After COVID! This year, 2025, David Foster, on his own, made at least one attempt to complete this walking pilgrimage !
This year, 2024, there is much less of these pilgrimages left.
The burden of providing for the large group with routes, overnights, food and transportation, has become unsustainable, as those who shouldered such burden are no longer available, and no one else has stepped forward to bear that burden, whether able to do so or not.
I have taken it upon myself to not only carry on, but transform this great walk into something that is more sustainable, without severe fundraising, and only requiring limited resources, that are immediately provided by each and every pilgrim. Each pilgrim may bear their own burden fully and completely.
Please confirm with us to verify that is what we are doing, and receive further information in order to Register with us, and get yourself or group on the email notification list, by contacting David Foster at CofVPilgrimage@gmail.com !
The intent at this point, is to re-attempt the full 6 day walk from Burlington (South Common Centre - Mississauga) to Martyrs' Shrine, to arrive at their celebration of the Feast Day of the Canadian Martyrs, in September. This will likely be with a 35 - 40 lb. pack, replenishing food and meals along the way, as well as water. This will also depend on my availability due to employment.
If you wish to meet me at Martyrs' Shrine for the 7:30pm Mass where they will celebrate the Feast Day of the Canadian Martyrs' that day, please contact me to confirm I will be there. CofVPilgrimage@gmail.com
martyrs-shrine.com/events/month/2024-09/
martyrs-shrine.com/event/feast-day-of-the-canadian-martyrs-shrine-observance/
Next year, 2025, I hope to have established from this year, 2024, confirmed overnight rest stops, so that others may join us, also carrying 35 to 45 lb. packs, removing the need for fundraising and further arranged commitments.
Completing the approximately 170 kilometres of walking, in up to 30 kilometres a day, is not as hard as I thought it would be, and I did complete 31 kilometres with a 56 lb. pack, so that can be done, but it was 11 and a half hours - too long. Even that day, I was not hungry, but I did drink 4.5 litres of electrolyte.
I have demonstrated that 30 kilometres can be covered in 9 hours with a 44 lb. backpack. This was done surmounting the Niagara Escarpment on Tuesday, July 23rd, and the same return trip made the next day, in the same time of 9 hours with the same backpack weight, after overnighting at a campground.
7:30 am at St. John the Baptist, then by walking and transit to South Common Centre, lunch, and walking from 11:06am to 10:13pm, all with a 50 lb. backpack, and drinking about two litres of BioSteel and Mio electrolyte water.
Began walking at 7:53 am at Caledon Brick Works, walking the Caledon Rail Trail to Inglewood, for coffee and 2 butter tarts at Coywolf Coffee, then to dinner in Caledon East at Tom's Family Restaurant from 3pm to 4pm, then walking to Albion Hills Conservation Area for setting up camp at 6:42pm, all with a 50 lb. backpack, and drinking about two litres of BioSteel and Mio electrolyte water. Most of the day was rain, and a Severe Rainfall Warning was issued for Tuesday night, and it did really rain overnight !!! I gave out three cards on the trail and one at the restaurant this day !
The last road crossing on the Caledon Rail Trail before Caledon East, was where the trail was closed for the replacement and construction of a culvert on the trail ! So I checked the online map and found the detour to the north was shorter, so there it is !
A stroll down the sidewalks of Caledon East, for two thirds of the detour !
This is the Catholic Secondary School that housed us for many years, where a retreat was hosted for the Sunday of the 8 day pilgrimage.
The morning began with rain, but just as I was to begin packing up the shelter, the rain stopped for the day, and cleared up around 11am, more or less. The night before was a Severe Rainfall Warning issued for Tuesday night, and it did really rain overnight !!! Nothing got wet from the rain though, albeit everything was already wet with sweat if not rain from walking Tuesday ! Began walking at 8:12 am at Albion Hills Conservation Area Campground, walking Highway 50 - Airport Road, to Palgrave, stopping after Highway 9 for a refill of electrolyte, daily readings posting, and a protein bar. Around 12:30 I stopped for an hour to charge, and ate a handfull or more of raisins and almonds. Around 3pm I stopped at an address driveway, and refilled the drinkng bottle with electrolyte for what I thought would be the last time before Alliston Freshco, about 15 kilometres away !!! Then behind my back a truck pulled in the driveway as I was turned away putting up the pack, and asked "Everything O.K.?" That turned out to be the refilling of all three litres ! As I thanked the young man and left, I thought to take a picture to record the address, turned around to walk, and another truck pulled up who's driver I had talked to about 2 hours earlier, and he had water too!!! Later that day a white truck heading north stopped and asked "Are you the same guy I saw in Palgrave on my way to work this morning?" I gave him a card, making it three cards handed out for that day !
