River Glade to Moncton | Accommodations: Motel 6, 1905 Main St, Moncton NB
4:00 is when I begin preparing for the day. I am chasing an early start in order to arrive in the city of Moncton as early as possible. The morning is again near-perfect: cool, silent, with little traffic. I love days in which I am walking into a city—these are major milestones of the walk. Everything has been planned for the day: the distance to be walked into the city is reduced as much as possible, with reservations at a hotel awaiting me upon arrival. I check in sometime around 10:00, accessing my room easily. I set up the tent to dry, soak some garments, and then walk toward downtown to get a sense of the city. I eat shawarma, then find some cold pints with which to return to the room. The city is elegant—small, full of great restaurant culture downtown, with many pubs and microbreweries. A Sobeys store is less than two kilometres from the hotel, so restocking the bag with food will be made easy. For the remainder of the evening, clothing is washed by hand, hung to dry, and TV is watched as I recline into rest and passively look over maps of the walk ahead. Nova Scotia is less than 65 kilometres away, and Prince Edward Island 112 km.
Today’s distance walked: 26.80 km | Total distance walked: 1,856.92 km
“Still, being fragile creatures, humans always try to hide from themselves the certainty that they will die. They do not see that it is death itself that motivates them to do the best things in their lives. They are afraid to step into the dark, afraid of the unknown, and their only way of conquering that fear is to ignore the fact that their days are numbered. They do not see that with an awareness of death, they would be able to be even more daring, to go much further in their daily conquests, because then they would have nothing to lose—for death is inevitable.” – Paulo Coelho, “The Pilgrimage,” p. 123.
Newtown to River Glade | Campsite: 46.00215° N, 65.09584° W
I wake early and rise quickly. By 5:30 I am out walking. For the first few hours, this morning is wonderful: quiet, still, and cool, with a sky transitioning from navy into light blue over the horizon. Big vistas fill my view throughout this morning’s walk, all the way to the town of Pettitcodiac. When the sun rises into the sky by 10:00, however, walking through farmland without cover from trees producing shade becomes very hot very fast. I arrive in town by 11:30, chancing upon an interesting Baptist church. The architecture is contemporary with modernist formal references, completely clad with white siding. The fenestration is really nicely proportioned, the vertical glass producing beautiful relationships with the overall massing of the building. I enter to take a few photos, the space is empty and peaceful, and the aura of something ethereal is wonderfully captured and expressed by the architects and builders of the structure—great work overall! I make my way to the Foodland grocery store where I fill the three now-empty water bottles with apple and orange juice. I also enjoy some fruit. Corrine is a woman I met who was working the cash register. When she asked where I was going, she mentioned that she was from Fogo Island in Newfoundland. When I said I was going to walk fully to St. John’s, stay a week, and get screeched in, she recommended that I find the pub Turkey Joe’s on George Street. She also recommended Signal Hill as a place to explore, which is a site a couple recommended on my first day of the walk on a beach in Scarborough. She did mention that last year in July the province experienced only three days without rain! She wishes me good luck as I cross the street to the park to eat. A cool breeze helps me stay comfortable and cool as I eat and rehydrate. Along the walk this morning, I notice behind me a peak within the mountain range that I had been looking at for the past two days. In both approaching it and walking alongside it as I made my way northeast, it served as a landmark. Now, looking back at it, probably tens of kilometres in the distance, it feels very reaffirming to see distance being traveled from day to day, and how impressive these distances appear in actual scale. As I walk out of town, on my phone I find an affordable hotel in Moncton in a good location of town. I reserve a room for Friday and Saturday nights. Two nights should provide enough time for rest, recuperation, and exploration, not to mention cleaning all clothing and gear. As I am walking onto an exit ramp a man driving by asks if I have enough water. I assure him I do, thanks, and he drives away offering me a thumbs-up sign. In the heat of the afternoon, I walk to roughly 3:00, achieving 39.86 km for the day. I was really hoping for 45, but in the heat, I am willing to lighten the day. I spotted a good place to camp and decided to get out of the sun and off of my feet. I cool down once the tent is up, eat the rest of the fruit purchased earlier today, clean, write, read, and snack. Tomorrow, I have 27 km to walk to the motel. I should be able to arrive by 12:00. I will try to get out walking earlier in order to maximize the cool of the morning. As I was setting up the tent, a woman out walking asked about what I was doing. She lives in the area, and seemed to have a number of pointed questions: Where was I from? Where was I going? When would I be gone? I relax into the darkening evening. As I am settling into the end of the day, sometime around 5:00 a man appears at the door of my tent. He says his name is Stirling, he lives across the street, and he brought me a dinner plate! He invites me across the road into his home, where I meet his wife Florence. Stirling tells me that he is related to a prominent scientist (last name Goddard) who initially researched much of NASA’s technology for spacecraft and space flight. Stirling taught engineering for 33 years at the college in Moncton, and Florence supply-taught for 25 years. What a surprise it was to have some company for the evening after a full day moving through the world. A tough day followed by incredible grace.
