St-Sulpice to Berthierville | Campsite: 46.03152° N, 73.18091° W
The morning is still, quiet, and dark when I wake at 4:40 from incredibly vivid dreams. Normally in Toronto, I don’t dream. I fall asleep, and only the blackest of darkness permeates my sleep until I wake. However, I have experienced periods of dreaming when traveling to Vancouver, Poland, Germany, Guatemala, to Halifax. It is as though my mind is using these hours of sleep to process these new, novel creative experiences. These periods of dreaming often persist for a few weeks upon returning to the city, but eventually, my sleep slowly fades back to black. For now, my mind seems to be very active overnight! I pack quickly, setting out to walk by 5:30, with the morning still dark, approaching the silver hour. I am disheartened to realize that this road—Rue Notre-Dame (Highway 138)—is relatively busy, even at this early hour, with a near-constant stream of traffic. I walk just over two hours for 11.4 km and break for coffee at a restaurant with wifi located in the town of Lavaltrie. I write a blog post, journal down the morning, and type up another day from the notebook. A very fine rain is beginning to fall: the pavement outside slowly begins to darken with the thinnest sheen of water. As I am working in the restaurant, a table of four elderly people is having a great conversation, erupting constantly in laughter! I finish transcribing a few days of writing, and colour correct a number of supporting images. By now, the rain has increased, and as I am dry inside, I am a bit hesitant for stepping out into it. The rain appears to be tapering off by 12:00, and stopping altogether by 1:00. As the temperature will not rise upwards of 10 degrees for the afternoon, a later day of walking will not be a bad strategy as I much prefer walking in cooler temperatures. I would also rather be warm in a dry tent than cold in a wet tent. At 12:44 I am still seated in the restaurant—over four hours later. I have made good use of the time. I have transcribed five more days of notes, created all supporting images for each of the blog posts, and uploaded all unpublished entries. All writing is up to date for the walk. Everything written up to three days ago is ready to publish. While still raining, I prepare to leave, still intent on arriving in Berthierville 26 km down the road by evening. By 3:15 I have entered the town of Lanoraie, its central church spire the first structure to be seen eight kilometres outside of the town’s limits. I stop at the dépanneur for two 10.1% Labatt Dry pints to enjoy with my lunch of couscous and rice alongside a blueberry cup of tea—all cooked and enjoyed in the town’s central public park. The rain began to ease off about an hour ago, and by the time I eat my lunch, it has stopped altogether, with the forecast showing day after day of sun! Berthierville is still 15 km away—that’s three more very full hours of walking. I’ll be leaving here by 4:00 at the earliest. This means that I’ll still have to find a campsite, even though I already have an area in mind, by 7:00 at the earliest. This is the point at which a man walking two greyhound dogs approaches me, asking in French where I am coming from. I attempt to communicate the point at which I began this challenge back in Toronto on May 6, that I’ve walked to this point over the past 19 days, and that my ultimate destination is St. John’s Newfoundland. He seems interested, and sits at the picnic table, his lovely greyhounds taking the opportunity to nose nudge my hands into petting them throughout our conversation. This is how I met Andrew and his two wonderfully calm dogs in the park of Lanoraie while eating my lunch. We have an amazing conversation that includes the importance of travel, Buddhism, veganism, and culture. I really loved the time sitting with Andrew as the day transformed from an overcast grey into bright, crisp sunshine and blue sky. It was great spending time with him, as the confidence and calm with which he spoke about travel to Europe, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Asia revealed something authentic about the man—his love for travel, challenge, and the desire to constantly be learning. We say goodbye, I organize the pack and set westward. The road between Lanoraie and Berthierville is beautiful, teetering on the shores of the St. Lawrence River so impossibly close! The sun radiates light as massive tanker ships glide along the surface of the water. By 6:30, I call it a day 6 km west of my intended destination. A well-manicured rest stop appears on the shoreline side of the road, and green grassy level stretches of the park alongside picnic tables are too good to pass up. I cook a meal of ramen, journal down the day, and soon enough 7:30 is upon me. The tent goes up with rain fly, and I lean into another eventful day darkening into a breezy, steadily more silent evening.
Today’s distance walked: 33.43 km | Total distance walked: 709.66 km
“Most people don’t do things like this because of insecurity. You’ll find that insecurity prevents most people from doing amazing things. You’re learning this the farther you walk.”
