Skating on ... snow?

Last week we went ice-skating on the inlet at Princess Point (vague location for those who care)!

We bought Lumpy some 2nd hand hockey skates on the Saturday, and on our way home saw people skating on the inlet, so we decide we would have to try it!

Sunday afternoon we rugged up warm, and off we went.

Our first mistake was putting on our skates (with guards) in the car. It would have been a fine idea except that there was a muddy hill to get down to the ice...Some helpful strangers offered us an arm to lean on.

For those who have never been somewhere this cold. The river, or lake, freezes and is then covered over by snow and goose poo...

(Canada Geese play a large role in the North America soil enrichment program. Not everyone is grateful.)

People clear snow of patches of ice (and sometimes smooth it) so that they can skate on it. Mostly "people" means small children with hockey sticks. If you are lucky they can not only skate, but also avoid hitting you with the stick.


In this case "people" also included the amazing lumpy! (Shown here in aforementioned skates.)


And side-kick lumpkin! (Shown here showing off.)

Note the cracks on the ice. Another unforeseen hazard was the wind. Going in one direction involved no pushing at all, but going the other was rather hard. Thank the whatever for full-zip Gortex pants!

In the end we got bored of skating in tiny circles of cleared ice and set off through the snow which covered most of the ice surface. Some patches were rough, others smooth; sometimes the wind had moved most of the snow, other times the snow came up above my blades. It was a strange and thrilling adventure for a rink trained skater.

After the recent fall of snow (see snow day post below) we are hoping to go skiing!