Today was the last day of the festival. I should have checked my directions. The route went right past my dorm. I could have stayed "home" and met them at the middle.
We walked down early again. They took the 10K people first. There was about 5 "guides" for the 5K. I asked them who took the slow walkers. The people that take too many pictures and walk at a saunter. This woman raised her hand. She was a bold faced liar.
Two groups left. And then a third. Maybe 5 minutes apart. Then they called for the slow group. And we were off. In less than a kilometer we caught up with the group before us. It started with a hill and then followed the river walk that we've been using all week. By the time we reached the boat launch I could barely see them in front of me. Not only were they going fast, but she wasn't stopping for the narrative. I was seriously thinking of just going back to town and doing something else. Then down the hill came a woman. "Are you in the "slow" group? I said yes. She came back to walk with me. She is part of the Niagara Frontier Walkers and said nobody gets left behind. She didn't even notice our walk leader looking back.
We got to an area that the path went in a u or you could go straight. We went straight and were able to catch up with them. It was all sun. And it was beating down on us. I realized I forgot my hat. I wanted water but that would require stopping. Finally I am in earshot of the walk leader and said, hey there is shade up ahead. Let's take a break. While doing that two things happened. The two groups that used to be in front of us, past us. (The slow group.) Then she took a survey asking if anyone wanted to take a one block detour to go to the Bellavue Mansion. Now that's a few blocks behind my dorm. I knew exactly where it was. The street was in view. When we arrived at the part of the path that would take us "right" out to the street, she turned "left". WTF? Terry said where is she going, it's this way. We went the correct way and beat them there. ANd the way we went was all shade.
At this point we were more than 50% done. I knew where I was. I told Terri she could go catch up with them if she wanted I could find my way back to the start line. She said no. We're doing this together. And heck, she doesn't even know we're missing.
We explored.
As we walked back to the start point I mentioned I was going to do the boat tour. She had wanted to do that as well. She called her hubby to find out when they were meeting and went along. Except all the tours were booked for the day. We did go to the museum.
Walking back we got talking about A&W root beer floats. There's an A&W across from the host hotel. We decided we earned them. But they didn't have them.But they did have root beer in the frosted mugs, and damn was it good.
Afterwards I went to the hotel to refill my bottle and chill in the AC. When I went to the "washroom" I discovered I was beet red. The boat tour wasn't till 4. I asked the hotel clerk where the nearest pharmacy was. It was four block away. It was called Shopper's Drug Mart and looked like a CVS inside. I got some aloe. Princess Street was having sidewalk sales so I also bought a very lightweight long sleeve sun shirt that I wore on the cruise tour. It's a decent selfie and you can't even see my missing filling.
After the cruise we went to the pub and walked back to campus.
Miles/Steps: 10K +some more
Bathrooms:
P4.5
Weather: 23 degrees C, sunny
Wildlife:
Mostly water fowl ducks, geese, gulls
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