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Ottawa's Military Memorials Bicycle Tour—1

Ottawa's Military Memorials Bicycle Tour: 1—The Ottawa River Ride
Canada's National War Memorial, Confederation Sq.
Canada's National War Memorial, Confederation Sq.

Welcome to Tour 1 of Ottawa Military Memorial Tours, the Ottawa River Ride. 

The Ottawa Military Memorials website describes three bicycle tours that you can take in Ottawa to visit memorials to mark military engagements, honour particular individuals, or remember veterans generally.  Many of these have been in place in Canada’s capital for over a century.   As well as locating these memorials, the tour routes take you past some of the most important landmarks and beautiful architecture in Ottawa.

Ottawa Military Memorials Tour 1:  The Ottawa River Ride

The website provides a route map and a list of the points of interest at each stop along the way can be found on the tour.

The memorials on Tour 1:

The information for each memorial includes the location, what or whom the memorial is dedicated to, a brief history of the associated military events, the artist who designed the memorial, a description of the memorial design and what it represents, when it was unveiled, and for most of the memorials, a point to ponder, such as why a group of Canadians chose to memorialize that particular event, what the artist hoped we would take away from our visit, or the meaning of particular symbolism used in the design.

You will want to have a phone or tablet with you to access the information on each memorial as you go, or bring a printed version of each along with you. 

 

Location
Route

The ride will take you a distance of about 7 km when visiting all the memorials from the Confederation Square to the Hull Armory.  While this tour was conceived as a bicycle ride, it is quite walkable if you end at Richmond Landing.  This will take you across Wellington St from Confederation Square to the Canadian War Museum and partway back.  The distance from the National War Memorial to the Canadian War Museum is about 3 km.  Aside from the 40 or so minutes spent biking (the full route) or walking (the shorter route), the time it will take to complete the tour will depend on how long you spend at each memorial.

The Ottawa Military Memorials website was created and is maintained by volunteers.  We hope that you enjoy this tour and we’d love to hear your feedback.

About the walk leader

Rob Collins has a degree in History from uOttawa and is a Volunteer Interpreter at the Canadian War Museum.  

Having discovered that there was no definitive list of memorials related to Canada's martial history, Rob and other volunteers set out on a search to find all of those within walking or cycling distance around the downtowns of Ottawa and Gatineau.  They have found more than fifty memorials so far. 

Rob and some of his colleagues on this project have led tours for Jane's Walk in the past, and Rob has a walk in our 2022 schedule.

Shared By:

Rob Collins

Details:
Duration: 2 hours
Language: English
Where:
Start:The National War Memorial at Confederation Square
End:The Hull Armory
Area:Parliament Hill and the War Museum
Distance:7.0 kms
Gallery
Canada's National War Memorial, Confederation Sq. Route of Ottawa Military Memorials Tour 1 Statue of Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant), part of the Valiants Memorial on Confederation Square. Royal Canadian Navy Memorial at Richmond Landing (accessible from the Portage Bridge where it meets Wellington St.)