Ste-Anne-de-Madawaska to Grand Falls   |   Campsite: 47.05676° N, 67.74270° W

I arrive at the town of “St-Léonard” by 8:00, grabbing a coffee with short rest to journal the morning. I woke up late at 4:30, having the bag packed by 5:30, and walking by 5:45. The morning is foggy with the landscape appearing in various shades of blue-green-grey receding down either side of the road. Just after I walk up to the road an eight- or ten-car train rolls slowly and loudly along the section of rail I was camped beside. It is moving slowly, sending sparks showering out from the wheels in all directions. If I was three minutes slower in getting prepared for the day, the tent may have been in serious trouble. Lesson learned: do not take industrial infrastructure lightly—it is serious, and camping on the land of industrial infrastructure could end badly for me. As today is Saturday, a noticeable reduction of traffic has been moving along Highway 144, a silent forum for the birds who have been engaged in lively, healthy debates all morning. I have 13.21 km, with an additional 21 km of walking to reach the town of “Grand Falls”. I should arrive sometime around 12:30. The walk is relatively uneventful, the peace and silence deteriorating as I make my way closer to town as the volume of traffic escalates. A car slows to a stop on the opposite side of the road. A man asks where I am off to, and I say I’ve walked from Toronto and on to St. John’s. He says “How strong,” gives me a thumbs up, smiles, and waves as he drives off. On the city limits, I spot a good place to cook lunch and take thirty minutes to rest, snapping a few photographs as I listen to podcasts. By 1:45 I have connected to wifi at a restaurant and spent the next four hours backing up digital files, organizing, and posting to the blog. Three days of notes are transcribed, and prepared for posting. I map out tomorrow’s walk, and then a suitable, safe place to camp the night is scouted. By 6:00 the tent is up and I am preparing for the evening. I put the day into the journal, and spend some time looking over the space between the city of Fredericton and Moncton, a leg of the walk that had me concerned before starting this walk due to the lack of towns and resources between the two cities. However, my exploration this evening may have found a route providing enough water and food. I’ll research it more over the days ahead and during my few days of rest in Fredericton. An hour is spent reading before the tent windows are closed. Bedding is shimmied into, and heavy eyelids are left free to fall into sleep.

Today’s distance walked: 36.94 km    |    Total distance walked: 1,380.87 km

“Among the greatest sensations that I have experienced in my life were those I felt on that unforgettable first night on the Road to Santiago… I looked up at the sky; the Milky Way spread across it, reflecting the immensity of the Road we would have to travel.”

– Paulo Coelho, “The Pilgrimage”, pp. 28–29.