Day 22, to Amherst; pilgrimage complete

This morning my pilgrimage was completed. Just over 12 kms of walking,  from the experimental farm in Nappan, to First Baptist Amherst. Once I got to Amherst Point, Myrna joined me. She is a runner, and our pace was a fast walk in the wonderful morning sunshine. After a pause by the bird sanctuary (the Glen), we crossed the 104 highway. 

A few other folks joined us then, Ed, Danielle and Coleridge. Rev. Don welcomed me 'home' as we passed his house. Soon, we got to the sidewalk and made our way calmly and joyfully to the downtown.

Those gathering for worship welcomed us as we arrived at 10:00. 

At 10:30 it was time for service, with pizza, salad and cake for lunch in the hall downstairs after. A good time was had by all. A hearty welcome was given to me and Sharon.

I arrived in my new neighbourhood. I discovered that one can walk from Digby to Amherst. I barely got rained upon in these 22 days. Not counting a couple spare days not en route, I walked...

wait for it...

463.6 kms.

I did not keep a journal or diary, but I will soon make some notes on each day. Certain scenes, funny events, and things people said I want to put on paper for myself. And I will now, with Sharon, get our house set up in Amherst: thanks to her for the thorough paint job which is underway.

Thank you for reading.

Day 21, to Nappan; almost there

As I compose this, the lovely pouring rain is coming down upon the beautiful cottage where I will stay for my last night of this pilgrimage. I look down upon the gentle Maccan River. I hear a gentle thunder to the south. I walked all morning and afternoon under clouds and then blue sky.
It was a relaxing day along these Cumberland County roads. No raincoat needed, just a bug net over my head.

A lunch break at the Maccan marsh and tidal bore park was refreshing. Even the bugs let up, and a train went by. I was too early for the bore. At the stopping point, a research farm, I gathered a congregation, hungry for something. My text was from Amos the prophet: "You cows of Bashan, who lay on your couches.." ;)

Near the end of my walking, this afternoon, Ed (of Amherst) checked in a few times. He was lined up to bring me out to the cottage, along with supper, snacks, clean bedding, etc. He and Susan went above and beyond the call of duty to take care of a number of details for me up here in Cumb. Co.  Like the ever-present flocks of cedar waxwings along my journey, many friends and family have watched over me every day for three weeks. Bless you! 

Daily blessings from Digby people have been in the cards they (you) gave me; I usually carried two a day with me in a pocket. 

It was a 20.6 km day for me, tomorrow will be only ten or fifteen, getting me to First Baptist Church Amherst for the 10:30 worship service. I hear that a couple or more people will walk with me into the town. They shall each get a little nature card of blessing from me, as the others did who walked long or short times with me.

Tune in tomorrow for the final, and fewer, steps.

Day 20, to Southampton, thundering sprinkles

It was another of those days with a wet forecast. Brian dropped me off in Lakelands, and I soon donned the rain pants to go with my rain jacket. I heard thunder in the distance. Yet, after a quick shower, the precipitation stopped. Completely. I packed away my jacket and rain pants! I met up with Brian next at Newville Lake, after he tried a bit a fishing and kindly did an errand for me. 

Not long after that, I heard from Sue and Ed, of Amherst, who were in the area. Ed joined me for 4 kms, along the Westbrook flat. This was his old stomping ground, and he remembers well his summer as the student minister of the local Baptist churches. He pointed out the site of the long gone Westbrook Baptist Church. The old Cumberlannd County road names are coming back to me, such as Thunder Hill Road. 

I saw some interesting wildlife along the way, as always. Geese and eagles were plentiful near the lake. A raccoon fled across an unmowed lawn up into a tree. Tent caterpillars were ambitious near Southampton.

I got to the home in Westbrook where I stay for the night, at 1 pm, and Joe had lunch all ready for me. :) As he went back to work next door, I relaxed on the couch for a couple hours, preparing for the final kms of my day on the road. After some snoozing, I got back into the one book I have been reading this whole time, Kathleen Norris' 'Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith.' 