I went to Freshco in Alliston for food for the night and the next night, consisting of 4 apples, 400 grams cheese, a 600 gram kielbasa, five plum tomatoes, a 700ml Coke Zero, a Brio, 1 litre 2% milk. I drank the milk, ate an apple and two tomatoes at Freshco before jaunting off to the gate house for Earl Rowe Provincial Part. The young woman asked, so I told the story and gave her a fourth card for the day. Arrived to set up camp in the dark at 7:25pm, ate anothe apple and drank the Brio. This day was all with a 50 lb. backpack, and drinking about five litres of BioSteel and Mio electrolyte water.
Looking downhill makes a distant flat road look like the next hill !!!
Can you see the soybean?
They are every five feet or so on Old Church Road and Airport Road - Highway 50 !!!
The address of my water salvation !!!
Up before dawn to drink a 700ml Coke Zero and eat the daily can of tuna, daylight arrived around 7am for me to pack up and leave at 8:16am, having to do a loop south and back to get out of the Earl Rowe Provincial Park, before a classic big hill. I chose to go north then east as Google Maps claims there to be less hills that preferred way. It was better than east before north, as that route runs across gullies on the east side of the valley.
I was carrying an additional 4 or 5 pounds, of a 600gm kielbasa, 400gms of cheese, three apples of about 1.5 pounds or 700gms, about 600 gms of roma tomatoes, and a full load of 3 litres of water to replenish the 750ml water bottle with electrolyte. That extra food alone was 2.3 kg amounting to about 5 pounds. So I was back up to that pesky 55 lbs that did me in on August 6th in the rain.
So the day was sunny, dry, breezy and cool - all day. I drank about 4 litres the day before, in the heat and humidity, but this day, Thursday, I did not replenish the 750ml water bottle until after 2 pm break ! But in 8 hours and 35 minutes of being on the road, I was only moving, walking, 4 hours and 45 minutes, maintaining only a speed of 2.4 kph including breaks. In that time I covered only 20 kilometers.
So when I crossed the river east of Baxter, and found a good spot, I took yet another rest to reconsider.
Since morning a pesky comment on FaceBook pestered me all day. Some Russian priest was known for saying and praying "Lord have Mercy" for every step he took. So that implies and assumes suffering. So if I screw up I will be relieved of such "suffering" permanently, and that is not any potential outcome to play around with.
With 8 to 10 kilometres to go at 4:30pm, I considered that would take about 4 hours, at current rate, and possibly longer as fatigue would set in. That would only make my arrival at the overnight to be in the dark around 8pm, after being on the road 12 hours. In my addled brain I considered I walked 11 hours on Monday, but confused that with starting at 11am on Monday, whereas I started at 8:16 this day, Thursday.
Still it was only to be 4 hours and arriving at 8:30 or 9pm. Monday I arrived at 10pm. Yet there were more unknowns on this overnight site, so there was a risk.
Furthermore, there would be no water at all until the end of the day Friday, so I would be committed on the Nottawasaga Rail Trail with no chance to replenish water! Possible, but unknown. Food wise I would be ok, but I still had to carry that extra 5 pounds of food. But only maybe The Fry Guy would be open.
And my phone is not charging every so often, starting today. . . . .
Hmm . . .. .
So in light of all the condemnation I chose to cave in and try again next year. You would be surprised how many people skip past calling me nuts and outright say such a pilgrimage can't be done, even as I am doing it.
God Bless !!!
Puzzle Plants !!!!
Flicker Plants !!!
There's a 40 minute walk to no advantage !!!
The Hill is on the left and the 55lb pack is on the right by the gate.
Zoom in!!! Wind turbines in the distance !!!
Don't complain. If it weren't for the septic tank pumping service sign, the Crucifix would be grounded !
Show a little love !!!
The pack made it that far, so I walked ahead for a photo of where it came from.
This is the End.
Having waited from the 4:45pm phone call, until 7:30pm for the ride back to the world, and eaten the kielbasa, and two apples, I contacted family to let them know I was safe off the road.
Their response was often that I had come back to my senses. This is a problem - the problem of people saying it can't be done, even as it is being done.
This to me is why the pilgrimage is a good way to pray for forgiveness for abortion on behalf of everyone, as well as everything else.
Being told that I cannot do this pilgrimage in this way, without chase vehicles, trucks, large tents, and a large group, is to me the same as saying to any young or old person that they must have an abortion because they do not have the means to provide and raise a child - it cannot be done.
Furthermore, my own perspective, is that there is JOY in the Gospel that succeeds and surmounts any suffering therein !!!
I walked this pilgrimage in JOY, and I did not consider it any hardship. The stuff I saw and the JOY of the experience surmounted any so called suffering.
Only when it became clear that the Opposition to this pilgrimage would have a chance to shut it down, did I consider not completing it. As for me, I did not concern myself with whether it could be done or not, but rather enJOYed doing it. I know it can be done.
Next year, anyone who may demonstrate they can carry a 40 lb. backpack 30 kilometres in 9 hours, camp, and return the next day, is extremely welcome to join this pilgrimage !!! If we have 12 pilgrims, we qualify to have paid campgrounds all the way on private or municipal property !! Please declare your intention by mid June 2025 !
