Témiscouata-sur-le-Lac to Patrieville    |   Campsite: 47.47438° N, 68.46072° W

I wake early, by 3:30. As I want to get started early in order to have a long walking day, I organize the pack, eat breakfast, organize the room, and input yesterday’s expenses. I map the route to the town of Dégelis and then set out by 4:30. Today’s walk will be made entirely on single-lane roads that follow alongside the Trans-Canada. A quick washroom stop in the small town of “Notre-Dame-du-Lac-Station”. From here, some fairly high hills are climbed, producing wonderful views of “Lake Témiscouata”, and the surrounding hills. Just before entering the town of “Dégelis” a car passes, slows, stops twenty metres down the road, and then slowly backs up, the window lowering as it approaches in reverse. Inside is an older man with a gruff voice, but his question is addressed in friendly French. “You are walking to Dégelis?” Yes, I say. “From where?” Toronto, I say. I am walking to St. John’s, NL. “Why?” I am 48, I say. I asked myself, if not now, when? “Okay. Bon”, he says and drives off. I arrive in town at 10:00, and am through to the east side by 10:15, to a coffee shop and dépanneur for coffee, pint, and an excellent covered picnic table. On the grass about a hundred metres within a nearby field, someone has set up a tent. Another hiker? I eat a pot of ramen and clean up by 11:00 after mapping the way ahead and using the excellent washrooms within a tourist information building to which the coffee shop and gas station are attached. I walked through a quick, light shower into town, but for now, all precipitation has stopped. I have covered 27 km from “Témiscouata-sur-le-Lac” to “Dégelis”. This afternoon, I’ll be trying to cover the 33 km distance to the town of “Edmundston”. Very soon I will be in the province of New Brunswick! The gravel cycling trail is amazing, away from traffic, and I am the only person walking it today! By 3:30, I have covered 42.66 km. I find a cool dépanneur just off the trail and buy some beer for the upcoming night. After 15 minutes of walking down the trail, I come across a park with covered picnic tables. I have some lunch and do some mapping. I believe there are about eleven kilometres of this trail left to walk ahead. As the trail leads into the city of Edmundston, I decide to walk another 5–7 km until I find a good place to camp on the trail. This will then provide a stress-free place to sleep, plus set me up well for entering the city tomorrow with time enough to back up files, post content online, write, and find better insoles for the new shoes. I journal, eat, and then return to the trail by 3:45. I walk until 4:30, finding a perfect place to camp, a small sub-trail leading to a space with a picnic table and a view of the river. The tent goes up, the mattress is inflated, and I journal as I listen to a CBC “Ideas” podcast on the life and work of legendary scientist and environmental activist David Suzuki. Map out tomorrow’s walk. An amazing day of walking on deserted single-lane roads and gravel bicycle paths removed from all traffic was enjoyed today! Note: Yesterday and the day before were tough. Today was incredible! When conditions get difficult, I need to remain calm and rational. Tomorrow might always lead to completely different conditions. The town of “St-Léonard” is 57 km down the road. I will be walking to it starting early tomorrow morning. And I am now in New Brunswick!

Today’s distance walked: 45.74 km    |    Total distance walked: 1,292.57 km

Couturier to Témiscouata-sur-le-Lac    |   Accommodation: Motel Beau-Lieu, 80 Boul Phil-Latulippe, Témiscouata-sur-le-Lac QC

I have a serious concern about sleeping in a wet tent on a cold night such as last night’s temperature of 5 degrees. Do not get the bedding wet! This includes the full base layer I am wearing, the down puffy jacket, the sleeping bag liner, and the quilt. I am able to walk while being soaked to the bone (it is fine for me as I generally run fairly hot—as long as I am moving I will generate heat). However, when lying inactively in a tent, wet gear can seriously affect one’s health. This is on my mind as I wake in the cold morning with cold, wet hiking clothes to wriggle into. Stretch in preparation for the day’s walk. I try my best to pack the bag as dryly as possible, isolating anything wet to a dry sack in order to prevent it from dampening any clothing or gear that has been kept dry. Then I dress into frigid, still-wet clothing. I pull the tent down as quickly as possible in order to get out into the day to move and warm up, to raise my internal temperature. The day will supply constant rain that does not let up, with a full cloud-covered sky reducing daylight. As a result, I will see headlights throughout the day. I do not feel comfortable walking along the busy Trans-Canada highway under these conditions. I continue to walk through a section of highway experiencing massive construction, which has traffic detouring around areas of both demolition and building. The endless numbers of transports pose an ongoing, never-ending danger. I am very uncomfortable out here, and therefore very few photos are taken. I forge on until 1:00 when I arrive in the town of Témiscouata-sur-le-Lac. I quickly find a restaurant with wifi and immediately book a hotel room in town in order to get out of the cold, dangerous near-freezing rain. By 1:30 I am checking in and hanging all soaked gear around the room to dry. I raise the tent on the floor in order to dry it out, hanging the rainfly in the bathroom. With all gear drying, I duck out to the restaurant next door to order food which is brought back to the hotel room. Hot food and cold pints. The afternoon will consist of eating, soaking in a number of hot baths, and sinking into a comfortable bed for a much-needed warm and dry sleep.

