Go East Old Man

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Sunday 9th August
Time to leave what the guide book refers to as the Western Sector and move on to the Central.

First it’s back to Deer Lake for propane and groceries and then back on the Trans Canada heading east.

Not very far though, Howley RV park just east of Deer Lake.

Monday 10th August
Not our favourite campsite, full of seasonals and ATVrs.  Not only that, they screwed us.  It was supposed to be $15 for an unserviced lot, however, they don’t have any unserviced lots so they charge $20 for using a serviced one with no service.  Didn’t find out until we were leaving - should have just driven off.  And let’s not even talk about the washrooms.

It was day we should stayed put and would have done if not for the above.  Torrential rain all day and unbeknownst to us the vent above the bed opened itself with predictable results.

Final stop for the day at Notre Dame provincial Park.  Yet another secluded spot in the trees.

Tuesday 11th August

Weather change!

Rain and clouds gone - it’s a gorgeous warm sunny day.

Water, water everywhere.

A shorter run today, away from the Trans Canada towards Twillingate.  Here’s the galley slave clearing up to go.

Next stop:

‘Nuff said.

After checking in and doing a bit of laundry we set off for the big tourist attraction in these parts - Twillingate.

The best lookout is actually Crows Head beyond Twillingate itself.

The views were magnificent that are not really capable of being captured with the camera.  However, you can see the attraction.

Sailboats drifting by (2 actually).

It’s also supposedly a big iceberg viewing spot but nary a one on the ocean blue.  The white things are boats, one appears to be a shrimp boat, it had outriggers anyway.

Someone (from Windsor, Ontario) offered to take a rare shot of the three of us. 

Twillingate itself is another fishing village.

Wednesday 12th August

A morning walk to the washrooms with the sun twinkling on the sea.

Trouble in Paradise.  When I went to start the truck to move to a different spot, it wouldn’t!!  The engine barely turned over and would not fire.  Further investigation showed that both batteries were down near 11Volts - very bad!

Good Sam Roadside Assistance to the rescue yet again  A boost to the truck and we’re mobile again.  A move to the other site, unload the camper and take the truck for a spin.

The problem isn’t the truck alternator - phew!  Don’t have a clue what the problem is though but suspect it’s yet another aftermath of the day on the road in torrential rain - won’t do that again, the camper isn’t submersible.

Thursday 13th August

Batteries down again.  This calls for drastic action.  This time we got a jump from one of the park rangers and we made the 1 hour backtrack to Lewisport and a tiny little Canadian Tire.  I took in the lowest voltage battery and it’s mortality was confirmed.

New battery in we headed to our next destination.  When down in Marathon, on the boat, we have a friend Bill Watson longtime friends of Ernie and Dianna who live in Gander Bay, just up the road. We were invited to visit and so that’s where we headed.

This is where Bill stays (at the bottom of their garden) when he visits them.

They used to be serious cruisers and have sailed the Atlantic and the Med.

They have chickens (lots of wonderful eggs for us) and a garden of vegetables.

Friday 14th August

A day hanging out around the house with a visit from neighbour Claude and wife.  When he spoke to just her, couldn't understand a word.

(Claude, Dianna, Carol, Claude’s wife and the back of Ernie’s head.

We had another unusual visitor - can never resist a bug pic.

Saturday 15th August

Eastbound we continued to Gambo and the David Smallwood Park.  However, for the first time there is no space, not even for unserviced.

The guy at the gate was very helpful and told us just to park on the other side of the road with other unfortunates.

Best part - no charge!

Carol was not feeling up to a hike so I went off on my own.  Everywhere in Newfoundland there are hiking trails.

This one was by the side of a salmon river.

 

Because someone thought at this point the river was a little tricky for the salmon to ascend to breed they made a salmon ‘ladder’.

Doesn’t look like much of a ladder but beneath the grills is a series of steps of a about a foot high.  You can stand on top and see the broiling water below.

Everyone in Newfoundland has a an ATV.  The owner of this deluxe version told me you can travel from St. John’s to Port Aux Basques on the bed of the old narrow gauge railway track.

