Day 4: 18.7km, Lindsay to Omemee
Honestly, this was my least favourite day but I suspect part of that was I wasn’t feeling the best due to my allergy attack and I felt rushed, especially the last half of the walk, which was my own fault. It was a good learning experience as I’m not used to giving a time in advance for being picked up at the end of the day when hiking/walking. Generally, if I’m getting picked up, I give an approximate time frame and then call after I arrive at wherever the pickup point is. And often, I don’t get picked up at all but simply walk to my destination for the night or take public transit either there or home. But this time my mom was picking me up (before it had been my accommodation or a transfer service, or I was catching transit) and I gave her a specific time. If I ever have to do that in the future, give a specific time I mean, I’ll add at least an hour onto my anticipated end time so I don’t have to rush.
But back to the section. It was super easy to find the trail from the motel I stayed in as Google knew where I wanted to go, basically I just walked straight through downtown Lindsay, heading towards Lock 33 (on the Trent-Severn Waterway). Sidenote: if you’re doing this during the summer months, you might want to plan a bit of time to explore it and watch some boats go through, either here or back in Fenelon Falls (Lock 34) but it’s closed after Thanksgiving. I spent seven years working on the Trent-Severn Waterway at Lock 30 (mostly) in my 20s so it wasn’t as much of a draw for me.
The first part of the trail in Lindsay is paved and follows the river, and is a fairly nice walk for all that it’s quite urban. There was a bit of confusion once the trail leaves the river and heads away from Lindsay due to construction – there’s a detour for the Trans-Canada Trail which probably added about 500m but it wasn’t entirely clear as one sign said the detour was ending right beside another pointing to the start of the detour. Perhaps if they added directions to the signage (detour eastbound to Peterborough/detour westbound to Lindsay), it would be clearer (see photo). Thankfully, a kind older couple pointed me in the right direction and off I went.
As this part of the Trans Canada Trail also follows an old former rail line, it’s very, very straight but instead of the forests, marshes, lakes and rivers of the previous days, it was mostly farmland. A lot of fields and a few hedge tunnels to add some interest. One good point is there are a few benches scattered along this section, and a small park with picnic benches in Reaboro which is about halfway, so there were some good places to take a break or eat, but of course, no toilet facilities.
The trail crosses several minor roads and at each crossing, there was a sign indicating how far to the next road (it was usually between 1-3 km), which given how straight it is, was a nice way to break it up. And again, there were more cyclists than walkers and the few people I saw walking were all walking dogs. However, you don’t need to worry about ATVs or any motorized vehicles as they aren’t allowed.
After the variety of scenery of the last three days, I found it a bit boring but I think if I had have just walked it, without the walking the Victoria Rail Trail, it wouldn’t have been so bad. One thing to point out, like some of the other village or town signs, the sign for Omemee is still a couple of kilometers from Omemee itself which frustrates me. And from the sign, it’s a paved path.
The reason I was being picked up was that I couldn’t find any available accommodation in Lindsay and I was lucky that my mom only lives about 30 minutes away. Otherwise, I would have had to see if I could get an Uber or taxi to pick me up and bring me to either Lindsay or Peterborough where there is several accommodation choices.
All in all, I enjoyed my four days of autumn walking and really enjoyed the Victoria Rail Trail.
Have you walked the Victoria Rail Trail or the part of the Trans Canada Trail between Lindsay and Peterborough? I’d love to hear what you thought of it (and if you think I should do the section between Lindsay and Peterborough next year).
Rambles and Walks 