Hiked 4 km
No sunset last night, but we had this beautiful flower at the campsite. It looks like a thistle, but isn’t. Haven’t seen it anywhere else:
Up to fog and drizzle. Not great for a sightseeing day. We started in St. Lawrence, a fairly large small village. It was Sunday, so NO ONE was up (another Twilight Zone moment):
On to Lawn. It’s also small but a little more picturesque:. Here, we chatted with a local (I loved how he said “ye” instead of “you”). His daughter was married there the night before. He’s done well for himself and has a $600,000.00 fishing boat. He fishes lobster, crab, whelks (currently; they’re escargots), tuna and crab. Learned a lot from him (that’s his boat):
The fog started to lift. By the way, yesterday, we had learned about the Burin Tidal Wave of November 1929. People and homes and businesses were lost in this Tsunami. So, since most of the places we visited this morning were caught in that, I thought a lot about what happened.
Next stop was Allan’s Island. It’s a run down little village, over a causeway, and it has a lighthouse. We walked up and visited the cemetery (so many wooden crosses on graves from the 1950’s and 1960’s which is quite unusual):
There were some potato and cabbage patches in the bog:
The lighthouse overlooked a rugged coast with large shoals and breaking waves:
We decided to get the MoHo and stay here until the fog lifted. On the way, we saw a guy out in the bog picking and eating something. We guessed Bakeapples and went looking, Sure enough:
The same guy stopped to chat with us back at the lighthouse. He had a nice pail of berries! He said he came to pick berries (in his rubber boots) instead of going to church! He told us how this town WAS an island and the cemetery was for the surrounding villages. But there was no causeway until fairly recently; thus the wooden crosses. He talked about being a fisherman and its difficulties AND how the French from St-Pierre can hunt and fish with impunity with no quotas or seasons, unlike the Newfoundlanders. There doesn’t seem to be much love lost between these two “nations”.
Next “sign” we saw was a picture of Al Capone and the words “Al Capone was here” for the next Viewpark. Yesterday, in the Burin museum, there was a small display, beside the vault (which Geraldo Rivera might not have found funny), describing how Capone had bought his liquor in “France” (St-Pierre), stored it in Burin, and even banked there!
This Viewpoint commemorated Port Crewe which was a village that was 100% resettled and abandoned in 1965 (as were so many other Newfoundland places) and also looked over at St-Pierre (which is actually France, for my American friends):
Next stop was Fortune Head, which is where you get the ferry to St-Pierre:
We planned on going for a day, and the only same-day return is Wednesday and 100% rain is expected, so we’ll settle for “seeing France”.
Walking around, we spoke to another local who was born on Burnette Island, just offshore. It was resettled when he was two years old, and his family came to Fortune:
On to Grand Bank. This is sort of the “cultural centre” of the Burin. There are old houses, many preserved and used as B&Bs, restaurants and museums:
One houses the Mariner’s Memorial. It’s a beautiful statue of a woman awaiting her sea-going husband who will not return. In a pool of water around her are plaques with the names of dead seamen from Grand Bank “floating” underwater. Beautiful. Today was a memorial day for families and I chatted with a woman (I’d say close to 80) who learned of her father’s death on her 16th birthday. The survivors had red roses today which they were taking to place on the Mothers’ graves:
On the waterfront, we had this special moment:
Most of the waterfront businesses are abandoned and it’s sad. What this MIGHT be!
On we drove towards Frenchman’s Cove. Then we found the final Viewpoint (“Living on the Edge”) where we’ll stay tonight, overlooking the ocean and Harbour Breton across Fortune Bay. We walked the beach and added to my beach rock collection and saw this little guy:
After dinner, we saw a family head out in to the bog across the highway. They went way out and David checked if he could see more Bakeapples. None there, but he brought three blueberries! They came back and we chatted. They’re from St-Pierre, have a cabin here, leave a car here from May to November, and stay for six weeks and go back for a week. We learned a bit more about how the French get their serious medical needs addressed in St. John’s. Do their shopping here (they can take $600 back at a time), don;t use the expensive ferry but come on privately-owned boats and live in France, which I find endlessly amusing.
What a day.
Here’s the gorgeous view from my chair:
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