St-Jean-Port-Joli to La Pocatière | Campsite: 47.37077° N, 70.04119° W
I wake at 4:00 after having an eight-hour sleep. I’ve not slept that long in decades! I work my way into the day and am out walking Highway 132 eastward through a beautifully quiet weekend morning. I walk through St-Jean-Port-Joli, through the villages of Plage-Victor, Ozanam, and into St-Roch-des-Aulnaies. The next village is Village-des-Aulnaies where I find a gas station selling cheese curds and pints, and where picnic tables allow for the cooking of food while journalling the day into the notebook. So far, I’ve walked 16 km, with an upcoming 10 km to the town of La Pocatière where I will have access to wifi and water refills. I pack up after a good rest and return to the road, cursing the wind after blowing over my beer. Every time I let go of something it requires a heavy item in order to weigh it down from the wind, which seems to want to blow all of my stuff around for fun. I laugh at it all, as I can’t control it. It is all funny, anyway, this place seemingly devoid of gravity. It helps to find the humour in it all. The walk from here to the town of La Pocatière is amazing! A bike path of comfortable sand and gravel follows the shoreline of the river, revealing incredible views of both the river and its backdrop in various shades of blue-grey that are the Laurantide Mountains, becoming ever larger, closer, and more defined. I can’t help photographing them at every turn and opportunity! A feeling of giddy bliss is carried into town, as this afternoon has been one of the most scenic and satisfying yet. I arrive in town sometime around 1:30, and I get plenty of work done with available wifi. When approaching the restaurant I noticed a well-kept and well-covered area of grass behind the building. I find the manager and explain what I am doing on this walk, and when I ask for permission to set up the tent for the night, he readily grants consent. When explaining what I am doing I am careful to point out that I am walking early each morning by 5:00. I think it is a strong selling point, as it guarantees that I will be gone before a company’s customers begin to arrive. I also book a one-night stay at an interesting hostel in downtown Rivière-du-Loup at a great price for June 5. Only 71 km now separate me from the town, and I will easily be there by Monday late morning, providing time to explore, buy any required food for the upcoming New Brunswick leg of the walk, and any gear requiring replacement. I am looking forward to seeing the city of Rivière-du-Loup!
Today’s distance walked: 29.76 km | Total distance walked: 1,098.84 km
Montmagny to St-Jean-Port-Joli | Campsite: 76 Av de Gaspé E, St-Jean-Port-Joli QC, Camping Au Bonnet Rouge
The day begins really well. By 5:15 I am walking through a nondescript neighborhood of houses all alike in Montmagny on my way to Highway 132. The night was mild, leading to a warm morning in which I selected shorts to begin walking into the day. Early on the day sunny, bright enough for sunglasses. All of these factors have helped establish a good, confident pace. As I am leaving Montmagny on this beautiful Friday morning I stop briefly to smell some flowers exploding in fresh colour from a tree. I hear a voice say “It is a good way to wake up, smelling flowers.” I look around and a woman sitting on a second-floor balcony across the street smiles down at me. “Bonne journée!” I walk through the morning with a brief stop in the village of Cap-Saint-Ignace for fruit. The woman working at the cash register will only answer me in monosyllables but greets residents with smiles and lively conversation. Like everywhere, I’ve experienced incredible warmth, compassion, and kindness, but also ignorance and distrust throughout this challenge. By the end of the day, I won’t remember this woman. I will remember, however, all of the people who have entered into kind and interesting conversations with me along the way. In fact, I remember these lovely interactions from the first day of the walk! It isn’t until sometime around 9:00 that the wind begins to blow, gusting ever more violently. It was a few kilometres south of the town of L’Islet. I stop here to eat, finding a relatively protected place from the non-stop wind. But it doesn’t really help. Comically, I can’t put anything down on a flat surface as the wind will simply blow it away. Pockets become stuffed, hands become full, and rocks are used to weigh down pot lids, zip-locked bags of food, empty water bottles, and removed clothing. Even the food on my spoon will get blown away if I am not angled in a position so as to block the wind during my spoon’s journey from the cup of noodles to my face. This westbound headwind coming off the St. Lawrence River continues to blow directly against me for the entire day’s walk—all 41 km to 2:30, when out of frustration for the day I find myself actually checking into a commercial campground located within the town of St. Jean-Port-Joli. I just want to be out of the wind and to have my tent set up before any rain begins to fall. By 3:00 I am lying on the ThermaRest, journalling, and eating. Once my temper tantrum subsides and I am laughing at myself while moving around the tent like a walrus, I put some time into mapping the upcoming few days of walking to Rivière-du-Loup. As this town is located directly on the shore, along with Highway 132 which will take me up the river, I decide to embrace the wind, accepting the fact that it will serve as a new physical challenge to be learned from. As this walk was conceived around the idea of perceiving everyone met along the journey as a teacher, the experiences gleaned directly from nature will also contribute to this three-month curriculum of exploration. For the time being, secure in my tent with rainfly secured, I rest, write, and read my way into the late afternoon and eventually sleep.
