Saturday, Aug 14

Temperature: High 65°F / Low 61°F

Conditions: Sun and clouds; severe thunderstorm!

Distance Walked: 25.8k

Experience of the Day

I read everything I could find about the Island Walk during the planning of this trip. I even watched videos that the Chonky Trondlers had posted about their trip. So far, the experiences along the way and the trip itself have exceeded all of my expectations. Personally, this has been the trip of a lifetime: the people have been amazing, the food is delicious, and the scenery is fantastic. The only surprise was that I didn't I realized how exhausted I would be.

All five of us are having different experiences. Two of our walkers don't really enjoy walking along the busy roads, so they've been adjusting their routes and getting rides to the places where they would like to start their walk. One of our walkers ended up becoming a walker/cyclist along the way. As for myself, as I told Bryson Guptill, I am just so driven and determined to do the entire thing on my own two feet...I guess I have a little crazy streak in me.

Today was the third really long walk in a row. Our route is slightly adjusted based on our accommodations, so our distances vary from the actual section distances. Three walkers started out nice and early, I started out about 9:00am and Therese ended up not feeling so well and decided to contact Paula about meeting up with them to get her bicycle.

My plan was to get to Morell around lunch time. When I looked at the weather and saw that severe thunderstorms were predicted, I kept an eye on the AccuWeather Minutecast. Suddenly I was a race walker on that trail, pack and all! I made it to the Co-op and purchased some lunch items. I went to eat my lunch just outside of the store -- I sat on the concrete next to a stack of firewood and was protected from the elements by the plexiglass enclosure. It was starting to rain, so it was a good place to be. As I sat there, I must have looked pretty awful because a lady came up to me and opened her purse and took out $20 to give me, I'm not sure for what, but maybe she thought I was homeless? At any rate I told her that I was retired and had a pension and really I didn't need the money. She insisted and then she gave me her address and told me that if I needed a place to stay I could stay with her tonight. Clearly I must look exhausted on this 20th day of walking.

In the meantime, Therese conferred with trail angel Paula, who suggested that she consider the impending storm and that she and Pat could take her to St Peter's Bay. So she hopped in the truck and off they went. Once there, the skies were just getting darker and darker and Paula was concerned about the other three walkers on the trail, who had already made it past Morell and were about to get soaked. Therese called them to see if they wanted a ride and to find their location. Paula, Pat, and Therese made a u-turn and went back out to collect the three of them off the trail.

In the meantime, I had made my way across the street to the Morell Welcome Centre, where I was cozy and dry, and had time to work on my blog posts and go through my photos. I hung out for about two hours while the storm passed. Around 3:00 the skies cleared up and I quickly packed up my items and made my way back to the trail.

The walk into St. Peters Bay from Morell was quite spectacular. I enjoyed the views and walking along the water and I finished listening to Anne of the Island (LM Montgomery). Therese came down to meet me for the last kilometer or so. I was very happy to see her and she graciously carried my pack back to lodging for the night.

We are all looking forward to our second rest day tomorrow and riding e-bikes to Greenwich National Park!