I have written permission from my healthcare that I may attempt this pilgrimage, and I will do so again next year.
I have encountered implied opposition to completing this pilgrimage. Be warned. It will be completed.
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The next day, Friday, I weighed my pack to find it was 54 lb.s as shown in the two photographs of the scale . 250 -196 = 54 This was after eating the kielbasa and the apples. So I was carrying at least 55 lb.s the last day, Thursday, that I walked the pilgrimage, covering about 20 kilometres in about 8 hours. In four more hours I could have completed the remaining 10 or so kilometres, by about 9 pm.
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250 lb.s with the pack !
196 lb.s without the pack, making the pack weigh 54 lb.s !
The only reason I still have healthcare, endorsed by my healthcare, who provided written permission for this backpacking pilgrimage, is because when people claim I am crazy, out of my senses, I like to have a professional opinion.
Sunny and warm.
After Monsignor Philipp's blessing, departed St. John the Baptist Parish Church on Brant Street, Burlington, at 8am, took transit to South Common Centre, Mississauga, and began walking from there at 11:07am, to arrive at Cheltenham Brick Works, or Caledon Brick Works, at 10:32pm.
The pack weighed 56lb.s .. That was a mistake. At 27% more weight, over what was the 44 lb.s on the 3rd Training Walk, it took me 27% longer to complete the almost 31 kilometres that Monday - 11.5 hours compared to 9 hours.
I drank 4.5 litres that Monday, and Tuesday morning I wrung out the sweat from my clothes. I did not eat once I began walking, even though I had ready to eat food, but forced down a protein bar before turning in for the night.
As all my friends and relations were concerned, I conceded without realizing, and took 6 days of food. That increased the weight I was carrying from 44 lb.s to 56 lb.s, which is an increase of 27%. This increased the time to cover the same 30 kilometres per day, by 27%, 11.5 hours instead of the previous 9 hours.
On the Tuesday morning it was the Caledon Rail Trail, without any real grade changes along the route, but isolated between road crossings by as much as 2 or 3 kilometres. As it was raining, I had a rain poncho over the pack, which made it impossible to take off the pack. I walked 1 hour and 52 minutes without taking off the pack. I made good time, but I felt is was a risk of injury to not remove the pack for breaks.
This combined with the fact that I was violating the two commitments I made to 1: not walk alone, solo; and 2: have permission to overnight on private property ( not to overnight on public right-of-ways) ; made me choose to concede to all those concerned for my safety, and consider instead, another attempt this year, likely arriving at the Shrine for the celebration there of the Feast Day of the Canadian Martyrs.
The next attempt, I will only take two days of ready to eat food, as at least every two days I will be able to purchase food and meals, the same as I had originally intended to refill water.
I hope you enJOY the photographs of this and these adventures enough to consider joining me next year, with a 35 lb. pack of your own, to carry the burden of your own weight for the duration of this devotion, that propels each hemisphere of the brain into the other, causing spectacular revelasions !!!
#CofVPilgrimage2024
Wednesday, July 24th, 2024 .
Sunny and warm. 7:45 am at Flamboro Valley Camping on Reg. Rd. 97, Flamboro, fo St. John the Baptist Parish Church on Brant Street arriving at 4:50 pm.
About 30 kilometres each way.
44 lb.s pack with 4 litres of water.
Tuesday, July 23rd, 2024 .
Sunny and warm. 7:25 am at St. John the Baptist Parish Church on Brant Street, to Flamboro Valley Camping on Reg. Rd. 97, Flamboro, arriving at 4:30 pm.
About 30 kilometres each way.
44 lb.s pack with 4 litres of water.
Wednesday, July 17th, 2024 .
Sunny and warm.
Bronte Creek Provincial Park down Bronte Road to Rebecca Street, and west to Appleby Line and New Street, about 12 kilometres one way.
From there we took transit the rest of the way. Paul's back was sore from sleeping on the ground.
David's pack was about 50 lb.s and carried 4 litres of water. Paul's pack was about 40 lb.s and carried 4.2 litres of water.
Tuesday, July 16th, 2024 .
Heavy rain until Tremaine Road at noon, beginning shortly after starting just after 8 am.
Flooding throughout the GTA that day. Flooding at Bronte Creek Provincial Park campsites and roadway, as shown. It was a once-in-a-hundred-year storm, that flooded out docks in Oakville Harbour, detaching them and pushing them downstream toward the lake.
Downtown Burlington to Bronte Creek Provincial Park .. . . through north Burlington and via Dundas Highway, about 17 kilometres one way.
David's pack was about 50 lb.s and carried 4 litres of water. Paul's pack was about 40 lb.s and carried 4.2 litres of water.
Wednesday, June 26th, 2024 .
No rain until after completion at the Pub, then rain on the way home by transit. Downtown Burlington to Palermo Pub.. . . about 16 kilometres one way.
Just day packs. Paul and David.