Inverness to Cap Le Moine   |   Campsite: 46.49576° N, 61.07344° W

4:30. I am up at 4:30 to start the day, preparing to head back out onto the road. The B&B is silent, so I am able to make coffee and enjoy a full breakfast downstairs with full reign over the kitchen. I haven’t had yogurt in a while over this challenge and devoured a huge bowl. Add to that a bagel with strawberry jam, and a second bagel with blueberry jam. I find some cereal and enjoy two bowls. I think it is safe to say that I am now experiencing full-time ‘hiker hunger’! Within twenty minutes the pack is fully prepared after some research over the upcoming five days of walking has been made. The temperature is projected to increase with heat warnings, with the terrain expressing some of the highest elevations I have yet to experience throughout this walk. I believe that I am prepared for the challenge. It comes at a good point in the walk. This terrain follows the hills that were quite serious in New Brunswick, namely those between the cities of Fredericton and Moncton. I believe they served as a formal preparatory initiation into hiking uphill and for the challenges experienced within the province of Nova Scotia, the upcoming terrain of Cape Breton, the Cabot Trail, and the Highlands National Park. I walk to 11:00, taking a half-hour break for a quick lunch and rest, after which I am back out by 11:30. I walk until 2:00 where I see a beach full of people and decide to break for another half-hour. Whale Cove here in the North Atlantic Ocean provides a refreshingly cool thirty minutes in the water and on the soft, sandy beach! The time spent drying my feet off in the warm sand provides time to reflect on the day and survey the beautiful surroundings. While enjoying the beach I speak to a man living in the area about the distance to the upcoming town of Chéticamp, and he confirms that the distance is close to 25 kilometres. The boots are climbed back into and I continue northward. As I am leaving the beach a man asks where I am going as he towels off in the parking lot beside his family van. I tell him and he exclaims loudly, “What?” I repeat my answer. He barks, “For what?” I offer a few reasons that I have been reflecting upon over the past couple of weeks. “There’s a cost, though”, he barks. I say that there are a few trade-offs in every decision. He barks, “Your body will break down and will wear out.” I say, “Actually, I’ve become physically and mentally stronger over the course of this challenge since I began.” He asks, “But to what end?” “Hey,” I say, “I don’t want to die without any big stories to tell, and my exploration has only just begun.” I continue to walk out of the parking lot, hearing him call out, “How much weight are you carrying?” I reply, “About 35 pounds.” He mumbles to himself, “That’s not bad…” I walk into the small village of Margaree Harbour where I take some photos of a very cool tiny house summer rental village alongside the highway. A kilometre later I spot the Margaree Restaurant where I stop for a vanilla milkshake, pint, and large glass of cold ice water. I scan the map north to the town of Chéticamp, journal the day out, then leave by 4:40 to pick up ten more kilometres by the end of the day before setting up the tent in a spot comfortably hidden from the roadway by 5:15. By 5:45 I am inside. The day has been good as I have walked further in the increased heat than I had initially expected. Today’s 42.63 km will reduce tomorrow’s walk into the small town of Chéticamp to 17 km, which should be achieved in just over three hours. I journal, cool down, read, clean, then… sleep.

Today’s distance walked: 42.63 km    |    Total distance walked: 2,314.16 km

“This immensity made me very anxious; it created a terrible fear that I would not be able to succeed—that I was too small for this task. Yet today I had been a seed and had been reborn. I had discovered that although the earth and my sleep were full of comfort, the life ‘up there’ was much more beautiful. And I could always be reborn, as many times as I wanted, until my arms were long enough to embrace the earth from which I had come.” – Paulo Coelho, “The Pilgrimage”, p. 29.