A long day of walking at 37.2 kms over a little over 7 hours. I am pretty tired. A few body parts are complaining...the only issue of concern is a blister on the inside heel of my right foot. Unfortunately its under a callous so nothing to pop yet so will have to just tape it up tomorrow and do the best I can.
From a scenic point of view not the most envigorating day…well honestly mostly boring views and a ton of road walking. From Souris (mid point of the day) to Howe Bay (end point) this type of walking is what I call Point A to B walking...the only reason to do it is to move forward between these two points, No big deal as this happens on all long walks...
Good aspects to the day
- now positioned for a 4 day completion of the Island Walk allowing for an entire R&R day next Tuesday
- 3 very nice people encounters with the last one being the most special
Not so good aspects to the day...other than the comments about scenic views above
- two frightening situations, and
- a less than enjoyable dog encounter 😡
Stats
Original Plan (Red), 2023/2024 Actual (Blue)
Walking Days: Original Planned 24, 2023/2024 Actual 22
Total Kms Walked: Original Planned 703, 2023/2024 Actual 649
Shuttle Rides: Original Planned 17, 2023/2024 Actual 25
Elevation Gains/Losses: 221m (238m)
Walking Time: 7h 9m
Kms per hour Walking: 5.2 kms
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| Howe Bay (Green Arrow) |
First back to last evening where we had another splendid meal at Johnson Shore Inn. Hey what made it even better is meeting a few folks who are walking/cycling the PEI Island Trail.
Jill from Waterloo Ontario has been cycling for the past 5 days averaging in the area of 60-70 kms a day!!! Holy Moly I can’t imagine cycling that far day after day...my b*tt would be in such pain and I would probably do something stupid and end up in a ditch somewhere. Jill is a high school Science teacher on a sabbatical until year end 2024. After PEI she is off to the West coast of Canada. Poor Jill blanched when she asked about how terrible my rain day was...mine was a dud...her’s was hard driving rain 😱.
Jill was sitting by herself and Dawn kindly asked if she wished to join us as we were sitting to a table where Jo and George from Seattle were. Dave from the Inn just pulled out an extension from the Ikea table (they make great stuff...funny we started out many years ago with Ikea and now we are back to Ikea in our Toronto suite ☺️)
Jo and George have been walking the PEI Island Trail for some time...apparently they are skipping a few sections here and there however they have walked a looonnng way as well! A wide ranging conversation about many things took place...some of it centered around Jill’s recent backpacking trip to Iceland which sounded fantastic. No bears, no wild animals of any kind apparently to worry about in Iceland...George was concerned that a volcano could erupt at any time however Jill laughed that off.
Finally George said “well we have talked about most things...what abut politics?” Clearly he was joking and...well...this is a subject one must approach with utmost care especially with folks from the US. So we just laughed this off...
Our dinner...
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| Another delicious salad |
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| Haddock, delicious corn, broccoli and roasted potatoes ☺️ |
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| Homemade bread pudding and ice cream |
Again got off to an early start at 8am thanks to Dawn...and just started walking the long winding road
Soon I came to the first frightening point for today…at this point I am about to start on “Snake” Rd!!! Now why pick a name after something that is non existent? Logic tells me one does not do this. So I spent the next 45 minutes or looking for the pythons, cobras, rattlesnakes that undoubtedly lurk in the bushes...trees or the ditches.
The dog encounter happened just as I was leaving Snake Road. A fellow was throwing a frisbee to his energetic young German Shepard on the lawn bordering on the highway. The dog was really exited...barking up a storm. Been there before so I was keeping a close eye on the dog. Sure enough it sees me and makes a beeline for me onto the highway...maybe 2 -3 meters away barking like crazy.
So I immediately banged my two metal walking poles together yelling at the dog “out”. It retreated and then came back a few times. Meanwhile Mr. conscientious dog owner is doing diddly squat until such time as he yells out “You know if you wouldn’t bang those poles the dog wouldn’t be as excited”. I was absolutely livid hearing this and restrained from letting loose so calmly yelled back “I’ve been here before...I know what I need to do. Get your dog back NOW!” That seemed to strike home and the fellow shut up and yelled for his dog. End of story except it took a little while to calm down.
Soon after this the best part of the walking day was ahead on a country PEI red dirt road...so peaceful...
Soon thereafter I happened upon the second frightening point of the day...a whole mess of beehives...maybe 5 to 10 meters away. Now this has happened more than once on my PEI Island Walk and after asking a number of questions to local folk I think I have become a quasi bee expert. However I was quite unsettled about these particular beehives...they looked quite old. A few possibilities came to mind as I could not see a single bee flying around.
- they have been abandoned quite some time ago...there are no bee colonies present
- bees were ALL out in the fields (except for the queen bee and guard type bees) collecting pollen to bring back to the hive
- bees were ALL in the hives...waiting for a pre-arranged signal to attack me en mass...a bee swarm to end all bee swarms.
I picked up the pace and soon felt I was in the clear. My bet is on the first possibility empty beehive boxes!
Pleasant people moments
- On the last stretch to Howe Bay a woman ran past me and we acknowledged each other. Minutes later she was at my shoulder on her way back...stopped and walked with me for 5 minutes or so. She was interested in the PEI Island Walk and kindly let me know that I was closing in on my destination for the day Howe Bay. Was a nice people moment.
- Much closer to Howe Bay an elderly man stopped his truck opposite me and asked “Are you walking the Island Walk?” I replied yes and that I was stopping at Howe Bay to which he said “Do you have a ride from there?” When I mentioned that my wife was picking me up he simply wished me a good walk. Soon I found out his name was Wendel
- Minutes after that a blue car (our rental) stopped and Dawn asked if I wanted to put my backpack in the car? ☺️ No thanks I will walk it in...another 500 meters. I get to the end and here is the proof!
Ok 57 kms to go either 37 then 20 or 24 then 33. Right now the thinking is 24 then 33. Have to rest my weary feet a bit and ensure that any complaining from them tomorrow is listened to carefully...
A few other pictures from the day
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| Quite the mound of red PEI soil |
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| Qutie the striking church |
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| Tried a new photo taking technique used by a blogpost reader...🤣 |
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| Cute very small little ponies |
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| Must be very careful! |
Firstly congratulations are in order. You are doing A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.L.Y! I thought you were in recovery mode. Clearly not.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, you have failed to interest me in this walk. Thank you. It's nice to have something to add to my Things I Don't Need To Do list.
Thirdly, Part A congratulations again...this time on experimenting with new camera angles. You show promise.
Thirdly, Part B, I can't insert a picture here so I'll have to email you! You might want to check your email before you set out with your camera again. Your pics are about to turn Next Level.
Thanks Rachael…your comments are always greatly appreciated! I am really pleased with the recovery in terms of walking…to be honest I feel as good as pre-op. I see you have sent me an email on how to take pictures better…surprised you noticed that I tried 😂
DeleteAlso in today’s blogpost I am republishing comments made after my 2023 PEI Island Walk. You will note I make no effort to “sell” the walk…it is what it is. I am glad I did it however in my opinion would appeal to a narrow walking audience for sure!
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