My wake-up call went off around 6:00 this morning. Not the alarm clock that I’d set for 7:30, but the rain that got me out of the tent again. I figured if God wanted me to go ahead and get up, then there wasn’t much use arguing. Shortly afterwards, it not only quit raining but the sun came out and the skies cleared so that I could cook a hot breakfast. Once I managed to get my wet mess all packed up again, I drove over to the Malagash Wharf. I figured the tides were liable to be pretty low in the morning and that the wharf would be a much easier put-in in spite of the small backtrack. I was a little aggravated as I drove by to see that the tidal flat was actually covered with water this time!
I had prayer with my contacts from Sunrise Baptist (in Tatamagouche) before launching from the wharf. There was a northeast wind blowing at maybe 15 kt, which made for good time going southwest. At Emery Island, I began my one mile southward crossing of the inlet. It was a wet ride but not bad, and I made pretty good time. Near the Tim Horton’s children’s camp (why so many camps around here?) I started going southeast toward the Waugh River and Tatamagouche. At Nelson Park, I was surprised to find people building a small boat dock. I got a nice welcome from the director of the park and found out that he'd had an encounter many years ago with someone “walking for Christ” across Canada. I thought it might have been Evan Morgan, but it didn’t fit.
In Tatamagouche, I had some trouble figuring out where the “wharf” was. I saw a platform with picnic tables, but with a locked gate and no obvious place for boats. When I found nothing else, I came back and did the best I could to pull the kayak and myself up. There were a lot of people who kept coming by to see the “Patterson Wharf Park” as I ate my lunch there. It was explained to me that it had been built by the men of the town as part of a reality TV show called “The Week The Women Went Away”. Unfortunately, they forgot to request enough money to actually put in a dock. Maybe they would have done better with some women around to point out such details?
I timed it so that I would be going out with the tide from Tatamagouche. That definitely helped, but it’s still not much fun going against the wind. After crossing over to Brule Point, I again had campground issues. I paddled through lots of shallow water to line up with where I’d been seeing campers, walked across a broad tidal flat to look up over the embankment, and found only a big grassy area. The campground was past the grassy area on the other side of the point! As if that weren’t bad enough, this point happened to have a long tidal reef that extended out from it. So I had to go back to the kayak and paddle all the way around. I was so tired. After I went around the reef to the campground, I not only found a long distance between me and the high tide line, but this time the distance was mostly steep, jagged, and slippery rocks. Especially with the strong spring tides this time of the month, it really is not good to arrive at camp near low tide! I hope I’ve learned my lesson.
The campground staff were extremely nice, and I made sure to get the tent put up right away so that it could dry out in the sunshine. As my energy level improved a bit, I gradually got stuff out of the kayak and moved the kayak up above high tide. Only after that was done did I change into more decent clothes. I continued playing phone tag with the church planting team in Pictou, wondering what my shuttle prospects might be for the next few days. I also had some minor struggles getting online. Just another case of me not reading instructions fully.
Partner church: Sunrise Baptist Church
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