– Andrew, a man I met over lunch in Lanoraie, Québec
Montréal to St-Sulpice | Campsite: 45.82721° N, 73.35690° W
Another flawless sleep sees me begin the week of walking prepared as much as possible. Up out of bed by 6:30 am, organizing gear and food for the day. Plan out the upcoming 137 km section of walking to the town of Trois-Rivières along the northern shore of the St. Lawrence River. I make a one-night reservation in Quebec City for the night of May 30, which will set a pace of 40 km per day over the upcoming 7–8 days of walking. Looking forward to the week! One final look around the flat, then out by 9:15. I move northeast along Boul René Lévesque E out of town. I enjoy mostly all cycling trails until I break for lunch at just under 16 km. The day has been beautiful: sunny and mild, with a cool breeze, which are perfect conditions for walking. This morning at the flat I had portioned out a box of 5-minute rice, couscous, and rice seasoning into seven individual ziplock bags for meals, and I cook one of them for today’s lunch, enjoying it with a few pints secured from an SAQ a few kilometres back. The route leading out of Montréal was nice along tree-lined bicycle paths. After about nine km the road became surrounded by industrial shipping ports for grain, petroleum, and cargo goods. The last five kilometres have seen a noticeable reduction in traffic, including large and loud transport trucks. Here’s hoping the way after lunch continues towards silence and natural landscapes. 1:00 I return to the road. I walk through to 5:30. There is not much to comment on. The scenery was mediocre at best, but I can’t expect much in the way of beauty from the fringes of a massive city. Nothing more than ugly suburban homes securitized by fences surrounding natural resources cordoned off through personalized forms of organized hoarding—such as beachfront territory that should be made available to all Canadians, rich and poor—instead of endless families usurping territory so incredibly productive but unaware of how to do anything with it except to plant idiotic lawns. I end up walking to St.-Sulpice, a very small village along the water. I met two very nice young people working in a gas station/coffee shop. They refill my water bottles eagerly, and I pick up a pint for the evening. We talk about my plans for walking to the east coast through the attractive little towns and villages along the St. Lawrence River. They both seem interested, excited, and I try to keep up with the conversation in French. Both of them—as well as a few customers—offer thoughts on options for places to tent overnight. An interesting and pleasant experience! I walk a quieter, residential street to a church with a surrounding cemetery I earlier noticed on Apple Maps, and upon arrival proceed quickly to the back-most area providing the best possible cover. Boil water, cook ramen, and enjoy the post-walking day with a few deliciously cold pints. As the grounds are surrounded on all sides by residential properties, complete with wall of evergreen trees and a cedar hedge separating the grounds of the cemetery from residential backyards, I wait for close to an hour before setting up the tent and preparing for sleep. The goal is to be as silent and invisible as possible. 8:30 I am inside, wriggling into the quilt, and settling back into an oncoming deep sleep for the night.
Today’s distance walked: 41.4 km | Total distance walked: 676.23 km
Montréal | Accommodation: 1406 Rue Ste-Élisabeth, Montréal
I sleep deeply for close to seven hours! I wake refreshed and excited for the day. Once I get the correct wifi password from the landlord, I am online and able to update everything that needs updating. I transfer and back up all files. After some neighbourhood mapping, I find an IGA grocery store nearby where I will be buying rice and granola bars for the trail. A little farther in the same direction down Saint-Catherine I spot a BulkBarn where I will pick some more powdered milk and hot chocolate mix. I have a few repairs to make on a number of garments, which will be made this afternoon once I return to the flat. I put up a blog articulating this walk quickly onto my personal website and will post it on LinkedIn when content is uploaded. I put a plan together, walking down Saint-Catherine to 1). the Apple Store for a replacement external hard drive cable; 2). some ingredients from BulkBarn; 3). a few items from the IGA grocery market; 4). lunch from Vietnamese restaurant Thanh-Long Pho on the return to the flat, in which I order the Dinner Express B, which comes with soup maison, rouleax impèriaux (2), côtelette de porc grillée, à la citronella, and salade with rib à la vapeur. I am happy! The restaurant is playing the most ridiculous music—instrumental versions of “Itsy Bitsy Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” to an instrumental interpretation of the Chariots of Fire soundtrack. I’m considering bringing an extra large pepperoni wheel back to the flat as I locate a Pizza Pizza right across the street. I return to the flat by 3:30, extra large pie in hand, intent on enjoying it over the evening’s NHL playoff game. I use the time to transcribe the first eleven days of notes written over the walk. This will make the process of pasting content into the now-live blog simple. The intention will be to upload all writing with images to the blog as a means of publicizing my experiences and reflections on the walk. It will be nice to guide people who would like to know more about this challenge to an accessible space online. By the time the game begins at 8:00, I have eleven days transcribed with supporting imagery. I post to LinkedIn, and with that, another form of creative making is set in motion. By 11:00 pm I fall into bed, intent on a deep sleep before rising early to prepare for the next stage of the walk before checking out by 11:00 tomorrow morning.
Today’s distance walked: 10.1 km (city walking) | Total distance walked: 634.83 km
