Northampton to Nackawic   |   Campsite: 45.98441° N, 67.24205° W

In the area of “Northampton” no rain fell throughout the night. Nothing. The temperature was warm enough to sleep in base layers—no fleece or down puffy required. I wake at 4:00 and begin preparing for the day. With all dry gear ready, my mood instantly elevates. The walk along Highway 105 is largely incident-free, without much to comment on as fog hides most of the surrounding landscape. By 10:00 I am hungry, but I haven’t seen any public amenities along the highways such as rest stops or scenic lookouts providing public picnic tables or benches. I have only seen them at gas stations. So, a low point is had when I have to sit on a guard rail along a curve in the road to cook my lunch on the highway shoulder—it is not enjoyable. By 11:30 I reach the bridge at “Southampton”. Today I will be walking four km into the town of “Nackawic” for water and a few food supplies. The walk to the grocery store seems at the time to be more trouble than it is worth. The road into town contains many hills. As I am still recuperating from yesterday’s mid-50 km walk, and today’s wet feet made from walking through hours of fog and mist, I am feeling exhausted and grumpy. I find a recently-cut field of grass with good cover to duck into and put the tent together in. I keep the rainfly off—it will go on when the rain begins as I am enjoying the breeze blowing through the tent. Cell signals are low as I am unable to get “The Weather Network” up for the upcoming forecast. So, I rest, journal, read, eat, and drink, intent on staying put for the rest of the day. There are 64 km left to walk into the city of Fredericton. With two days to make the journey, I am thinking of making 40–45 tomorrow (Thursday), leaving 24–19 km for Friday. The reduced distance will provide more time to explore the city and arrive at the hotel for early check-in. This also helps in cleaning hike clothing and repairing gear. I demolish a box of Cheese-its, drink a bottle of wine, inhale a bottle of Sunny D, and finish off the rest of yesterday’s family-sized salad. I sleep for an hour before being woken by a voice outside. “Hello? Hello?” It was the groundskeeper. Apparently, the feild I was currently on belonged to a church. We talk for a few minutes. She doesn’t seem angry and is not aggressive. She leaves without a word, and I spend a full night catching up on sleep—much-needed sleep.

Today’s distance walked: 36.80 km    |    Total distance walked: 1,566.00 km

“Don’t make a torture out of this exercise, because it wasn’t meant to be that,” said Petrus. “Try to find pleasure in a speed that you’re not used to. Changing the way you do routine things allows a new person to grow inside of you. But when all is said and done, you’re the one who must decide how you handle it.”

– Paulo Coelho, “The Pilgrimage”, p. 38