Montréal | Accommodation: 1406 Rue Ste-Élisabeth, Montréal
I sleep deeply for close to seven hours! I wake refreshed and excited for the day. Once I get the correct wifi password from the landlord, I am online and able to update everything that needs updating. I transfer and back up all files. After some neighbourhood mapping, I find an IGA grocery store nearby where I will be buying rice and granola bars for the trail. A little farther in the same direction down Saint-Catherine I spot a BulkBarn where I will pick some more powdered milk and hot chocolate mix. I have a few repairs to make on a number of garments, which will be made this afternoon once I return to the flat. I put up a blog articulating this walk quickly onto my personal website and will post it on LinkedIn when content is uploaded. I put a plan together, walking down Saint-Catherine to 1). the Apple Store for a replacement external hard drive cable; 2). some ingredients from BulkBarn; 3). a few items from the IGA grocery market; 4). lunch from Vietnamese restaurant Thanh-Long Pho on the return to the flat, in which I order the Dinner Express B, which comes with soup maison, rouleax impèriaux (2), côtelette de porc grillée, à la citronella, and salade with rib à la vapeur. I am happy! The restaurant is playing the most ridiculous music—instrumental versions of “Itsy Bitsy Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” to an instrumental interpretation of the Chariots of Fire soundtrack. I’m considering bringing an extra large pepperoni wheel back to the flat as I locate a Pizza Pizza right across the street. I return to the flat by 3:30, extra large pie in hand, intent on enjoying it over the evening’s NHL playoff game. I use the time to transcribe the first eleven days of notes written over the walk. This will make the process of pasting content into the now-live blog simple. The intention will be to upload all writing with images to the blog as a means of publicizing my experiences and reflections on the walk. It will be nice to guide people who would like to know more about this challenge to an accessible space online. By the time the game begins at 8:00, I have eleven days transcribed with supporting imagery. I post to LinkedIn, and with that, another form of creative making is set in motion. By 11:00 pm I fall into bed, intent on a deep sleep before rising early to prepare for the next stage of the walk before checking out by 11:00 tomorrow morning.
Today’s distance walked: 10.1 km (city walking) | Total distance walked: 634.83 km
Montréal | Accommodation: 1406 Rue Ste-Élisabeth, Montréal
The decision to add an extra day in Montréal yesterday was a good one. The food, rest, and culture were all things I had been in need of. Hot showers. NHL playoffs. Sinking into a deep sleep by 8:45 pm. Yesterday’s walk into Montréal was a big one, and the distance covered required subsequent rest. This morning I am awake early to do a bit of reading, then spend a good hour composed of showering, cleaning, grooming, brushing, organizing the pack, and descending downstairs to eat some breakfast. Some journalling is added to the notebook, as I consider all of the tasks that need be done today. I’ll be looking for coffee over my upcoming 9 km walk to Mountain Equipment Coop, as the café in the hostel is closed. I have a few things to do while in the city to prepare for the next stage of the walk to Quebec City and Trois-Rivières. By 7:00 I am outside charging into the morning. I basically follow Saint-Denis north as far as possible, to a point where Apple Maps steers me through a section of earthen trail through a green space wrapping around a number of old high-rise buildings and underneath a freeway overpass where skateboard ramps and rails have been designed and installed. Every concrete surface is covered with murals, graffiti, and tags. I find the MEC easily, and to my surprise I also find a BulkBarn. I relax on a sunny bench until the stores open at 10:00. I buy couscous, seasoning, trail mix, and some dry snacks for the road. I’ll buy more five-minute rice from a grocery store closer to the hostel. To MEC, where new SAXX underwear are acquired. I also find a 15 cm x 30 cm exterior pouch that will house my phone, credit cards, and coffee cards nicely. Up to this point, I’ve been having to stuff my phone uncomfortably into pant or fleece pockets, neither of which offer efficient access due the waist belt of the pack making these actions quite difficult each time. Because I am taking lots of photos for future creative projects, having a comfortably-accessible pocket to store the phone and all cards for making purchases cuts down on dropping or losing anything along the way. It also prevents having to take the pack off in order to dig into already very full pockets in search of credit cards. The exterior pouch is made by Fjällräven, and fits comfortably onto either the hip belt or the chest strap of the pack. I also buy a zippered pouch for toiletries. Up to now I have had these items in a ziplock bag which has slowly been falling apart. This nylon bag will fit everything comfortably and much more securely. Finding everything I need, I return to downtown via Rue Saint-Hubert, an interesting, low-key street that reminds me of Kensington Market in Toronto. Transfer to Rue Saint-Denis. From here, I find an interesting street closed off to traffic called Av Du Mont Royal, where I pause at 12:30 to enjoy a poutine plate from a restaurant called Dirty Pizza. I spend a pleasant 30 minutes on the patio in the sun. For the last leg of walking to the hostel, I take Boul St-Laurent, which features a number of good furniture and industrial design stores, with cool clothing shops and a handful of interesting pubs. By 2:00 the temperature has risen to 22 degrees. I am so happy to have booked at the last minute into this hostel, called the M Montréal Hostel, as last night and today would have been much rougher. As it is, I am already exhausted over having completed the chores of the day, and I am looking forward to getting over to the property of my first reservation in the city (I had originally planned on two nights in Montréal) to relax and organize. A private room sounds really, really good right now! I wait at the hostel until 4:00 before walking my pack over to the reserved room. It is no more than ten minutes down Rue Ste-Catherine E. I find the location easily, and make my way inside without incident. However, as I enter the unit, a man is inside, slightly confused at my presence. After we talk, I realize that he is the cleaner, called at the last minute due to the regular cleaner having come down with COVID-19. As he was contacted at the last minute, he is still finishing up cleaning the flat, requiring a half hour to finish the work. I simply rest in the hallway, grateful for the carpeting. When the room is ready, I enter, find the hockey game, and wash three loads of clothing in the washing machine. I promptly fall into some strategic snoozing on the comfortable couch to around 10:30 pm, at which point I brush up the teeth and fall into the most plush bed the world has ever seen, finding sleep quickly. Exhausted, but feeling good and happy!
