Port Hope to Brighton | Campsite: 44.03516° N, 77.76386° W
I wake at 4:00 am after a good sleep. I am beginning to get better used to the ThermaRest mattress and its relatively small sleeping surface. I start to put the day together with breakfast, consisting of GreensPlus, trail mix, and a granola bar. Deflate the mattress, get dressed, and stretch. Pack. The tent is dry and stowed easily this morning. Brush teeth. I tape a note of thanks and gratitude to the front door of the grocery store that I had written last night for the staff. So appreciative that they trusted me and wanted to help me with a comfortable place to bed down for the night out behind the building. I’m still in gratitude! Out walking, and by 7:00 I am entering the town of Cobourg. I have coffee as I journal the morning in the notebook. I move through Cobourg quickly. It is another quite pretty little town, with a great sense of personality. Grafton is the next town, followed by Colborne. The countryside connecting all of these water-side towns is lovely; green, full, fragrant, and peaceful. Birdsong is heard everywhere. Identified as a hamlet, Grafton features some lovely architecture for such a small town—namely a hotel with a wonderful porch and entranceway detailing. Somewhere between Grafton and Colborne, I spot a fast-running stream, down about 50 feet from the roadway. I climb down, heat water with the stove, and soak ramen for a 12:00 lunch as I bathe in the clear, cool water. Eat. Wash the cookware. Repack. Rinse the walking clothes in the stream and apply sunscreen—all in 40 minutes. Back out walking by 12:40. I walk through to the 2,000-resident town of Colborne, stopping at a Foodland to buy some fruit. As I am crossing the street toward a nicely treed park with picnic tables, a man smiles and says that I am making good time. He saw me back in Grafton earlier this morning. We exchange a few words before moving into our days. Eat my fruit over a 15-minute break. Take a few photos, then pull the pack on for more walking. At the current time of leaving Colborne, I have covered 34 km. The town of Brighton is 13 km away and I am going to try to reach it by the end of the afternoon. Two hours of walking 11 kilometres into the edge of Brighton will see me climb a number of long, drawn-out hills as the afternoon heats up. The walk is pretty, even though traffic becomes increasingly loud and fast. A funny thing: a couple driving an expensive SUV stops on the other side of the highway, tires screeching, dust flying into the breeze. It is a couple, and they speak with a heavy accent. South African or Sudanese perhaps. The man leans out of the driver’s side window, beaconing me over to his side of the roadway. He says that they were robbed at a hotel and he needs gas money. The driver of a souped-up Lexus SUV is stopping on a highway asking a dirtbag hiker for gas money. It was such a ridiculous situation and hilarious story that I give him the $5.00 I had, just to be able to write about it. Another half-hour I am at the city limits of Brighton, spotting an open field. There is no fencing, no “private property” signs. The field hosts a few fairly-weathered billboards and some good full trees for coverage. I walk 200 metres from the roadway, winding behind a clump of evergreen trees, and find a flat, secure, hidden spot for the tent. By 4:20 pm the tent is up. 4:30 I am inside on a beautifully comfortable air mattress. I put off applying the rain fly until later in order to enjoy the fresh, gentle breeze floating through the mesh windows of the tent, cooling and drying everything in its path. Journal down the afternoon. Change into sleep gear, and settle in to scout tomorrow’s route. I will walk to the town of Trenton tomorrow which is 19 km, refill water and pick up fruit, then continue on to the town of Belleville, an additional 35 km distance. There may be some good tenting options on the east edge of Belleville behind a few large box stores surrounded by green space. The rain fly goes on at 5:30 pm. I read for an hour with a sonorous backup cast of birds belting out some expert whistling. I angle into some meditation, and soon into a deep sleep. A good day of scenery and walking.
Today’s distance walked: 44.78 km | Total distance walked: 163.68 km
“These days are amazing.”
