Day #23: Bothwell

 

Tuesday, Aug 18

Temperature: High 68°F / Low 65°F

Conditions: Overcast with a breeze

Distance Walked: 18.2k

Experience of the Day

Dave from NLBM drove us down to Elliot's General Store promptly at 8am. We all oohed and ahhed over the food at Elliott's. What a great little store. They have a little bit of everything. We made our purchases and headed out the door. It was a comfortable morning of walking, clouds and not too much humidity.

At one point I saw a large "loose gravel" sign that had been knocked over. I picked it up over my head in jest: look what I found, won't this be a great souvenir? What I didn't realize is that like a million ants were on that sign and soon enough were all over my entire body! There I was throwing my pack off into the middle of the road ripping my shirt off and trying to get ants off my body, out of my hair, off my clothes, and off of my pack! Ten minutes later, all was good. But that sure taught me to think twice about what I pick up on the side of the road!

We had a wonderful tour of the lighthouse from Ruthie. She was extremely detailed and we learned a lot about the history of the lighthouse. Interestingly, the lighthouse  location was incorrect on the original map and there were lots of shipwrecks. To remedy the situation, rather than reprinting the maps, they moved the lighthouse to match the map! 

Back at our motel, I took a ride over to the North Lake Harbor, which is the bluefin tuna capital of the world. A boat came in with three tunas and I watched them lifted off of the boat and then processed and weighed. The tuna all have tags on them; these tuna were a little smaller than some caught in the past. As it turns out, the smaller ones swim up from North Carolina; the really big tuna come from Spain. Apparently the water is warming up and the big tuna are moving further north.

Breakfast: Yogurt, blue berries, banana with peanut butter, coffee

Lunch: Beef/cheese sticks and rolls from Harbourview Training Center Bakery (super delish!)

Dinner: Black beans, freeze dried Mexican rice with chicken, large bell peppers, pistachios, pretzels and cider. 

Dessert at North Lake Boathouse Eatery: Apple pie (Lynn), Date Bar (Therese)

Lodging: North Lake Beach Motel

Day #22: North Lake

 

Monday, Aug 17

Temperature: High 69°F / Low 65°F

Conditions: Overcast

Distance Walked: 25k

Experiences of the Day

Therese and her new friend, Flint, got a ride out to Elliott's General Store with Alan. She just adored her new furry friend! 

Dave shuttled us from the motel back to the New Zealand trailhead. Although the four of us left on the trail together, after about an hour and a half, they all decided to listen to their audiobooks. That was my cue to pick up the pace as I wanted to minimize the amount of time I was on my feet today. After I got out of ear shot. I turned my own audiobook on my phone speaker (I'm listening to Anne's House of Dreams by LM Montgomery). I miss the old days before technology when people used to talk when they hiked. 

Meanwhile, I was distracted on the trail looking at a sign about an upcoming race. It was near what looked like a memorial site. I stepped on something squishy. Yuck. Thinking that it was fox poop, I looked down to see what I had stepped in...oh my gosh, it was a snake!!!! About as thick as my thumb and roughly 18" long, it twisted and slithered away, clearly as disturbed as I was. I didn't even scream, which is very unusual for me. 

Made a quick stop at the Elmira Railroad Museum before heading back to the motel where I relaxed most of the afternoon and then sauntered over to the restaurant for for pan-fried haddock. 

Breakfast: Freeze dried eggs with plant based chorizo, coffee

Lunch: Promeal bar, Nuun electrolytes, banana with peanut butter, pretzels, milk

Dinner: Pan fried haddock, veggies, mashed potato and a roll at the North Lake Boathouse Eatery.

Lodging: North Lake Beach Motel

Day #21: New Zealand

 

Sunday, Aug 16

Temperature: High 70°F / Low 61°F

Conditions: Cloudy 

Distance Walked: 22.7k

Experience of the Day

I didn't sweat today. In fact, I don't think any of us did. 

The four of us left at 6:30am because we had to be at the shuttle pickup at 2pm sharp and we didn't want to be late! Therese made her way by bike after having another delicious latte in St Peters Bay at Black and White.

After our quiet walk through the woods on the Confederation Trail, Dave from the NLBM picked us up at New Zealand. He gave us a nice tour as we drove to the motel. 

Had dinner at the North Lake Boathouse Eatery.

Breakfast: Freeze dried chicken and rice. 

Lunch: Apple, cheese sticks, ADL choc milk, Cliff bars

Dinner: Fish tacos (Lynn) and broccoli chowder (Therese) at The North Lake Boathouse Eatery.

Lodging: North Lake Beach Motel

Rest Day #2: Greenwich PEI National Park Bike Adventure

 

Saturday, Aug 15

Temperature: High 68°F / Low 53°F

Conditions: Sunny with a little wind

Distance Cycled: 41.6k

Distance Walked: 2.1k dune walk

Experience of the Day

Food. All the food was awesome!!!

Enjoyed our ride around Greenwich PEI National Park and pushing the thumb button!! My legs were too tired to pedal. Also came across an air field - a nice long grassy field.

Breakfast @ Black & White Café and Bistro

Lynn: The Breakfast Burrito - Medley of Scrambled Eggs, Tater Tots, Kidney Beans, and Green Onions, Topped with Cheese and Bacon, Grilled in a Whole Wheat Wrap, Sour Cream and Hot Bandito Sauce, with a Side of Fresh Fruits

Therese: The Breakfast Sammy - Bacon, Baked Egg, Cheddar, Mayo, On GF Bread with a Side of Fresh Fruits

Lunch @ The Golden Dory

Lynn: The Blueberry Burger - Smash vegetarian patty (House made with black beans, chickpea flour and spices), blueberry mostarda, bacon, goat cheese, lettuce, and herb mayo with a side salad of local greens, cucumber, roasted sweet potato, candied pecans, pickled onion, goat cheese, and blueberry miso dressing, and a root beer. 

Therese: Greenwich Burger - Smash patty, tomato, lettuce, house pickle, ketchup, and mustard with a GF bun and fries. The GF bun was amazing!

Dinner: Microwave popcorn! 

Day #20: St Peter's Bay

 

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!

Breakfast: Yogurt, granola, fruit, peanut butter and cream cheese toast, OJ, coffee 

Lunch: Bag of salad, cheese, bread, banana, ADL choc milk, cashews, apple, Gatorade. 

Dinner: Microwave popcorn! 

Lodging: Airbnb in St Peter's Bay