1. Home
  2. Walks
  3. Ottawa's Military Memorials Bicycle Tour—2

Ottawa's Military Memorials Bicycle Tour—2

Ottawa's Military Memorials Bicycle Tour: 2—The Sussex Drive Ride
This statue of Lt. Colonel John By stands in Major's Hill Park The park also gets its name from John By, from when his rank was that of Major.
This statue of Lt. Colonel John By stands in Major's Hill Park The park also gets its name from John By, from when his rank was that of Major.

Welcome to Tour 2 of Ottawa Military Memorial Tours, the Sussex Drive 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.  This is the second of the three tours.

Ottawa Military Memorials Tour 2:  The Sussex Drive 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 2:

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 route for Tour 2 will take you a distance of about 2.6 km when visiting all the memorials from the Confederation Square to Memorial to Hungarian Refugees.  While this tour was conceived as a bicycle ride, it is quite walkable.  The route will take you from Confederation Square past the Chateau Laurier and down Sussex Drive, crossing the Rideau River near Rideau Falls.  Cycling time for this route would be 10 to 15 m in.  Walking time would be 30 to 40 min.   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

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. 

Shared By:

Rob Collins

Details:
Duration: 1 hour 30 min
Language: English
Where:
Start:The National War Memorial, Confederation Square
End:50 Sussex Drive
Area:ByWard Market/Green Island
Distance:2.5 kms
Gallery
This statue of Lt. Colonel John By stands in Major's Hill Park The park also gets its name from John By, from when his rank was that of Major. Canada's National War Memorial, Confederation Sq. Route of Ottawa Military Memorials Tour 2 The CANLOAN Memorial honours Officers of the Canadian Armed Forces who died while serving with the British Army in WWII.