Day: 22 of 35

Date: Friday September 30, 2022

Segments : 19 & 20 of 32
Segment Start: Mt. Stewart
Segment End:  St. Peters Bay

Actual Distance:  35.01k
Start Time:  8:29
End Time:   17:27
Elapsed Time (hh:mm): 8:58
Walking Time (hh:mm): 6:23

Average Moving Speed: 5.45 kph

Average Moving Pace: 10:56 min/km 
Total Ascent:   598m
Total Descent: 531m
Average Temperature: 25.4C

Interactive Route Map  (Walked Segment 20 clockwise but individual pieces in counter-clockwise)

Thoughts

This was a bit of a long day. We started with an 8 kilometer deficit which has been building over the last few days, due first to a miscalculation on our part, then to route adjustments which fell short of the projected distance. Today's route was 27 km but we needed to start from our last finish point which meant adding 8 km to the route. We broke it up into segments of 8, 10, 8 and 8 km distances. We started from the hotel shortly after 7 am for an hour drive to our start point. Because the trails are inaccessible we had to do our entire route on Hwy #2, not the greatest but at least there was always a wide shoulder. We have a sense of accomplishment at having finished 35 km today.

A high point was stopping for coffee and being waved off with no charge. So kind! We had smiles, waves and occasional honks from passers by; all very encouraging. We still feel very welcomed here, there is no sense of pressure to leave the island. Islanders remain interested in our walk and are quick to offer help even though they have sustained so much loss themselves. This has really helped us in our decision to stay and to see this walk to its conclusion. 

We stopped to rest at 'Bishop's Monument', erected in honor of Bishop Angus MacEachern, a priest who immigrated in 1790 from Scotland. He was very influential in starting up schools in PEI, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He ministered for 45 years and is buried on the site of the monument. It was a very restful, peaceful place to sit for a while.

Every day we see progress in PEI's recovery process. Today we left our vehicle in a spot for several hours in Mt. Stewart and were amazed to see how much was accomplished on that street on our return. New hydro poles were erected and new lines fed between them. Residents were sitting on their front porches watching the progress, I'm sure anticipating the return of electricity. The hydro trucks we saw today appeared to be from Nfld. 

At the end of our walk we checked out the section of Confederation Trail we are meant to walk tomorrow--amazingly it looks to be cleared, at least as far as we could tell! Tomorrow will tell! We stopped in Charlottetown for some dinner and arrived back at Summerside just before 9 pm. Time for some rest!

I don't think we have mentioned the birds we see frequently. Almost every day we see multiple blue birds and frequently we see one or more herons when walking near water. The other day we saw a group of quails (as identified by John). 

Contributor: Jane Huiskamp

Strategy for Segment 20

The combination of catching up our deficit (thought it was 10k, turned out to be 8k) and segment's 20 27k distance, meant we might need to walk 37k today. If at the start we parked our vehicles at the start and end points and were not able to do that distance, we would have had an issue. We needed another strategy. 

Typically, at the start of a walk, we drive to the end leaving one vehicle behind, then back to the start. At day's end, we drive back to the start to pick up the first vehicle. Though necessary functionally, because those three trips did not contribute to the walk itself, they were a waste of time. We needed another strategy.

Finally, we took rests during the walk, which though necessary, a waste of time because they did not contribute to knocking off the kilometers. 

We split the walk/segment,  as it turned out, into 4 sub-segments. Today we drove to the start of the 1st sub-segment leaving one vehicle, and then to its end 8k further (the only "wasted" trip) and walked back to sub-segment 1's start in the reverse direction. Then we took that vehicle and leap frogged past the vehicle at sub-segment 1's end to sub-segment 2's end taking our rest during that trip satisfying two requirements - the  needed rest and positioning that vehicle for the next leap frog. We continued that way for the 4 sub-segments - 8k, 10k, 8k, 8k. We left the vehicle at the last sub-segment's end behind for tomorrow.

We walked the entire segment clock-wise by virtue of sequencing the sub-segments clockwise. However, each sub-segment was walked in reverse, or in the counter-clockwise direction.