Today’s distance walked: 39.86 km | Total distance walked: 1,830.12 km
“You have your own way of living your life, of dealing with problems, and of winning. Teaching is only demonstrating that it is possible. Learning is making it possible for yourself.” – Paulo Coelho, “The Pilgrimage,” p. 144.
Springfield to Newtown | Campsite: 45.83018° N, 65.44755° W
The morning is cool at 8 degrees, but the Arc’Teryx puffy jacket keeps me warm. I didn’t put the rain fly on the tent last night, so naturally the morning has to be foggy and wet, full of dew, resulting in a tent coated in beaded water. I am ready and walking by 5:30 down Highway 124 toward the town of Norton. I decide to take a chance on a gas station just off the Trans-Canada Highway—a bit out of my way—and I am tickled to find an NB Liquor outlet attached. I enjoy a pint with cooked rice and noodles and pack a pint for the road. From the town of Springfield to the village of Norton I’ve walked 16 km, with an upcoming 19 km to the town of Sussex, which is the focus of the day. As I sit eating and resting on a picnic table, the day has become sunny with a flawless blue sky. I believe this is the first sun I’ve seen in the province of New Brunswick! I am back out walking by 9:10 northeast after a 40-minute break, moving up “Riverside Drive E” which will follow the Trans-Canada 1 highway the full distance to Sussex. And that is exactly what I do. The walk is good with wide, level, comfortable roadside shoulders. I arrive in Sussex around 1:30, finding wifi in order to post to the blog, transcribe a future post, transfer image files from my phone to my laptop, and back up files to the external hard drive. After all this work is looked after, I map out the afternoon and tomorrow morning. The city of Moncton is in sight, and in two days I will be there. I met a man named Robert in Sussex who works with military veterans. He was sitting with another man, and it sounded as though they were developing fundraising initiatives. I asked about the roads up ahead into the town of Petticodiac, and they both recommended walking the Trans-Canada Highway, saying that it would ultimately be safer than the much narrower roads, offering wider shoulders on which to walk. Robert seemed impressed that I was walking, and asked why I didn’t choose to cycle—a good question, one I’ve been thinking more and more about as a possible new challenge in the future. I thanked them both and, filling up the bottles with water, exited the air-conditioned restaurant. The afternoon was now hot as I made my way through the town of Sussex to the north side and onto Highway 890. I just wasn’t ready for the speed and noise of the Trans-Canada Highway yet. I set back out into the sun and now hot 20-degree afternoon, walking Highway 890 to the hamlet of Smiths Creek and on to the hamlet of Newtown where I find a church that appears as though it has not been used in decades. By 6:00 the tent is up as a massive industrial transport growls and snarls for over an hour in the adjacent property while being loaded up with some kind of industrial equipment. I journal the day down, map tomorrow’s walk to the town of Petticodiac, and get the hell off of my feet!
Today’s distance walked: 48.35 km | Total distance walked: 1,790.26 km
“I really like what you are doing?” – Robert, a man I met in the town of Sussex
