Craigmore to Glengarry | Campsite: 46.04022° N, 61.44899° W
Feeling fully rested upon waking up is amazing. I quickly eat breakfast, stretch, and break camp in order to be on the trail walking by 6:00. The landscape today is as beautiful and majestic as yesterday, and the trail is neat and groomed. I learn that Canadian military engineers, through a 3-year program called “Bridges For Canada” assisted communities across the country throughout the Trans Canada Trail network to construct and restore bridges. This is one of the reasons why these sections along The Great Trail I’ve walked since leaving Toronto have been such a wonderful experience. I meet a couple walking the trail toward me and I ask if the variety store in the village of Judique is worth stopping at for food, and they confirm that I will be able to pick up dry goods for the pack. The man, I learn, had ridden by my tent last night on an ATV and had seen me camping alongside the trail. The trail into town is clearly marked and nicely groomed. And yes, I am able to pick up food, coffee, a few free cookies, and donuts. Plus the owner suggests that I leave my battery bank with her to charge while I have a look around town. She even gives me a small solar panel charger to try out on the trail. I decided to give it a try, and upon testing it later in the day confirm that it is able to provide charge to my phone. I find a comfortable patio next door where I am able to eat a snack and enjoy my coffee on the patio of a cultural centre not yet open for the day. Comfortable tables and chairs with exterior wall outlets provide everything I need for an hour and a half rest—time enough for charging the smartwatch. What a wonderful morning! I have walked 13 km from this morning’s campsite to Judique, and am comfortable that the newly-acquired supplies will be more than enough to get me to the town of Port Hood which is 18 km away. It is followed by the town of Mabou, a further 14 km north. This is the town that the family owners of Gary’s Groceries spend time in every year, enjoying the beauty of the region. This should most likely round out my day at 43 km. The trail followed towards this destination, however, is longer than I had predicted, as it meanders quite a distance into the interior of the province. So much so that by 7:30 in the evening I am shocked to learn that I have walked close to 50 km and am still quite a distance from the town of Mabou. I set up the tent and write off the afternoon as one in which a more “scenic” route has been followed.
Today’s distance walked: 49.53 km | Total distance walked: 2,234.21 km
“This citrusy IPA was named after the largest natural giant ever recorded. He’d dead lift anchors to pass the time. Raise a pint and test your strength.” – From Breton Brewing can of “Black Angus” 6.2% IPA (Cape Breton NS)
Havre Bouches to Craigmore | Campsite: 45.78216° N, 61.47698° W
I wake at 4:00 to a light rain against the rain fly. My morning is slower than usual, as I am aiming to be 3.3 kilometres down the road by 6:30 in order to arrive at Gary’s Groceries when it opens. The small village of Havre Boucher is a checkpoint on this segment of the walk, as initially, I believed it was the only place to refill water before the town of Port Hawkesbury 5 kilometres out of my way toward Cape Breton. However, I have located a coffee shop about 10 kilometres past Gary’s Groceries on the highway that will serve as a very important point to restock on water. It is located on the Trans-Canada Highway directly before the causeway across the Strait of Canso, which means that I am able to conveniently refuel at this point. I stock up on drinks at Gary’s Groceries, talking first with Gary about the walk, and then with his daughter Angela—who is in for coffee on her way to work at the local hospital—at the cash. I ask if there are any public parks nearby where I would be able to enjoy my drinks and snacks, some of which are freshly-baked molasses cookies that are given to me as Gary also bakes fresh goods for the business. Debra, Gary’s wife, invites me over to the deck on their home next door, and we talk. She suggests that I walk the trail section that begins at Troy, continuing all the way north to the town of Inverness—all parts of the Great Trail that winds around the coast. Debra has walked it in sections and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, recommending I walk it rather than the roadway. She mentions that it is well-marked including access trails into each of the towns along the roadway, and provides beautiful views of both St. Georges Bay and later The Gulf of St. Lawrence. This is excellent news, and I am excited to see it all! They wish me luck, I thank them for their hospitality, and set out again, ascending a steep 200 metre hill out of town, walking the quiet two-lane Highway 44 until it meets with the Trans-Canada 104 Highway. I stop for an hour in Aulds Cove to cook brunch, pause for coffee, fill all water bottles, and journal the morning. Just down the road, there is a gas station with a liquor store where I pick up two pints. One I enjoy on a picnic table overlooking the water, and the other I pack for later. As I am enjoying the view of the big water a couple approach. A car alarm sounds and I joke, “We try to enjoy some nature and this is what we have to listen to!” They ask about what I am doing, and the man says that he is jealous and that he would love to do something similar for seeing the world. I ask about them and they tell me that they are on day eleven of a twelve-day bus tour of Nova Scotia—tour busses that I will see plenty of when I reach the Cabot Trail section of the cape. They are now on their final stretch to Halifax where they will catch a flight home. We wish each other good luck and safe travel. The final segment to walk using the Trans-Canada is a long, narrow strip across St. Georges Bay that has been designed purposely for vehicles to pass. No provisions for pedestrians were built into the design. There are no gravel shoulders, however, there is space on the outside of the causeway piled high with various sizes of stones and tufts of grass. I manage to get across to the other side, stopping at the Tourist Information Office where I meet Amy who answers all of my questions and confirms everything that I have been told so far about the Ceilidh Coastal Trail (or Celtic Shores Coastal Trail). She also informs me of the provincial park rules of use for when I arrive at the north end of the Cabot Trail. As I walk into Cape Breton, rain begins to fall—not hard, but enough to soak everything and form puddles over the ground. I walk the road for about an hour, then I find the first trail access point outside of Troy. Covered picnic tables greet me and I am able to change comfortably into more hefty rain gear. The next hour of trail walking is in the rain, but it begins to lessen by 2:30, stopping by 3:00, with the sky beginning to show signs of clearing by 3:30. Every bend in the trail reveals such pretty vistas! This is certainly one of the highlights of this walk to this point. I soon find the most incredible camp spot. It is perfectly placed in a growth of trees, perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence with a beautiful view of the upcoming shoreline and bays. I end my day right then and there, with a respectable 37 kilometres having been walked. Tomorrow I will pass through the town of Judique where I will be able to restock water. I put a few minutes into journalling the day, make a cup of hot chocolate, cook some dinner, and hang out, relaxing overlooking the magnitude of the water from the vantage point of a campsite perfectly positioned with a bird’s eye view. This surely is my best day so far: amazing walking, meeting cool people, incredible trail walking, and by far the kind of campsite I have been hoping to sleep in! The clothing and tent are dried, and I ease into an incredibly mild evening with a soft breeze until sleep angles in around 7:30 / 8:00.
Today’s distance walked: 38.27 km | Total distance walked: 2,184.68 km
“Everything around me was darkened, and my body, surrounded by that darkness, felt weightless. I saw myself walking through the flowered fields of Aghata, where I met my grandmother and an uncle who had been important to me when I was a child. I felt the vibration of time in its grid of quadrants, where all roads are joined and mixed, becoming identical despite their being so different from each other.” – Paulo Coelho, “The Pilgrimage”, p. 200.
Antigonish to Havre Bouches | Campsite: 45.66046° N, 61.54984° W
Rain fell in waves last night, clearing up by 3:30. I wake up by 4:00 but don’t really get moving until 4:30. I am out walking a bit later this morning by 6:00. I walk 20 kilometres through to Paqtnkek—with only a short 30-minute break to cook lunch—where I stop to rest in the air-conditioned cool. It is a lovely space where tables are set up in a bright atrium with large windows and skylights. I take the time to write for a half hour. During this time the laptop is charged, water bottles are filled, rest and relaxation are enjoyed. The Bayside Travel Center is one of the most comfortable and useful gas stations with rest areas I have found over the entire walk so far. I can’t understand why there are so few of these in Eastern Canada. People enjoying the space are relaxing, talking, drinking coffee, and planning out the next stages of their trips. I very much enjoy my hour-long rest here! By 3:30 I have walked close to 40 kilometres, and I begin to scan for a place to camp. I soon find one up on a hill about 100 yards from the highway. The tent goes up and I am inside by 3:45. I am tired—another tough day, although I’m sure the constant noise and threat of traffic have contributed much to my exhaustion. I clean and prepare for the evening. I organize gear for tomorrow. I write the day down. Today, so many long sections of straight highway were marched through! Some of these sections took me up to 45 minutes to walk. I was thinking about this walking challenge and about how many different kinds of pathways I’ve walked, with all the different types of landscape, and I very much like that this walk has been made over such diverse terrain. While it has been difficult to plan for water refilling (not knowing which rivers or streams are actually accessible), food, and camping locations into the walk, I am excited about being able to organize it all into 59 days (so far) that have been successful. I put some time into studying the upcoming 100 kilometres. I was sure that I would have to walk an extra five kilometres to and from the town of Port Hawkesbury, but I’ve found resources on the road located before this town, allowing me to start walking north into Cape Breton and on to the Cabot Trail without the need to walk the extra distance. This saves me two hours of walking. I relax into a few hours of reading before drifting off into an early sleep.
Today’s distance walked: 39.42 km | Total distance walked: 2,146.41 km
