The Camino Frances

The Camino Frances

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Corktown Common

You could almost believe you were in the country - if you didn't notice the tremendous amount of building that is going on in the background. Corktown Common is a multi-use urban greenspace located in the West Donlands. When construction is completed, there will be a venue for the Pan Am Games, housing for George Brown students and a new YMCA.
Meanwhile, it is a great destination for our group, as it takes about 25 minutes down the Don trail to get there.





Here is an overview taken a few months ago, looking south, though you cannot really see the Lake, which is another 10 minutes down the trail.



CorktownCommon

 Here is a link to an article about the opening.
http://www.reminetwork.com/articles/waterfront-toronto-opens-corktown-common/

Choices for coffee after the walk include Balzac's, in the Distillery District - another 10 minutes away, though it will be closer when they reopen Front street and Cherry Street, both closed during construction.
Meanwhile, we walk though Percy Park, which I think is the smallest park in Toronto. Here is a link to an interesting article about it.
http://deconstructedcity.blogspot.ca/2010/11/picturesque-percy-park-pleasantly.html

Another nearby coffee shop is Merchants of Green Coffee, on Davies street, just north of Queen.
http://merchantsofgreencoffee.com/
Merchants is a favourite destination when Jasper(the dog) accompanies us, as he is welcome here.

Happy Hiking

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Riverdale Parks and Rosedale Valley Road



Most of my one hour hikes start close to home - on the pedestrian bridge over the Don Valley Parkway.

Riverdale bridge over DVP, arch view. (Dave LeBlanc)

We cross the bridge, and if we are lucky, the gate to Riverdale Farm
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/riverdale-farm-toronto
 is open.
We saw these sheep as we passed by.



In order to get access to the Rosedale Valley Road, we crossed through Wellesley Park.


 http://neighbourhoodwalks.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/img_1005.jpg

 Down the stairs, then up the Rosedale Valley Road, with St James Cemetery http://www.stjamescemetery.ca on our left.
Part way up the ascent, we crossed the road and took a steep climb back up the hill, arriving beside the Castle Frank Subway station.
West on Dale Ave, checking out the pedestrian bridge across the Rosedale Valley Road - closed until further notice!


Let's hope it is repaired or rebuilt soon.

We went south on Sherbourne, then had coffee and some gluten free brownies at the Timothy's on the corner.

Home again, down Parliament, back through Riverdale Farm.

This is one of my favourite short hikes: beautiful scenery, maximun green and minimum exhaust fumes, and good cardio opportunities.

Good Hiking!













Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Exploring Toronto, one walk at a time

Todmorden Mills was the destination of our walk today. On Mondays and Tuesdays we walk for about an hour, then have coffee. There are many routes that we can take, starting at the pedestrian bridge over the Don Valley Parkway, but today's walk was one of the best.


We walked up the Don path to Todmorden Mills, and stopped in at the Art gallery there - they were hanging a new show.

The Wildflower Garden at Todmorden is a short loop, but the foliage was beautiful.

http://www.hopscotch.ca/tmwp/preserve/index.html - the link for the wildflower garden.

Todmorden Mills is a historic site, run by the city of Toronto. This is the link
http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=d5ed2271635af310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD

There is also a theatre there, called the Papermill theare.
 http://www.blogto.com/theatre/2008/08/the_papermill_theatre_at_todmorden_mills/.
 The theatre shows performances by the East Side Players
www.eastsideplayers.ca

After wandering the site, we started up the hill to Broadview - not by our usual route up Pottery Road, but through the woods and up the hillside, exiting the woods behind 1000 Broadview. I had wanted to check out that path for months, and Anne and Julie were game to explore.

We walked down Broadview, beside the City Adult Learning Center, through more woods, and crossed Broadview to the Riverdale Perk for a cup of coffee.
https://www.facebook.com/riverdaleperkcafe
It is a favourite cafe - local, quiet, and comfortable, summer or winter.

One of the best 10 km walks we have taken!