Clarington to Port Hope | Campsite: 43.95618° N, 78.26245° W
I sleep well from 7:40 pm to 4:19 am. I wake refreshed, slowly putting the morning together. By 6:00 am I am walking to a McDonald’s just down the road. When I arrive, I work until 7:00 am backing up image and voice memo files, as well as scouting the route for today’s walk into a town called Port Hope. Today I will be walking the entire day via Highway 2. In fact, this route will take me all the way to Kingston. The walk over the day is very nice. Wide shoulders secure my stance upon the road, with wide panoramic views of farm fields under massive skies. There is little traffic and little noise. The birds hold the airwaves today, both in flight and in song. I buy some fruit in a quaint little town called New Castle Village. Here, a woman in the check-out line asks me what I am doing, and we have a nice conversation about the walk. I admit I feel a little sheepish as today is only the third that I have been out walking. She assures me that I’ve already come a long way. At 12:00 pm I stop for a lunch of rice. Later on, at a crossroads into Port Hope called Welcome, an inquisitive man, who I come to know as Jeremy, asks where I am walking. We have a short conversation about my walk. He tells me someday he will walk to Ottawa — that will be his walk. He warns me not to drink the water I had asked a staff member for at the filling station as he believes it made him sick one day. I thank him for his concern, leave to continue walking, and as I am crossing the road I hear a whistle ring out behind me. I turn back, see Jeremy walking toward me, and ask if I forgot something back at the fuel station. He says no, and with a large smile, hands me a 1.5-litre bottle of cold, sealed water that he purchased for me. I thank him, and we shake hands, he wishes me luck on my walk, and I wish him luck on his. I begin my walk into town. There may be rain tonight. The performance of the rain fly on top of the tent increases the heat retention within the tent, as well as cutting down on wind finding its way into the interior. The temperature for tomorrow is looking to be mild at a high of 15 degrees, which should be comfortable for walking. The town of Colborne is 39 km down Highway 2, which should make for a distance comfortable to aim for tomorrow. Port Hope proves to be a pretty town with a wonderful downtown street of small shops, cafés, restaurants, and pubs. As I quickly pass through, a barista at a Starbucks refills the containers with water as he asks how much distance I have been covering daily. I move through town, taking a few pictures on the way. While sitting on a bench mapping the upcoming couple of kilometres, a woman’s dog comes up to say hello. Her owner tells me that her dog “had her eye on me for half a block—she must have smelled your granola bars” she says with a smile. On the way out of town, I pass the Farley Mowat Boat House, taking the opportunity to capture a couple of images. Returning to the highway, I quickly find farm fields surrounding the road on both sides. I walk for 5 km or so, at which point I come across The Grocery Outlet, a family-owned grocery store not listed on either Apple Maps or Google. I ask if I could tent behind the store, and the manager graciously allows me to, provided I do not make a mess. As I will be out walking by 6:00 am tomorrow morning which is well before the opening time of 9:00 am, I believe the manager was convinced that I would not be a nuisance. A good, long day is had, with 42.4 km walked. On the day, I believe a few lessons have been learned: 1). I should not be afraid to ask for help. I have lived for so long believing people cannot be trusted, and that simply pushing through doing for myself (even if done the hard way) will produce the most favorable outcomes. 2). There are good people out there. 3). Just because something is not listed on Apple Maps or Google doesn’t mean it isn’t out there. This business—a very good grocery store—is most likely a family-run operation serving a local audience. They don’t need to broadcast their location to an international audience. Many businesses, like this one, simply don’t have an online presence.
Today’s distance walked: 42.4 km | Total distance walked: 118.9 km
“I am now 48 years of age. If not now, when?”
– 48 reasons for finally doing something I’ve always dreamed of doing
Pickering to Clarington | Campsite: 43.90881° N, 78.70431° W
The temperature during the night descends, falling to about 10 degrees. By 11:00 pm I am wearing most of my clothes: sleeping shirt, walking shorts, long-sleeve fleece, down-filled puffy jacket with the hood pulled over my head, long sleeve and long leg base layer, socks, sleeping shorts. It felt as though I was awake for much of the night, but Fitbit tells me that I receive close to six hours of sleep. By 5:30 am I feel good, organizing gear, drinking Greens Plus, and putting down a granola bar for breakfast before pulling the tent down. I am up the hill to Tim Hortons just after 6:00 am, refilling the water containers. By 6:23 am I am out walking, feeling surprisingly good after yesterday’s longer than expected and — in a few sections — difficult walk. I redeem the first of many dozens of free McDonald’s coffee cards collected over the course of the past couple of years walking throughout Toronto. I will stop four times to refill water containers over today’s section. A few large hills loom as Bloor Street crosses the 401 highway. A few dicey sections of highway await me up ahead where narrow roadway shoulders have me walking quite close to passing traffic. I walk through the towns of Pickering, Ajax, and Whitby, clearing the city of Oshawa by the end of the day where I enter into a very small town called Maple Grove. I find a green area between it and the upcoming town of Clarington where tomorrow I will begin the day with coffee and water refill. Right before finding an adequate spot to set up the tent, I stopped at a Starbucks to pick up water for the evening. A young barista asks what I am doing, and when I explain the extent of the walk, visible excitement changes his expression and we enter into a five-minute conversation. I spot a grove of trees standing in an undeveloped area behind a church along Highway 2 (which Bloor Street turns into), and I have enough time to set the tent up with rain fly before the light rain begins to fall. A plastic pivot linking the two tent poles together at the centre breaks, which is fine as it is actually easier to raise the tent with two independent poles. A quick meal of ramen cooked in boiling water is made for dinner. I mend a few areas of clothing requiring some stitches. Journal the day down. Make a voice memo, inspect the feet, then gradually suit up for sleep by 5:00 pm after cleaning up. Some reading is made, with some planning over tomorrow’s section. Today was a good though shorter day as a result of having the tent raised by the time rain began to fall. Remaining as dry as possible is one of my most important priorities over this walk, as it will help provide comfort and keep me healthy.
Today’s distance walked: 35.7 km | Total distance walked: 76.5 km
“The Road you are traveling is the Road of power, and only the exercises having to do with power will be taught to you. The journey, which prior to this was torture because all you wanted to do was get there, is now beginning to become a pleasure. It is the pleasure of searching and the pleasure of an adventure. You are nourishing something that’s very important — your dreams.”
– Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage, p.50.
