Wood Mountain Walk, Day Nine

Last night, my hosts warned me that there’s very little between Limerick and Wood Mountain, so I’m carrying extra water, which means my pack is heavier than ever. But my feet don’t hurt and I seem to have recovered my stride. After three hours of walking–for once, I didn’t sleep late, and I was on the road by six–I’m more than a third of the way to Wood Mountain. At this rate, I’ll finish my walk today.

It’s a nice day for walking, overcast and cool. I’m happy to be walking naturally today, after limping through yesterday.

Later: I’m sitting on the steps of the abandoned schoolhouse in Flintoft, about two-thirds of the way to Wood Mountain. It’s noon. I figure I’ll be at the end of my pilgrimage by supper time.

I was thinking about walking and the land this morning, about whether walking down a highway can be a way to develop some sort of intimacy with the land. It’s better than driving through, I suppose, but still, so much of a walker’s preoccupation is just putting one foot in front of the other, not in experiencing the sights and smells and sounds through which the walk takes place. It’s still mobile, like driving, even if the land is more directly present to the walker. You feel the hills, the wind, the shifts in temperature. A truism: the more slowly you go, the more you experience. But still, by that logic the best thing to do would be to stop.

While I was pondering this, a large black shape waddled out onto the road and, seeing me, scuttled back into the ditch. A big porcupine. I told him not to be afraid, that I wouldn’t hurt him, but he was terrified. With good reason, no doubt. At least I was walking–if I’d been in a car, he might’ve gotten run over.

Later: The thunderstorm that was following me went off in a southeastern direction, but enough rain fell that I put my jacket on. That’s okay: I’ve carried it this far, so why not use it? Another storm is rumbling to the west, but it doesn’t seem to be headed this way.

People have been stopping to offer lifts and encouragement all day. One fellow, who heard my friend Matthew interviewed on Radio One, is taken by the notion of pilgrimage. “I really admire what you’re doing,” he said. Me, with just eight kilometres left, I just want it to be over. How Sancho of me.

My feet seem to be holding up. There must be some remarkable curative in Limerick water–or in Pilsner.

Later: I walked the last seven kilometres without stopping, because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to start again. But I made it, stiff and weary. Christine met me in Wood Mountain just a few minutes after I arrived. Now we’re back in Regina. How strange to see a week’s hard walking unspool over the course of a few hours inside a car.

More on the walk tomorrow.