Once, when I was the only guest one Sunday night at a women's monastery, the sisters invited me to join them in statio, the community's procession into church... Our procession was... a reminder of the procession of life itself; the older sisters with their walkers and canes had set a pace that the younger women had to follow. The prioress was my partner; we brought up the rear. "We bow first to the Christ who is at the altar," she whispered to me, "and then we turn to face our partner, and bow to the Christ in each other." "I See," I said, and I did. (pp.162, 163)

Have I been bowing to the Christ everywhere I have gone, as a pilgrim? Have my memories of people and places of my past rekindled grace from those moments?

After Megan and Graham got home for the weekend, and Joe came back, at about 4, I set out to walk to Southampton. I am approaching my new corner of God's Kingdom.

Yet again, as I started out in drizzle... it stopped. The blackflies were thicker than the raindrops. Around 5, Carissa drove up to fetch me, and I joined the family for a nice BBQ supper. The finale came in the form of excellent donuts from 'Halo' in Moncton. Talk about holy (holey) food! I was hungry after (only) 20.4 kms today.

Tomorrow - I can't believe it! - is the final full day of walking, from Southampton up to Maccan. 

Day 19, to Lakelands; Cumberland County!

Thursday, and under sunny skies I set out on the number two highway again, leaving Lower Five Islands and headed through the Moose River woods. It was not far to get to the Harrington River and the county line. At last I was hiking through the county I am returning to, after being away for twenty and a half years. 

It was perfect weather, and not too much traffic. I sometimes was faster than the vehicles, because there is new paving being laid down in New Prospect. 

I seemed to make good time, with a few stops along the way. By noontime I was resting in the shade just before 'Long Hill,' which is just before Parrsboro. Over that hill, my long-time friend, Brian, joined me - on his bicycle. I was ahead of schedule; Brian had planned to join me farther from town. 

We journeyed throught the town that I'd moved to in 1996. We passed the Parsonage and Church where I lived and worked for five and a half years.

We got to Brian and Ruth's home, where I'm staying, and I had a good break - a nice long nap. 

For several weeks they have been babysitting my ailing car. There was ole Blueberry. After I napped and snacked, and recalculated my kms for the day (~21), I decided another hour on the road was in order. Again, Brian joined me, on his bicycle. After an hour, Brian turned back. My phone had decided to quit working, so attempts by me and Ruth to contact one another failed. By 5, she came in her car to pick me up. (View from the neighbourhood:)

A restart of my cell phone got it functioning again. Ruth served a hearty supper, and it was time to be off my feet. Ahh. It was a 30.1 km day! Tomorrow I may start early, to get ahead of as much rain as possible, and walk to Westbrook, or even the verge of Southampton. 

Day 18, on Moose Island

Today was a break away from the actual pilgrimage. I spent the day on Moose Island with a couple friends (and a couple others walked over and back on the morning low tide). Around 7:30 am walk over; around 8:00 pm walk back. Here are some photos from the day.

The orange line, below, is the route Jo-Ann and I took, through a lot of dead falls and branches (our second trip around the island today). Brian from Brookdale had taken a similar trip on his own, along the beach and over the island.

Thanks to Jo-Ann for being a great host to me in Five Islands! And thanks to her newphew for the drone shots.

Tomorrow I am back on the walk, aiming at more than 20 kms into Parrsboro. I think my friend Brian from Parrsboro will join me on his bicycle for a bit of the journey. 

Day 17, to Five Islands; Joy Is like the Rain

Yvonne kindly drove me back out to Bass River this morning, to start my trek at about 8:30. I was all suited up for a very wet day. Earlier, when Jonathan had texted me a haiku, I texted this back to him:

Special Weather Statement 

prompts me: " Joy Is Like the Rain" 

why'm I elated? 

The drizzle started, and barely got up to rain status. Hours went by. I was humming and singing lots of songs, awaiting the deluge. (So many songs come into my head, every day.)

I saw raindrops on my window

Joy is like the rain

Laughter runs across my pain

Drifts away and comes again

Joy is like the rain

Rain down, rain down

Rain down Your love on Your people

Rain down, rain down,

Rain down Your love, God of life

in the early morning rain

With a dollar in my hand...