This strategy produced the following benefits:

1. We never were never further away from a vehicle by more than 4k (half a sub-segment's length),

2. If at the end of a sub-segment, we felt too tired to complete the next, we could stop there knowing there would always be a vehicle there, 

3. No trip in a vehicle wasted time (except the first) as we were resting, taking our snacks, etc during the car trip to the next sub-segment.

4. We lightened our day packs considerably as we put their contents, except for water, into one vehicle, the one we were walking to. We always had our supplies close by! This was the main factor that allowed us to complete 35k (as it turned out) as our backs did not get as sore approaching the end of the day.

5. We were able to walk the first 3 sub-segments without stopping, as we were "resting" during the vehicle trips. We did take an extra break before sub-segment 4

Contributor: Jerry Huiskamp

The Start (Click on images to enlarge)

Segment 19 Waypoint

The Walk

Cut Out Branches From Under Hydro Lines - Would Have Helped Reduce Downed Lines

Cut Out Branches From Under Hydro Lines

Beautiful Water View

Many Trees Show Roots Like This

Bishop Angus MacEachern Monument

Close Call

Another Fiona Impact: Leaning Poles

Community of Mt. Stewart - Main St. Damage

Mt. Stewart - near miss

Mt. Stewart Damage

Hydro Crew Restoring Power

Road to St. Peters Bay - Damaged Barn

Communication Lines Hanging On By a Thread

Former Rail Station along Former Rail Trail

Flexibility!

St. Peters Bay Inlet

St. Peters Bay Inle

Upside Down Trailer

Collapsed Barn Courtesy Fiona

Ferocious Fiona Winds

Searching for Sign for Waypoint 20

Proof of Completion of Segment 20

The End

Satisfied!

John's Images From Yesterday

We've seen many snapped poles

and these

1st break

So Interesting

Catholic Rural Church at Tracadie Cross

Day: 21 of 35

Date: Thursday September 29, 2022

Segments : 18 & 19 of 32
Segment Start: Delvay By The Sea
Segment End:  Mt. Stewart

Actual Distance:  20.06k
Start Time:  9:38
End Time:   14:46
Elapsed Time (hh:mm): 5:08
Walking Time (hh:mm): 3:43

Average Moving Speed: 5.4 kph

Average Moving Pace: 11:08 min/km 
Total Ascent:   168m
Total Descent: 124m
Average Temperature: 25.0C

Interactive Route Map 

Thoughts

Today was John and Jaellayna's last walk with us; tomorrow they start to head for home again. It has been a good week, we are very grateful for the support we have received from Ada and Rich and from John and Jaellayna!

Our walk was to be on the Confederation Trail (today and for the next 3 days) but it is impassable due to all the trees that are strewn across the path. The post hurricane clean up is going to take months and of course roads and homes are priority. We found a quiet country road today almost parallel to the trail and will look for the same for tomorrow.

As we walked this afternoon a woman was bringing some garbage out to the road and asked us about our walk. She immediately asked if we needed water or food even though she is still without power. So kind!

Our views today were of quiet countryside with a glimpse of water now and again. After the walk Jerry and I picked up a rental vehicle to facilitate our travels over the next week or two. We will use it to travel back and forth between the start and finish which means we don't need to rely on taxis.

We'll go out for a celebratory dinner in a few minutes--Jaellayna has been wanting fish and chips all week but hasn't ordered them yet. Tonight is the night for her! And then we say so long and it will be the two of us again. We'll miss all the great company we have had over the past 2 weeks.

The Start (Click on images to enlarge)

Jaellayna and John's Last Day

The Walk (Focus on Damage)

Branch Trimming

Part of the Problem - Lack of Pruning Around the Wires

Ontario Pitches in To Help

Lots of Damage Like This

Lots of Damage Like This

Many, Many Trees Pulled Lines Down Like This

Always Wanted To See These Insulators Up Close

Low Hanging Wires

Local Farmer Helping Out

"Live Wires" Eating Lunch

Lots of Lines Down Like This

Due to Closure - What We Didn't See Yesterday - The Beautiful North Shore

Rural Catholic Church