Day 42 - Hiking Day 35 – Tuesday October 17 2017

Day 42 - Hiking Day 35 – Tuesday October 17 2017
Niagara Section K40.5 Swayze Falls (Roland Road) to Niagara Section K 18.2 North Side of Glendale Ave. 50 m east of the Welland Canal Fifth Bridge
Distance –  24.04 k
Time  - 6:05

























We had a lovely hike today in great weather. Started out by making our way through the Short Hills Provincial Park to the Swayze Falls. Then we had some climbs and descents on the ravines, past some farm pastures and fields and crossing several streams. After a short stint on the roads and passing Morningstar Mill, we came to Lake Moodie and followed along the side of the lake until we came to the recently restored ruins of DeCew House. This is the home of British Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon the army chap that Laura Secord alerted to an attack by the Americans and thus saved the bacon of the Canadians!! 

  We continued along the edge of the Escarpment to Brock University campus. I did my adult education training at Brock in Toronto so it was really interesting to see the campus! Once past Brock University we came down onto city roads, then followed a railway and some city wasteland beside a disused and then a used railway line onto a trail along the canal and finally arrived at Bridge No. 5 where we had parked the car. 

We both agree we are feeling the effects of hiking 8 days without a rest, but although the body maybe tired, the mind is strong. So strong in fact that we are planning to “run” the last 18 k tomorrow. So, we are abandoning our boots, poles, and heavy packs, and donning our running shoes! Who knows how we will manage. It is to be hot, and we know there are some major hills. It will just feel so good to “run” as opposed to “walk”!! So, stay tuned and find out how our last day goes!!

We had dinner in the evening in a winery. It was delicious, very reasonable in price, the wine was amazing, and the kale salad, soup, and pizza were simply delicious…it was at the Honsberger Estate Winery. The authentically old house, and the beautiful setting of the dining room made it a beautiful spot for our last “dinner” on the trail.

Tomorrow is Day 43, Hike 36. We can hardly believe it!!

Update from Robin: Today we went over the 900k mark on our Bruce Trail Adventure - 914.63k. Tomorrow Elizabeth Gillis and I are ditching the hiking boots and poles, lacing up the running shoes, and running our final 18.2k. Lari McDonald, we blame this bold plan on you! You told us the last part is “easy peasy and we could run it”! 

 We finished today at Bridge No. 5 on the Welland Canal. Beautiful day. We hope for the same tomorrow. We couldn’t have wished for a better stretch of weather. Looking forward to the conclusion of our adventure with Bruce.

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