It never poured! I thot, as I approached Economy Mountain, misted and dark, surely the deluge will be there! 

Nope. All precipitation stopped as I went up and down the hill. I was plenty damp, all day, sweating under my rain gear, but I was not a drowned rat. 

[I forgot to mention the wonderful welcome, early on, at the Economy trouist bureau. Not yet open for the season, volunteers Anita and Greg (?) ushered me in and gave me a welcome rest. Anita had heard my interview on radio, and was happy to meet me. And she was a wealth of information  about the area and its history.]

On the other side of the Mountain, I stopped at Granny's for a big ice cream. Not long after that stop, Jo-Ann drove by, with dog Sam, planning to walk with me on the hill. I was early. She took my heavy backpack and let me walk the final 3 kms or so of the day. (26.4 kms, all in all; finished around 3 pm.) Jo-Ann (and Sam) are hosting me in the amazing granny flat she has at her place in Five Islands, for two nights. They joined me to walk those final steps today, and the mist started down again. Only once I was cozily inside, washed up, with shoes by the wood fire, did the rain return. What a nice sound on the tin roof. 

Tomorrow is a day outside, on a bonus pilgrimage over to Moose Island for the day. Over on the morning low tide, back in the evening. Jo-Ann, Sam, and perhaps others, will join me. My next step along the road will be Thursday, right into Parrsboro, I hope. I am attempting to get farther each day than I'd planned, to make Sunday's walk into Amherst shorter.

Day 16, to Bass River; holy places

The Celtic prayer book I am using now says this today: 

"Celtic spirituality valued pilgrimages to holy places. On Monday, some of us take pilgrimages to "holy places" of work: to hearth-side or to commute. Some of us, confined or retired, continue our daily life pilgrimages on our walk with Jesus."

Today I started out from Little Dyke at 8:30 with six companions. They did not go all the way to Bass River with me (27.2 kms), but they took part. Thanks Margie, Dawn, Gerldine, Nancy and Yvonne, for being pilgrims with me.

A friend I know from birding trips speaks of poet, Elizabeth Bishop, and stays each year in the Great Village cottage she did. Now I know where it is, I must get into her poetry.

A trip across the land, even familiar ground, reveals new holy places to us. From the little lake where I am staying now, to the wayside scenes, to nature's variety, there is so much that is special and that can be sacred. 

From Great Village on, the sprinkles and rain came down. I was plenty warm all the while. I lunched under a spruce tree in the Portapique area, sitting on an old real estate sign. Approaching Bass River, I took the side road to Kings Rest, and visited my ole friend, George, down by the beach. It was a welcome reunion, and a nice time to take wet things off and put my feet up, before the final few kilometres. Those final steps took me into the heart of the village, and the remarkable memorial park. Not only are human war veterans honoured there, but also animals of all kinds who served.

Definitely a holy spot.

Dear Yvonne came and fetched me.  Back at the cottage, a wood fire was taking the dampness off, and Yvonne put the finishing touches on a supper of baked beans etc, with chocolate cake for dessert! A traditional and yet holy feast, to be sure.

Every place I have stayed I have been so well fed by my generous family and friends; I think I am gaining weight!

On Tuesday, I will set out from Bass River in the morning rain, headed for Five Islands. Again, it will surely be holy ground.

Day 15, to Little Dyke (Glenholme)

Today was Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, and I got to worship in a church I have driven by for years, in Old Barns. In the pews there was a reunion of local friends I've met at the Atlantic Seminar in Theological Education over the past thirty years. We had a joyful lunch together. At last, at 3 pm, I started my walk for the day, from Onslow to Little Dyke, about 21.5 kms. Lots of traffic on the #2 highway for the first hour, then it let up. Here are a few scenes from the solo trip.

These days seem to go by so quickly! I am still walking at a fast pace. One great help today was that, just a few kilometres after I began, my friends from Little Dyke paused as they drove by. I ended up unloading half of the things in my backpack into their car, for delivery to their cottage where I am staying. Thanks, Yvonne and Laurin!

Tomorow, Monday, some of Yvonne'walking friends will join me and her for all or part of the trek to Bass River. We will be dressed for showers.