St-Sulpice to Berthierville   |   Campsite: 46.03152° N, 73.18091° W

The morning is still, quiet, and dark when I wake at 4:40 from incredibly vivid dreams. Normally in Toronto, I don’t dream. I fall asleep, and only the blackest of darkness permeates my sleep until I wake. However, I have experienced periods of dreaming when traveling to Vancouver, Poland, Germany, Guatemala, to Halifax. It is as though my mind is using these hours of sleep to process these new, novel creative experiences. These periods of dreaming often persist for a few weeks upon returning to the city, but eventually, my sleep slowly fades back to black. For now, my mind seems to be very active overnight! I pack quickly, setting out to walk by 5:30, with the morning still dark, approaching the silver hour. I am disheartened to realize that this road—Rue Notre-Dame (Highway 138)—is relatively busy, even at this early hour, with a near-constant stream of traffic. I walk just over two hours for 11.4 km and break for coffee at a restaurant with wifi located in the town of Lavaltrie. I write a blog post, journal down the morning, and type up another day from the notebook. A very fine rain is beginning to fall: the pavement outside slowly begins to darken with the thinnest sheen of water. As I am working in the restaurant, a table of four elderly people is having a great conversation, erupting constantly in laughter! I finish transcribing a few days of writing, and colour correct a number of supporting images. By now, the rain has increased, and as I am dry inside, I am a bit hesitant for stepping out into it. The rain appears to be tapering off by 12:00, and stopping altogether by 1:00. As the temperature will not rise upwards of 10 degrees for the afternoon, a later day of walking will not be a bad strategy as I much prefer walking in cooler temperatures. I would also rather be warm in a dry tent than cold in a wet tent. At 12:44 I am still seated in the restaurant—over four hours later. I have made good use of the time. I have transcribed five more days of notes, created all supporting images for each of the blog posts, and uploaded all unpublished entries. All writing is up to date for the walk. Everything written up to three days ago is ready to publish. While still raining, I prepare to leave, still intent on arriving in Berthierville 26 km down the road by evening. By 3:15 I have entered the town of Lanoraie, its central church spire the first structure to be seen eight kilometres outside of the town’s limits. I stop at the dépanneur for two 10.1% Labatt Dry pints to enjoy with my lunch of couscous and rice alongside a blueberry cup of tea—all cooked and enjoyed in the town’s central public park. The rain began to ease off about an hour ago, and by the time I eat my lunch, it has stopped altogether, with the forecast showing day after day of sun! Berthierville is still 15 km away—that’s three more very full hours of walking. I’ll be leaving here by 4:00 at the earliest. This means that I’ll still have to find a campsite, even though I already have an area in mind, by 7:00 at the earliest. This is the point at which a man walking two greyhound dogs approaches me, asking in French where I am coming from. I attempt to communicate the point at which I began this challenge back in Toronto on May 6, that I’ve walked to this point over the past 19 days, and that my ultimate destination is St. John’s Newfoundland. He seems interested, and sits at the picnic table, his lovely greyhounds taking the opportunity to nose nudge my hands into petting them throughout our conversation. This is how I met Andrew and his two wonderfully calm dogs in the park of Lanoraie while eating my lunch. We have an amazing conversation that includes the importance of travel, Buddhism, veganism, and culture. I really loved the time sitting with Andrew as the day transformed from an overcast grey into bright, crisp sunshine and blue sky. It was great spending time with him, as the confidence and calm with which he spoke about travel to Europe, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Asia revealed something authentic about the man—his love for travel, challenge, and the desire to constantly be learning. We say goodbye, I organize the pack and set westward. The road between Lanoraie and Berthierville is beautiful, teetering on the shores of the St. Lawrence River so impossibly close! The sun radiates light as massive tanker ships glide along the surface of the water. By 6:30, I call it a day 6 km west of my intended destination. A well-manicured rest stop appears on the shoreline side of the road, and green grassy level stretches of the park alongside picnic tables are too good to pass up. I cook a meal of ramen, journal down the day, and soon enough 7:30 is upon me. The tent goes up with rain fly, and I lean into another eventful day darkening into a breezy, steadily more silent evening.

Today’s distance walked: 33.43 km   |    Total distance walked: 709.66 km

“Most people don’t do things like this because of insecurity. You’ll find that insecurity prevents most people from doing amazing things. You’re learning this the farther you walk.”

– Andrew, a man I met over lunch in Lanoraie, Québec