Port Hope to Brighton   |   Campsite: 44.03516° N, 77.76386° W

I wake at 4:00 am after a good sleep. I am beginning to get better used to the ThermaRest mattress and its relatively small sleeping surface. I start to put the day together with breakfast, consisting of GreensPlus, trail mix, and a granola bar. Deflate the mattress, get dressed, and stretch. Pack. The tent is dry and stowed easily this morning. Brush teeth. I tape a note of thanks and gratitude to the front door of the grocery store that I had written last night for the staff. So appreciative that they trusted me and wanted to help me with a comfortable place to bed down for the night out behind the building. I’m still in gratitude! Out walking, and by 7:00 I am entering the town of Cobourg. I have coffee as I journal the morning in the notebook. I move through Cobourg quickly. It is another quite pretty little town, with a great sense of personality. Grafton is the next town, followed by Colborne. The countryside connecting all of these water-side towns is lovely; green, full, fragrant, and peaceful. Birdsong is heard everywhere. Identified as a hamlet, Grafton features some lovely architecture for such a small town—namely a hotel with a wonderful porch and entranceway detailing. Somewhere between Grafton and Colborne, I spot a fast-running stream, down about 50 feet from the roadway. I climb down, heat water with the stove, and soak ramen for a 12:00 lunch as I bathe in the clear, cool water. Eat. Wash the cookware. Repack. Rinse the walking clothes in the stream and apply sunscreen—all in 40 minutes. Back out walking by 12:40. I walk through to the 2,000-resident town of Colborne, stopping at a Foodland to buy some fruit. As I am crossing the street toward a nicely treed park with picnic tables, a man smiles and says that I am making good time. He saw me back in Grafton earlier this morning. We exchange a few words before moving into our days. Eat my fruit over a 15-minute break. Take a few photos, then pull the pack on for more walking. At the current time of leaving Colborne, I have covered 34 km. The town of Brighton is 13 km away and I am going to try to reach it by the end of the afternoon. Two hours of walking 11 kilometres into the edge of Brighton will see me climb a number of long, drawn-out hills as the afternoon heats up. The walk is pretty, even though traffic becomes increasingly loud and fast. A funny thing: a couple driving an expensive SUV stops on the other side of the highway, tires screeching, dust flying into the breeze. It is a couple, and they speak with a heavy accent. South African or Sudanese perhaps. The man leans out of the driver’s side window, beaconing me over to his side of the roadway. He says that they were robbed at a hotel and he needs gas money. The driver of a souped-up Lexus SUV is stopping on a highway asking a dirtbag hiker for gas money. It was such a ridiculous situation and hilarious story that I give him the $5.00 I had, just to be able to write about it. Another half-hour I am at the city limits of Brighton, spotting an open field. There is no fencing, no “private property” signs. The field hosts a few fairly-weathered billboards and some good full trees for coverage. I walk 200 metres from the roadway, winding behind a clump of evergreen trees, and find a flat, secure, hidden spot for the tent. By 4:20 pm the tent is up. 4:30 I am inside on a beautifully comfortable air mattress. I put off applying the rain fly until later in order to enjoy the fresh, gentle breeze floating through the mesh windows of the tent, cooling and drying everything in its path. Journal down the afternoon. Change into sleep gear, and settle in to scout tomorrow’s route. I will walk to the town of Trenton tomorrow which is 19 km, refill water and pick up fruit, then continue on to the town of Belleville, an additional 35 km distance. There may be some good tenting options on the east edge of Belleville behind a few large box stores surrounded by green space. The rain fly goes on at 5:30 pm. I read for an hour with a sonorous backup cast of birds belting out some expert whistling. I angle into some meditation, and soon into a deep sleep. A good day of scenery and walking.

Today’s distance walked: 44.78 km    |    Total distance walked: 163.68 km

“These days are amazing.”