Thu, Apr 22 2010 - Thursday Night Skate: Inline Skating at Centre Island (View Original Event Details)
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Earth Day was the perfect day to be out and inline skating at Centre Island. For most of us, this was our first time to be inline skating for the season -- some of us were literally dusting off our skates and remembering what they felt like since the last time we put our skates on was many, many months ago!
And so, paid our fare, hopped on the ferry and enjoyed the short ride over the island. We chatted on the boat ride to catch up; much of the conversation revolved around upcoming summer festivals in Toronto. The ferry dropped us off at Ward's Island, so we suited up and headed out on our skating event.
Some of us were particularly excited to be at the Toronto Island Park; the multi-use pathway is smooth and usually car-free. Ironically, on this Earth Day, there were no less than 3 vehicles that drove by (a school bus, a fire truck, and a van), and some went by more than once!
None-the-less, we quickly moved into a car-free zone, and skated at a pace that allowed us to chat with each other and still get some good exercise. We took a short break at one point, and marvelled that we couldn't see anyone else in the island, and that the birds were chirping in the trees. Some shared that it was hard to believe that we were still in the city at this point.
We came to the other end of the island, at Hanlan's Point, and then turned around to head back; we tried to take slightly different paths to vary our routine a bit. At one point, we went into Centre Island, and sat on a bench to relax for a few minutes. Once on the bench, we noticed some swans’ way off in the distance, which seemed to be squawking in our general direction. As we glanced that them, the swans started waddling towards us, squawking ever more loudly! The swans suddenly began making a beeline towards us, and that they were getting more and more excited! One person remarked that swans can be quite aggressive, so we debated what to do, and thought it would be best if we moved on. So we got up from the bench and moved away, wondering the swans were so agitated about... we watched from a distance as they approached a couple sitting not far away, and realized that all they had wanted was a bit of food. So, after a good laugh, we headed back along our way.
We stopped again to take some pictures of the sunset. Watching the sunset over the city seemed particularly beautiful that evening, and so we snapped quite a few photos of the scenery, and various people with the setting sun.
We made it back to Ward's Island in good time for the 8:45 ferry. We had done between 10 and 12 kilometers at this point, and were slightly tired, but happy.
Finally, we were delighted to wish a warm welcome to Mike, for whom this was his first TOC event. Welcome to the TOC, Mike!
In all, we shared that it had been an evening of good fun and good exercise. We look forward to the next inline skating event, on May 6. See you then!
Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Erik Sonstenes at photos@torontooutdoorclub.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.