NL #7 Harbour Breton

Waterfront View

We travelled a new road to a new place, Harbour Breton, and it has great waterfront views:

Day 14 July 4

We were a little sad to leave our prime campsite in Leading Tickles, but it was time to move on. I have been reminded of the Newfoundlanders’ Sense of Humour (Absurd?) with a few things:

• the most popular item on the Oceanview Park Snack Bar’s menu is the Turkey Mess: turkey, dressing, WEINERS, and gravy on fries (you could also get a Hamburger mess)
• the ability to find humour in nature:

• humour (?) in words

• and the incongruity of seal skins for sale in the Coleman’s Grocery Store (for $149 and up)

We gassed up and headed south on Highway 360. The highway (until the last 30 kms) was much better than we expected. But it was a “lonesome road” as my Newfoundland pen pal Beulah Morgan said. The landscape was pretty desolate, prime real estate for Moose!:

I was just composing a witty remark about how Newfoundland Moose head to the Moose Lodge when they hear the Harries are in town when, who needs no stinkin’ Moose:

 

Yes, our first Caribou. Oh my. There was quite a traffic jam of picture takers and locals who, I think, were marking exactly where he was for November’s hunt!

We got to Harbour Breton and the cute Deadman’s Cove RV Park. No one was working, so we picked a site, set up, and got the bikes out and rode into the town. It’s quite populated (3,000 or so people) and there is an obvious old town and newer town (even a small area with several mobile homes). We rode along the harbour:

and past this memorial for four children lost in a landslide:

We rode up a hills and down and visited the Rocky Point Lighthouse:

…and saw the far-off view of Jersey Island with a grounded Merchant Vessel, a fairly new summer cabin, and the cemetery that remains behind after the town was resettled to Harbour Breton in the 60’s:

After dinner, I walked down to “our” cove and enjoyed the view (but not the noise of the dirt bikers!):

Here’s the view of the View and our campsite (#13 $20 for water and electricity):

Day 15 July 5

This was another perfect Newfoundland day. We headed out on the bikes and rode across a causeway into the old town:

The wharf was busy with bringing in the catch of the day, which we later learned was Salmon

Love these doors to nowhere we often see in Newfoundland:

We came across the typical gathering of old guys looking over the harbour watching the doings of the day. We had a great chat, as always, and I asked them if they knew Margaret Tibbo, a friend of our friend Beulah Morgan. One was a first cousin, so I sent along greetings.

After lunch, I left David and Mandy to guard the house and headed out on the Deadman’s Cove Trail (4 km). I was enjoying the hike through the bog and the trailside “garden”:

…until I had to go down this (a staircase is hidden in the bushes):

…then right up this one:

After a walk through some trees and along a boardwalk over the bog, I came to this:

…and decided to stop and sit for a minute (I can pee anywhere):

I headed back and ran into a local woman who told me I could go back down this:

…and walk part way back along the beach, which I did:

The woman (Pansy) was at the trailhead at the end, and we spent 20 minutes talking about Harbour Breton and how Sagona Island only ever had one tree and the villagers (resettled in the 60’s) had to come to the mainland for wood. And how, in 1964, the government located 24 bison on Brunette Island; not such a great idea; the last one died in the 1990’s.

Pansy also was raised in Sunny Cottage which we saw on our ride today:

It’s now a museum and kind of the town centre. She was a great storyteller, despite the accent, and she ALSO knows Margaret Tibbo well. Mrs.Tibbo will likely hear of our visit!

David did some birding when I got back, and we enjoyed early evening sunshine and a great ending to our visit to Harbour Breton.

Here’s another view of our campsite: