July 19
End: NB 108
Miles: 33.2
Total: 4389.2
Bill woke me up in the morning. The bed was a lot more comfortable than I had anticipated. We had a nice breakfast and then I was off. I was starting to get the hang of this hiking thing and I didn’t want to get sidetracked if I could help it.
I knew that I would be road walking through a desolate area, and I had only two real points of interest. First, Mont Carleton Provincial Park. I knew I could get water there, and it was approximately twenty miles from Bill’s house, so that would work nicely.
My second checkpoint was St. Quentin, but there was no guarantee I would be able to get that far. St. Quentin was another sizable town, probably a tad bigger than Plaster Rock but still no bustling metropolis. In any case it was something to look forward to.
I set out and walked North towards the park. Again, there was not much to do but walk and think, but I did it. This type of road walking is the worst, but I was determined enough and there was nothing to do but keep walking. I arrived at the park and refilled my water, then moved on.
The road then became dirt, which I thought was pretty pathetic given that it is the main road connecting Plaster Rock with the road between St. Quentin and Bathurst. In any case, I walked it all and finally got to the road to St. Quentin.
But I still had a long way to go, probably fifteen miles or so to the town. I walked on but my feet were beginning to grow weary of the road. Dark rain clouds passed overhead, but didn’t rain on me, at least not too hard. Soon larger groups of clouds came, and I did get rained on, but it still wasn’t heavy.
The real problem was the wind. Perhaps it was because I was on a highway, or maybe it was because of large areas of clear-cut forest, but a chilling wind was often keeping me pretty cold, and hoping for a break from the cold around the next bend in the road.
But I was lucky. A guy stopped and talked to me, and offered to let me sleep on his couch. I heartily agreed. I had already done a lot of miles and didn’t know where I was going to sleep. I met Matt and rode with him to Kedgwick River to a cottage very close to Andre’s canoe rentals! It’s a very small world in northwestern New Brunswick.
I saw Andre’s daughter again when Matt went to buy vegetables from her. Her name is apparently Marie, not Matty. I had to admit that made much more sense. I also met Stephanie, Matt’s girlfriend. They were very friendly hosts and we had a nice dinner before I fell asleep on their couch. I was pretty pleased to be sleeping indoors once again.
