River Bennet to North Sydney   |   Campsite: 46.21807° N, 60.26832° W

I have decided that today—dependent upon whether I will be able to reach the city of North Sydney—will be my final day walking. One of the main reasons for doing this challenge was to have fun, and I determined that if I stopped having fun, I would stop walking. By the end of today I will have walked 2,570.98 kilometres, from Toronto to North Sydney. I have had both incredible highs and devastatingly grim lows. These past ten days of rain, fog, and wind throughout Cape Breton have absolutely ruined my feet, now covered in painful blisters. I was healthy up to the point I entered Cape Breton, and that was the point at which this incredible experience lost all of its magic. Today I try to reach out for help. I try to get a ride to Sydney by asking people for a ride. I try hitch-hiking. I stopped counting after watching 150 cars pass. Miraculously, one car does stop. There is a couple inside, driving around the east coast sightseeing after participating in a conference in the city of Halifax. They are both professors, teaching in the faculty of business at a university in upstate New York. They live between the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains and Lake Champlain. He tells me he recently completed a ten-day hike through the mountains, and I believe this was the reason he decided to stop and help me. So over 150 Canadians ignored my asking for help, but an educated couple from the USA recognized my need. The ride the couple gives me saves close to 20 kilometres. They let me out when we arrive at the Trans-Canada highway, as they will be turning right in order to travel to the city of Baddeck, and I will be turning left to walk the remaining 39 kilometres to the city of North Sydney. Along a construction site where crews are installing new guardrails along the highway, two flagmen give me some water, and I take the opportunity to ask about the upcoming road. I am thankful I take the water offered as the day is projected to heat up to the point where I will filter water from a number of streams along the walk. Another moment of grace would come at exactly the right moment as I was preparing to walk across a massive bridge just east of New Harris Settlement. A small car slows to a stop and a woman warns me that I can’t walk across the bridge. I say that I have no choice and that I have to cross, at which point she says “Hop in.” Her name is Joanne. She lives in the area and has lived here for over 30 years. She has helped a number of hikers across the bridge and has mentioned that she has met many people walking and cycling across Canada this year. She says the bridge used to have a pedestrian sidewalk but it was removed in order to make more room for vehicles. Thus, walking across the bridge has now been made illegal, and very dangerous as it is clear no space is available for pedestrians. Hills are climbed as the afternoon heats up. At 2:00 I stop to eat with 15 km left to walk. Later I stop briefly for cold lemonade ten kilometres out of town. I briefly get turned around, walking 1.5 kilometres down the wrong road, and have to retrace my steps. By 4:30 I reach the Atlantic Superstore in North Sydney, and by 5:00 the tent is up as I have found a great place to camp for the night in a forest just behind a shopping development. Getting off my feet and slipping into an exhausted, painful sleep feels outer worldly, and I am grateful and confident that I have managed to complete this incredible challenge over these past 70 days. I feel that I can confidently end this effort and reflect upon what I have seen, the people I have met, the place that I have experienced, and the strength that I have fostered over the past 2,500 kilometres of exploration.

Today’s distance walked: 52.37 km    |    Total distance walked: 2,570.98 km