Sunday 16th August

Moving yet closer to St. John’s, on Ernie’s advice we took a side trip to the Bonavista Peninsula.

Lockston Path Provincial Park has a couple of hiking trails so we we are at the summit.

Monday 17th August

Elliston (via the worst road yet) is a must see in this area for at least two reasons.

One is that it’s the world capital of root cellars, boasting 137 in number.

In the days before refrigeration this was the preferred storage for vegetables and anything else you wanted to keep cool.  Why they had so many here we’re not sure.

The other reason is seabirds.

More specifically the most absurd of seabirds, puffins.

They live on an island just off the shore that you really can’t get to so the pic is not that sharp, need a 20x lens not a 5x.

Neat rock formations too.

After Elliston we we went to Bonavista itself which has a candy lighthouse.

John Cabot made his landfall here on a somewhat forbidding coast.

Tuesday 18th August

On our way out in the morning we took a detour to a big tourist draw - Trinity.  Full of old historic buildings.

.

Next stop Butterpot Provincial Park only 30km from St. John’s

There and back

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Tuesday 4th August
An overcast cold day but another drive out for the day, to Cape Norman. Through Cook Harbour (the same as the South Seas Captain) and parked in Wild Bight where the (terrible) asphalt road ran out.

Carol wasn’t feeling up to it but I did a trek to the lighthouse.

Signs by the trail promised me views of humpback wales and icebergs but I didn’t see a thing apart from a grey sea beating on grey rocks.

Nice lighthouse though.

Wednesday 5th August
Time to move on and back the way we came to St. Barbe and the ferry to Labrador.  While waiting for the ticket office to open we availed ourselves of the adjoined Motel restaurant and some more Newfoundland cuisine - ‘cod au gratin’.  Basically a kind of cod mash smothered in cheese with garlic bread - no veggies, veggies don’t seem a popular item in Newfoundland.  There seems to be a high cancer rate - a connection?

Bit of a less crowded parking lot, though there was more by the time we left (an hour late).

What a difference between this operation and the Newfoundland ferry.  The waiting parking lot is a joke with big trucks having to back into it.  There’s only one boat (The Apollo) and it’s old.  

I found the quantity of water pouring out the lifted bow a bit worrisome.

The cafeteria food has the worst selection on ANY ferry I have ever been on. There’s very few comfortable seats aboard.  It took 45 mins longer to cross than they said at the beginning of the trip.  And I actually got a touch of Mal de Mer. 

I found out later that they’d had engine trouble - disconcerting!

The ferry actually docks in Blanc Sablon, Quebec, Labrador being about 7 klicks up the road.

It was foggy all the way across and was very foggy when we got to the other side so the plan to drive up the coast 50km was scrapped and we stopped at an RV campground in L’Anse au Clair.  It does have full service so it was nice to have a.c. power and water you don’t have to boil first which is the usual here.

Thursday 6th August

It’s still a little foggy in the morning but it does start to lift to give a distant view of the sea in this somewhat industrial location.

It doesn’t look a promising day but as we bounce our way north, on even worse roads, the fog rolls away and it’s a gorgeous day.  We even saw an other iceberg but missed the place to stop and document it.

Pinware River Provincial Park is second to Lomond in being the most beautifully located.  We picked a site but when I walked back to claim it I found out it was already reserved (via the Internet).  However we swapped for one with an equally stunning view.

The sea, surprisingly, really is that blue.  At least when the sun shines.

Friday 7th August

When rounding the park on Buddy’s morning walk I found the only other (out of 15) sites that was used was the one we had first chosen - what are the odds?  15 to 1 actually.

Labrador is very beautiful (the bit we saw anyway) sandy beaches and less austere than Newfoundland but the roads are terrible and the bugs!!!  You could not sit outside without clouds of little black biting flies, mosquitoes and deer flies.  So we’re off back to the the island.

The ferry was booked up until at least Sunday but since they leave 25% unreserved we decided to take a chance and try the first ferry in the morning.  We got there early and achieved number 3 on the waiting list and boarded with no problem. 

Back on land it was back to the River of Ponds Campsite.

Lots of rabbits, no moose.

