NL July 16

Hiked 4.5 KM
Here’s last night’s sunset:

We got up to sunshine and decided to explore Flower’s Cove. Three hours later, we had seen the beautiful lighthouse:


an Anglican church, named the Skin Boot Church since the funds were raised from the sale of donated sealskins that were made into boots:



…and the Catholic Church:

and two cemeteries. The saddest headstone was for three young children, ages 2, 6 and 8, who had all died in 1880 within days of each other. We wondered what illness took these young lives:



We crossed The Marjorie Bridge, originally erected in the early 1900’s, to join communities:

It and the boardwalk lead to a Thrombolite “garden”.Thrombolites are these rounded rocks (they say like buns) that can only be found here and in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Fascinating:

After a disappointing Cod and Chips lunch (more will have to come now), we drove up and through a few more coves, then sought the endangered “  Long’s Braya”, which is supposed to be found in Shoal   Cove. We saw the signs, were told they bloomed late June, and we didn’t see anything.
BUT in Shoal Cove, we did see scores of stretchers with sealskins drying (once in a lifetime I’m sure):



We went through Nameless Cove (favourite name so far) and came back to our trailhead campsite for another night.
Here’s this morning’s view from my chair:

NL July 15

Hiked 1.5 KM

Not sure I can start every post with the previous night’s sunset, but I’ll try. So here’s last night’s:

We were up and away north. But first, the eastern side of the Port au Port peninsula and it’s unusually decorated houses in Mainland:

As we drove through Stephenville again, we were reminded of that it was US Air Force base in the 40’s-60’s. The buildings remain and are being repurposed as a courthouse, apartment buildings, businesses and a cinema. But it still feels a bit like the Cold War here.

Oh, and saw a guy selling cod from his pickup for $1.50 a pound! Should have bought some after we went on to find a Fish and Chips lunch was $13.95!

There’s a new Moose fence for about 7 km north of Stephenville on Highway 1. But that’s all. And no Moose anyway

We headed in to Deer Lake for final groceries for the next week or more. And enjoyed the accordion playing in front of the Down Home Variety and Chip Truck:

We had a bit of a nostalgic trip through Gros Morne. We saw beautiful Bonne Bay:

… snow in the mountains, and the loaded parking lot at Western Brook Pond’s entrance (glad we did that great hike and boat ride a few years ago when it was less known).

We tried for lunch on the breakwater in Cow Head (more nostalgia), but the winds saw us move to St. Mary’s Botanical Walk instead:

And we fought the wind and rain to revisit The Arches:

The further north we got, the more frequent the roadside life began with garden patches:

…lobster traps stored for the season:

…and woodpiles being readied for the winter:

Personal, private yard space is rare, so the side of the highway is used for everything.

We had about 20 minutes of serious rain before we headed to St. Barbe to see about getting the Tuesday ferry to Labrador. It was full, so we headed a bit further north to plan. We found a great place to stay in Flower’s Cove at the trailhead for the White Rocks Walking Trail. We have an ocean view in the front and the trail in the back.

We walked the limestone features:

and took a lot of pictures of the stunted but beautiful plants tucked into crevices. Here’s a slideshow. ONE day, we may try to identify them:

		Flora on the White Rocks Walking Trail VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

After dinner, we made a reservation for the Wednesday ferry and enjoyed our little free campsite.

Here’s the view from my chair:

NL July 14

Hiked 4 KM

Oh, what a beautiful day. But first, here’s last night’s sunset from our campsite:

Time to leave the Codroy Valley and start north. There were very few vehicles on the road. It IS Sunday, but I am still amazed by the seemingly small number of cars, trucks and RVs here. There are few signs, no billboards but some artistic repurposing (and I could name all the figures):

We headed west on the Port au Port peninsula (west of Stephenville) to a place we visited the last time we were here. It seems like few people venture here, but we think it is a lovely road with some of the best rugged coastline we’ve seen in North America. The road has vistas like this:

small towns and old cemeteries:

a Federal harbour:

and a very ugly limestone mine we didn’t photograph, but it’s one small blight on this landscape.

We reached the Boutte du Cap Park in Cape St. George, and it was as we remembered it. We found a spot to stay (camping is free here)

then hiked the trails high and low around here. The pictures tell this story":

We’re parked on a feeding route for some seabirds, so have enjoyed the Gannets, Guillemots, Kittywakes and gulls flying back and forth. We are also enjoying the plants, some miniature wildflowers and shrubs (because of the terrain) and some Alpines:

This is how happy we look in Newfoundland:

Here’s the view from David’s chair: