Cardinal to Riverside Heights   |   Campsite: 44.94166° N, 75.08547° W

My sleep in the Saint John’s United Riverside Cemetery was deep and rejuvenating. Because of the extent of yesterday’s wind, I had been anticipating a cold, windy night. However, last night was the warmest of the walk so far, with next to no wind throughout the night. The rain fly stayed in the tent, not required. I woke this morning at 4:00 am, an early start into breakfast, stretching, organizing, and packing gets me out walking by 5:30. Little traffic is running on the road, so the walk is peaceful and relatively quiet. Some sweet cows say “Good morning!”, a rooster wakes up a barn, and a white-tail deer flashes too quickly and gracefully into the greenery for me to be able to capture it with the camera. By 7:00, I am entering the town of Iroquois where I enjoy a coffee. Map the route ahead, input expenses, and write the morning into the notebook. As the phone charges, I look into the distance, and projected time of rain, and have my water bottles filled. As Morrisburg is only 16 km down the road, I’m thinking of finishing charging the phone in the pack as I walk. Washroom break, then back out by 7:30. Morrisburg is located on a 12 km straight section of roadway following the St. Lawrence River. The walk is not scenic, but not dull either. I spend 30 minutes at a McDonalds copying files and backing up, then a pit stop. I am out again by 11:45 walking to 1:00 and a place called Riverside Heights, which is a very small village right on the shores of the river. About three kilometres east of it I see a very large and newly-landscaped public park with soft, recently cut grass and level grounds. I spot a great area behind some trees, set up the tent, and cook food for dinner. I then hear a large industrial grass cutter in the distance, and within a few minutes, I see it, a hundred metres in the distance. Within ten minutes, as the rounds being cut are becoming smaller and smaller, the driver is getting ever closer to the location where I am set up. The next pass, he drives right beside the tent. “Ok”, I say, “The moment of truth. Do I get to stay, or do I get told to leave?” As he drives by he gives me a big thumbs-up sign! Alright—I can stay. The next pass he makes I head out to wave him down so that I can ask if my camping in this spot for the night will be alright. He says absolutely and not to worry about it. He then asks where I am off to, and we talk for a few minutes. I ask him his name and he says it is Scott. I thank him, he continues his work, and I set up the rain fly in preparation for the rain soon to fall. As I am changing I notice a tick on my left knee. I safely remove it, capture it in the tweezer jar, and wipe the bite area with antiseptic. Upon reaching Cornwall tomorrow I will stop in at the Community Hospital to get it checked out. I journal the day out, logging just over 30 km of distance today in an effort to bypass the rain. The walk to Cornwall will be around 30 km, and then another 124 km from Cornwall to Montréal. That will then give me four days to walk 31 km per day into the city. Of note: from Cornwall into Montréal, the terrain climbs 1,470 metres.

Today’s distance walked: 31.38 km    |    Total distance walked: 450.15 km