In June, the Walking Club took the subway to the Lawrence Station on Line 1. From Lawrence Ave., we walked south a couple of blocks to the Alexander Muir Memorial Gardens on the east side of Yonge Street.
This park, financed by donations from an appreciative public, is a memorial to Alexander Muir, the composer of the Canadian patriotic song, The Maple Leaf Forever. The park has well-tended flower beds as well as carefully trimmed grass areas.
This is the group in front of the formal entrance to the gardens.
Here is a general view of the gardens:
There were formal flower beds too.
Following the stream that runs through the park, Burke Brooke, we came to Lawrence Park where there are tennis courts and lawn bowling.
As the trail continues beside the brook, the greenery takes over the landscape. At this point, the stream is open to the air, after travelling underground in a conduit from the north-west, past Lawrence Park Collegiate and under Yonge St. This could be another stream, previously buried due to “progress” in the past, that could be “daylighted”, much to the benefit of Torontonians
On a hot June day, it was very nice to have the overarching trees to provide shade.
The trail continues east, under Mount Pleasant Road and curves over to Blythwood Road, and through Sherwood Park. Shortly after crossing Blythwood, the terrain changes to boardwalks and stairs that carry walkers over the sides of the ravine.
The original goal was to reach Bayview Avenue and return to Yonge Street via the posh streets of the Lawrence Park neighbourhood. However, after an hour of walking, the group chose to return to the subway instead of continuing on. We had one last look at the memorial to Alexander Muir before heading up Yonge to Lawrence and taking the subway home.
Burke Brooke continues under Bayview and eventually empties into the Don River near Sunnybrook Hospital. (I wonder If this brook is the origin of the hospital’s name?)
Probus Club of Kingsway-Islington 