When the Trail Must Wait: Finding Another Path to Walk

“Let us redefine progress to mean that just because we can do a thing, it does not necessarily follow that we must do that thing.”
 
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
 

A Change of Plans for Our #Hike4Birds

 

At the beginning of this year, we were preparing for what we hoped would be the final great stage of our journey across Canada on the Trans Canada Trail. After four years and more than 14,000 kilometres of walking from Cape Spear, Newfoundland, to Victoria, British Columbia, we had finally reached the Pacific Ocean. Our attention next turned northward, toward the long route from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, and the Arctic Ocean. It is an ambitious undertaking, involving thousands of kilometres through northern landscapes, long distances between communities, and a very different set of logistical challenges from those we encountered while crossing southern Canada.

 

Unfortunately, as we have already shared, our preparations have been complicated by wildfire activity, evacuation concerns, and uncertainty about access through parts of northern Canada. Unlike the southern portions of the Trans Canada Trail, where a difficult section can often be avoided by changing routes or arranging transportation from a nearby community, travelling north presents considerably fewer options. Communities may be separated by hundreds of kilometres, services are limited, and opportunities to leave the route or obtain assistance can be difficult to arrange. Even without wildfire emergencies, resupply, weather, road conditions and transportation require careful consideration. When communities are coping with evacuations and disruptions, those challenges become even more serious.

 

Our concerns extend beyond whether we can physically continue walking. We have spent much of our journey benefiting from the kindness of people who live along the Trans Canada Trail, and we are deeply aware that visitors can place additional demands on communities with limited resources. The last thing we want is to arrive in a region where residents, emergency personnel, accommodations and transportation services are already under enormous pressure, only to require help ourselves. Being able to walk a route on a map does not necessarily mean that undertaking it is sensible or responsible under the conditions that exist on the ground. For now, we have decided that the best course is to wait, continue monitoring the situation, and reconsider our plans when we have a clearer understanding of what the coming months may bring.

 

Of course, deciding to postpone part of a long-distance expedition does not make the desire to walk disappear. After years of spending our summers moving slowly across Canada, we have become accustomed to a life organized around the relatively simple routines of travelling on foot. We miss waking up somewhere new, heaving on our backpacks, looking for birds along a trail, meeting people we might never otherwise have met, and spending our days outdoors. Although completing our coast-to-coast-to-coast journey remains an important goal, we have never wanted walking to become simply a matter of accumulating kilometres or reaching a destination regardless of the circumstances.

And so, while we wait to see whether conditions in northern Canada improve, we have decided to turn our attention toward Portugal.

 

We first walked across Portugal in 2019, following the Camino Português Central from Lisbon through Porto and onward to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. It was a wonderful experience, and we have often talked about returning to explore more of the country's landscapes, wildlife and remarkable network of walking routes. This time, however, we hope to begin somewhere entirely new, following the Rota Vicentina's Fisherman's Trail along Portugal's southwestern Atlantic coastline.

 

Our proposed journey will begin in Lagos on the Algarve coast, heading west toward Cabo de São Vicente before turning north through the Alentejo toward São Torpes. Along the way, we expect to follow clifftop footpaths, sandy beaches, coastal dunes and fishing tracks through some of the most spectacular landscapes of southwestern Portugal. We are particularly interested in the region's birdlife, including the opportunities to observe seabirds, shorebirds and other species associated with the Atlantic coastline. After years of birdwatching while walking across Canada, exploring a different set of habitats and encountering unfamiliar birds is something we are very much looking forward to.

 

After completing the Rota Vicentina, our intention is to continue north toward Lisbon, where we will rejoin the Camino Português Central and walk toward Porto. From there, rather than following the inland pilgrimage route we already know to Santiago, we hope to explore the Coastal and Litoral routes beside the Atlantic Ocean, eventually following the Variante Espiritual through Galicia. This combination should allow us to hike the length of Portugal on foot, encountering everything from exposed headlands and fishing villages to working harbours, historic towns, agricultural landscapes, forests and the wetlands associated with the country's many rivers and estuaries.

 

For us, part of the appeal of slow travel is precisely this opportunity to experience places that might otherwise pass unnoticed. Travelling at walking speed allows us to stop beside a wetland to watch birds, explore a small community, investigate an unfamiliar plant or simply remain somewhere because we find it interesting. It is not necessarily the quickest or most efficient way of reaching a destination, but after thousands of kilometres on trails in Canada and Europe, we have found that the places and encounters between the celebrated landmarks are often among the most memorable parts of a journey.

 

Although our plans have changed unexpectedly, we are grateful to have the opportunity to continue exploring the world on foot. Portugal is not a replacement for the Trans Canada Trail, nor are we abandoning our dream of reaching the Arctic Ocean. It is another journey we have wanted to undertake, and one that circumstances have now given us the opportunity to explore.

For those who enjoy slow travel, long-distance hiking, birdwatching, coastal landscapes and discovering the natural and cultural history of places on foot, we invite you to Come Walk With Us on Portugal's Rota Vicentina and the Camino Português Coastal and Espiritual routes. We will be sharing photographs, daily observations, wildlife encounters, trail conditions and the experiences that unfold as we make our way north along the Atlantic.

 

When we return to Canada, we will reassess the situation in the North and determine whether conditions will allow us to resume our journey toward Tuktoyaktuk later this year. For now, however, our backpacks are coming out once again, and another trail is waiting.

 

See you on the trail!