Today’s distance walked: 28.0 km    |    Total distance walked: 1,246.83 km

Rivière-du-Loup to Couturier    |   Campsite: 47.69125° N, 69.21196° W

Waking early to start the day by 4:00 I realize the clothing hung overnight is still damp. I play with the thermostat and move all clothing closer to the electric base heaters. This will essentially melt one of the shoe insoles, providing a bit of discomfort with the left foot. All food purchased yesterday is portioned out for individual meals for the upcoming days of walking. I input all recent expenses into “Numbers”, then head downstairs to enjoy the free breakfast included with the room. Wonderfully fed, I return to the room to put the finishing touches on organizing the pack. By 11:00 I am downstairs and being wished “Good luck in the rain!” by the hostel staff as I check out and move into the day. I am into the late morning, walking east down “Rue Lafontaine” to “Rue Témiscouta” which takes me out of town, photographing a few lovely angles of Rivière du Loup that snakes its way through town. By 1:45 I am 14 km down the road, a quite busy road of local traffic and large, industrial vehicles. This road will eventually lead me to the Trans-Canada (TC) highway Number 85 where I stop at a gas station that includes a lunch counter. Here I will sit at the bar with a very large hot chocolate to warm up and dry off. The rain started falling overnight and is projected to fall for the upcoming five days. Entering Rivière-du-Loup yesterday from the west side of town was lovely—a peaceful walk along a quiet road lined by well-kept houses with front yards neatly groomed, the day sunny and mild. Leaving the city to the east is the diametric opposite: it is an ugly landscape punctuated by garages, auto-body shops, industrial yards, cold, and rain rain rain. While I am able, I note all upcoming major towns mapped for both food and water refills and add these towns into the weather app in order to better anticipate conditions for the foreseeable future. All projections read five-day non-stop rain to Saturday. Where the walk up to this point has been incredibly dry and comfortable, this week seems to be balancing out with some much-needed rain. It should be interesting if nothing else! I made a mental note of a sign about an hour and a half back informing me that the province of New Brunswick is 90 km down the road. By that estimate, I should cross into that province by Thursday, two days walking from today. Making my way through the province of Québec with my very basic understanding of French was not as difficult as I initially thought it might be. It will be interesting to see where in New Brunswick the language of English becomes more prominently spoken. This bleeding of culture across borders is always a fascinating aspect of daily life that I find intriguing. I journal for about fifteen minutes. Before a much-needed pit stop, the pack is given some much-needed organization, and then I am back out walking through the rain. As I am walking a small single-lane highway leading from the gas station to the TC a man in a small car with bicycle rack stops and asks if I need a ride. I say no. He presses. I say no again. He gestures ahead and seems intent that I get into the passenger seat. I say thanks, that I am walking the distance from Toronto to St. John’s, and that I am not accepting rides. He shakes his head, rolls up the window, and drives off into the rain. An hour later, walking through a massive construction zone where I find myself dangerously walking mere metres away from fast-moving traffic I understand the man’s repeated offer urging for a ride. The degree of construction creates rather dangerous walking conditions: pylons placed on the highway restrict safe space due to closed driving lanes, nudging me into ever closer proximity to large, fast-moving transport traffic throwing up water, and pushing me around due to the gusts of wind caused by these vehicles. I struggle through close to ten kilometres of this—as the goal for today is to walk 30 km, I push on. I manage 36 km overall. The day has been difficult. The constant rain, a thorough soaking to the bone, the navigation of a section of highway heavy with transport truck traffic, and a section of TC highway replete with large-scale construction all culminate into a rather unsettling experience. When I decide to put up the wet tent on a patch of dismal ground, I realize the grim upcoming hours of cold, wet clothes that will be wriggled into, beginning tomorrow’s walk, following an all-night rain bleeding into another day of non-stop precipitation. Things are sure to get interesting…

Today’s distance walked: 36.35 km    |    Total distance walked: 1,218.83 km