Today’s distance walked: 41.68 km | Total distance walked: 1,069.08 km
Reflection on Week 4
• Québec City looming!
• Continuing to find great camp spots for free with incredible views of the countryside.
• Loving the physical act of walking, the intellectual act of reflection, and the creative act of making throughout this challenge.
• 85% of the walk is experienced in nature, returning every week or so to the realm of the urban domain for rest, cleaning, repairs, and food resupply.
• The people I have met and the conversations shared with them all have been such a wonderful, unexpected aspect of this walk.
• The rhythm of through-hiking is now feeling natural, as is sleeping in the tent and carrying everything I need on my back.
• My French has provided me the ability to communicate with the people of Québec—something I was worried about being adequately able before the walk began.
St-Michel-de-Bellechase to Montmagny | Campsite: 46.97101° N, 70.55249° W
4:30 arrives quickly. The morning is very mild, with a gentle breeze blowing against the tent. I rise into a day that begins with a beautiful sunrise—my view unimpeded, camping directly on the shoreline. I am walking by 5:30, and within an hour I arrive at a great rest area. It has picnic tables with roof structures, beautiful large trees, and immaculately cut grass. The washroom building contains a foyer, with a bookshelf of publications and information on the local area, wilderness, species of flora and fauna, and trails. From the foyer open doors to two washrooms, each with spacious interiors and immaculately clean! I change into shorts to continue on with the walking day. The entire day offers scenic views and quiet as traffic is light. The day’s temperature is very mild, with a comfortable cool breeze cooling me the entire distance. A cyclist passing me on the highway says with a wave and a big smile, “Bonne route!” Upon arriving at the very tiny village of Micami I turn onto Rue Principale O, running parallel to Highway 132, and inching closer to the water’s edge. This road carries me into the next village of Berthier-sur-Mer. Along this road are view after stunning views of the river and the Laurentide mountain range off in the distance. There is a wonderful tiny home located on the river side of the road, and I take far too many photos. I walk to the “ami” grocery store to buy fruit and pints, enjoying them with ramen noodles cooked at a public area with picnic tables, Adirondack chairs, and big shade-making trees suspended with a string of lights directly across the road. I write the morning down, realizing that at some point during today’s walk from St-Michel-de-Bellechase to my present location I’ve walked 1,000 km. It was somewhere 5 km back, as the total distance walked to this point is 1,005.06 km. This is now officially the longest hike I have ever made, with many kilometres of the road ahead! I finish up, organize, and return to the road. The upcoming section of highway is less scenic than this morning, but many beautiful views manage to catch my attention. I push on through the afternoon, arriving in the town of Montmagny by 1:30. By 2:00 I am set up and comfortable with wifi in a climate-controlled restaurant to attend to a few days of file organization, backup, and writing transcription. Close to three good hours of work is made, and when I pack up to leave, I feel more confident with the work copied to the external hard drive. Out to survey a number of potential camp spots. Many are assessed but it isn’t until I am out by Highway 20 (the Trans Canada Highway) that I spot a good field next to an automotive dealer. I enter, explain what I am doing, ask if it would be alright if I camped the night on the property, and tell my story. We discuss options, and a conversation ensues in which a number of options are assessed. Phone calls are made, permission is granted, and I answer a number of interesting questions from a few of the staff. Spotting a dépanneur a km around the series of exit ramps, I walk to secure a few tasty beverages and dinner additions before returning to the field to set up the tent. Water is boiled, dinner is enjoyed, and air mattresses are inflated. I have enough energy to catch up on international news by listening to one podcast edition of The World before journalling the rest of the day before settling into the evening by 8:30.
Today’s distance walked: 41.56 km | Total distance walked: 1,027.40 km
“No worries, we’ll find you a place to stay.” – Manager of Guy Thibault Chevrolet Buick GMC Cadillac in Montmagny