Today’s distance walked: 25.31 km (city walking) | Total distance walked: 634.83 km
‘You’re driving down the road to ruin.” – graffiti written on an automobile overpass in Montréal
Pointe-des-Cascades to Montréal | Hotel: M Hostel, 1245 Rue Saint-André, Montreal
Last night the temperature hovered around 15 degrees. So while the rain fly was put on (I was expecting rain), the windows and rain fly vestibule stayed open all night for a great sleep. I am awake, up, and out walking by 6:15 through residential neighborhoods perched scenically along the water north of Pointe-des-Cascades. I walk 9 km to a McDonalds where I treat myself to a second breakfast of the morning. I don’t believe this is hiker hunger kicking in yet; I think I’m simply hungrier than usual. I back up photo files and organize daily folders. I’ve been thinking about all of the creative making I want to be doing following the completion of this walk. I will be writing articles to post on Medium; I will be making books with the writing and photos I’ve been making throughout this experience; and I want to learn about broadcast media and the software used so that a limited series podcast can be made from the voice memos I’ve been recording as a component of the audio. In order to be able to do all of this, I have been keeping very meticulous organization over all of the stuff I’ve been capturing to prevent having to look at one mountainous, unorganized mess of files upon completing the walk. So, daily file upkeep (I remind myself every day) is not time taken away from the trail but is rather a crucial use of time in order to foster better future outcomes of making. I download and install Apple iPhone updates. Catch up on Numbers expenses, and input recent daily distance totals. I write in the journal, and later fill up all the water bottles. Washroom, then out to continue walking toward the city by 9:19. I walk over 10 km to 12:00. This brings me to Fritz Park along the water shore. Earlier, I had crossed the bridge from St-Jean Baptiste into Terrasse-Vaudreuil. Here I stop to buy a few pints and another instant noodle package just in case hunger strikes on tomorrow’s walk into the city of Montréal. A road through a quiet birdsong-filled forest—Boul Perrot N—brings me to the second bridge, Pont Galipeault. Moving through Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, I am officially on Montréal Island. There is a boardwalk along the water, passing restaurants and bar patios in the process of opening for lunch. I then begin to walk Rue Ste-Anne, a road that will blend into a number of names over the course of its lazy hugging of the water’s shoreline. This is a very long way into Montréal, but as this route follows the western shoreline of the St. Lawrence River into the city, it will offer spectacular views of the surrounding landscapes, both natural and built. As I am following it, coming up to 12:00, I find a nice park with picnic tables upon which to cook lunch, enjoy a cold pint, journal down the day, and take some photos. What a lovely area this is—perfect for walking into the incredible city of Montréal! I decide to research hostels in the city. I find one with a good price for the night. I decide to reserve a bed in a dorm room and book it, not wanting to tent in the city. The walk through the town of Dorval and Grove Hill is beautiful: trees, canals, wide sidewalks with restaurant patios spilling out with patrons laughing and drinking wine. I enjoy the walk up to this point very much. It then turns toward the edge of the city, and I suddenly find myself walking through much less scenic spaces. Rue St. Jacques cuts directly through an industrial sector composed of massive concrete structures, many of which are condemned, closed down, awaiting demolition, and covered thick with graffiti. It is a landscape falling apart, fascinating in that odd way upon looking at something ugly that simply cannot be averted. Everything from here to Highways 15 and 20 is otherworldly. I transfer over to Rue Ste-Catherine Ouest as soon as possible. Here, better scenery, interesting architecture, and street culture greet me, and it is nice to walk through, only it seems to take forever to gain distance toward my hostel. This is desperation walking: wanting to stop to relax and rest but knowing ten kilometres separate me from my destination. I arrive at the hostel sometime around 7:15 pm. I check in, walk up to the dorm room on the second floor, settle in, and enjoy a long hot shower. Pint. I then head outside to track down some food. A very large, very tasty beef shawarma wrap is followed by a 14-piece sushi dinner plate a few doors down the street. Overall, I am feeling good—just a bit sore in the lower back and throughout the legs. My pack has been causing havoc with the skin where it rests on my hips and lower back, causing bruising and tearing. Ah, c’est la vie d’un flânneur! I return to the hostel in time to watch the Florida / Carolina NHL playoff game on my laptop in my bed. The beds in this hostel are built as bunks, and mine is accessed by a ladder. Each bed is surrounded on three sides by walls, the facing side of which includes curtain-style drapes that can be pulled closed to create privacy. I fall asleep quickly, as I am tired, well-fed, and feeling good for a few days of rest in the city!
Today’s distance walked: 58.68 km | Total distance walked: 634.83 km