Saturday 8th August

Clouds away and clear blue skies.  The weather here is nothing if not changeable.

There’s a trail here and my knee needs exercise.  Carol stays to tidy things up and I head off down to the wharf.

Ise the byes.

Everywhere we see signs like this, it’s some kind of campaign to get Newfoundlanders back to Newfoundland.

The trail leads along the shoreline.  Driftwood, anyone?

Eventually you reach the actual River of Ponds.

Where it flows into the sea.

A pleasant spot to spend eternity.

Gros Morne and North

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Saturday 25th July
Back to Deer Lake, the nearest real town with two, yes, two supermarkets.  We filled up with propane and then filled up with groceries.

Back in the Gros Morne Park we headed into the Lomond campsite.

Like where we were for the last couple of days we are on Bonne Bay which dominates the centre of Gros Morne Park.

Another site with a view and the sun’s shining.

Carol thought there should be a pic of me once in a while.  Here I am blending with the natives.

Sunday 26th July

A walk down to the shore with Buddy.

We’re both feeling like a hike and one runs directly from the campground to what used to be a mining town.

Not a trace is left after Parks Canada took it over.

Someone kindly placed a pair of Adirondack chairs on the shore. We’d only walked 2km but it had been seriously up/downhill

The sun was shining but the wind was cold.

Everywhere in the park are pretty wild flowers.

Views all around.

Only one way back, the way we came.

Monday 27th July

Onwards again on our way north to another Parks Canada site - Green Point, this time on the ocean.

Lots of rain.

Tuesday 28th July

A rainy morning but by the afternoon the sun peeked through and we did the Coastal Trail. 

Completely different kind of walk compared to Lomond.  No climbing here.

A lone fisherman.

Again with the snow on the distant hills.

Wednesday 29th July

Onwards again and out of the Gros Morne Park to River of Ponds and somewhere with power, showers and laundry.

Met a couple, Dennis and Sandy Sullivan, ‘our’ age from Florida who still have a sailboat and have invited us to tie up to their dock in St. Petersburg if we ever make it up the west cost to Tampa Bay. 

Thursday 30th July

A day for laundry and blog writing by the shore of a lake.

Friday 31st July

Heading to the northern tip of the “Western Region” and the famous L’Anse Aux Meadows.

All the commercial campsites were apparently booked up but we found lots of room at the Pistolet Bay Provincial Park.  The scenery here is trees.

Saturday 1st August

The weather is not good - cold and rainy but we’re here to see the sights so we pack up and drive to L’Anse Aux Meadows.

First place we went to was the recreated Norse village.  As we learned, only the fighting Norsemen were called Vikings.

They have a replica Viking ship (the Snorri) that was built to emulate the trip that Leif Ericson made from Greenland to L’Anse Aux Meadows.  It took the Vikings 9 days and their century later copycats 87 days - someone was a better sailor.

Fifty feet long weighing 30 tons.

They have people dressed in costume who will answer your questions and tell you about how people lived.  It’s quite a setup.  All the roofs are about 2’ thick logs covered in sod.

Afterwards we went to the Parks Canada Information building and the actual remains of the original village.  I’m afraid the bumps in the ground are not that photogenic.

Some of the artwork is interesting though.

We’re not too sure what this represents though.

It’s made of a metal.

Sunday 2nd August

Sunshine!

We head off to St Anthony Bight which promises a trail with possible sightings of wales and icebergs.

When we get there we can’t find the trail but it doesn’t matter ‘cos fog has rolled in and there’s nothing to see.

St Anthony is the big town round here so we will do our food shopping there but first we do a bit of hiking.

Except this is more like climbing.

A staircase right to the top of the mountain.

Right in the middle of the above picture, just above the road - that’s the camper.

Once the fog rolls away (at least partially) fantastic views from the top.

This really odd view is a fog shrouded island, way in the distance.

Monday 3rd August

Another sunny day but when we get to Cape Onion it’s foggy.  But we do get to see an iceberg even if it’s only a teeny weensy one.

We took a short walk looking for more.

Very forbidding with no sun.

Then the fog rolled away and it looks quite different.