bowness. In the early 1900's a trolley would take Calgarians across this bridge to Bowness Park, a popular weekend destination for Calgarians wanting to get out of the city.
A fisherman in the middle of the Bow. I see him out there nearly every week.
Are these Aspen or Birch?
We're now on the north side of the Bow, on a stretch of pathway connecting Home Road (right next to Maranatha CRC) and Silver Springs Ridge. Cyclists have to slow down again because lots of people from the local communities are down here birding or taking their dogs for a walk.
Forest and river on one side of me, bare rolling hills on the other.
This is Silver Springs Ridge, I'm just a few blocks from home now. We can hear the train from our house as it goes across that bridge, and a few weeks ago we all went down and waded through a shallow section of river just below that bridge.
Even this main road in Silver Springs is nice to ride on: there are so many cyclists throughout this community that drivers are always on the lookout and respectful.
Finally home, tired but relaxed. All the cars on the street take away from some of the beauty, but we love the variety of trees. Our house is just past that red/purple tree on the left.
