It was fantastic having a bit more breathing room than we would have during the day – there were people out skating, but they were pretty spread out. The temperature and wind conditions were great, but there wasn’t much of a moon last night to help us see along the way. Skating the canal at night can be a bit treacherous – I incorrectly remembered it being more brightly lit in the evenings. Happily, nobody wiped out despite a couple of close calls in a melty spot.

Speaking of which – the route’s got a couple of depressing puddles on it – I’ve only been on a few times and it’s already nearly over! I hope we get one more cold snap and it hardens up enough for a trip down the entire length. How would -30 for a few days work for you, Jen?

We had a bit of a hiccup in that our skates needed sharpening, but the trailer at Dow’s Lake had a grinder and there wasn’t any lineup for sharpening once you got through the rental line.

I’m looking forward to spending more time out on the ice this winter – Natasha can’t beleive how temperate the weather is here. -6 in the middle of January? We showed up completely overdressed and ready for a blizzard with our Winnipeg winter gear on and ended up peeling a bunch of it off as we made our way down the ice.