NL July 22

Hiked 3 km
Got a sunset last night:

and a glimpse of a Whisky Jack (Gray Jay):


We also saw two Juncos (they’ve been gone from our house for months, so we were happy to see them here). We set out on this sunny day to new territory:

AND we saw a Moose (okay, it was dead in the ditch on the highway), but a start. As we headed south on Highway 432, we saw bigger and bigger roadside gardens but they were miles away from any civilization. And we started to see “Moose Management Area” signs a figured they managed to keep us from seeing any Moose. But we did see two hawks in flight, the first here. There were also many hunting cabins and “resorts” (several beater trailers with porches and additions gathered together in gravel lots).
We stopped in Roddickton, “The Moose Capital of the World” (self-professed) and we had the best conversation with Guy, his buddy and cousin about how we have been in Newfoundland for 11 days and not seen a Moose! Well, there WAS that dead one and a stuffed one in the Town Office.
We drove around this rather large centre (1,200 people) and found “The Farm”, a picnic area and trailhead that would be great for free camping:


We moved further south to Bide Arm, saw two interesting “shipwrecks”:

some free camping potential and a few houses and buildings that had been “towed” from elsewhere during resettlement:


Oh, we couldn’t forget this strange way of hoisting a car:

Next was Englee, at the bottom of this peninsula. Friendly Ray and Ambrose offered to take us Cod fishing (for a cheap $50) and told us to park anywhere. We would have stayed at the trailhead to the Bar’d Island Trail (up 164 stairs) until a worker told us, during our lunch, that he was working on it and we couldn’t go up. Interesting since there was no sign and we might have gone up BEFORE he showed up! But a good place to camp.




Though we would have liked to go down to the French Shore, the roads were gravel, so we headed up to the Underground Salmon Pool and Trail. We started with some trepidation since there wasn’t much info at the trailhead, but we ended up spending a long time on the gravel and wooden boardwalk (a little worse for wear and some felled big trees):



finding the Salmon Pool (and seeing several jump):

a fern “garden”:

and a lot of Moose poo and one footprint (we’re getting close):

Time to head west again through the centre of this Northern Peninsula lined with forests, rocks and big lakes. We hoped to stay in Bird Cove on the West coast and went and found a great spot, but the winds were very high. We had a coffee and decided to move on.
We ran out of steam in Hawk’s Bay and decided to stay behind the Irving gas station. It was a great day, though we put on more miles than we had planned. In fact, the last two days, though amazing, were not what we were expecting, so we’re three days ahead of the original schedule. Some more planning!
Here’s the view from my chair (can you see the mountains?):

?):

NL July 21

Hiked 2.5 km

A day of surprises, beginning with no sunset last night (no surprise; fogged in).

First surprise was no gas stations are opened in the little towns before 10, 12 or 1. The second surprise was how far the MoHo can run on 1/4 tank! So we drove through to St. Anthony and got gas and coffee. As we were heading out, a truck pulled in beside us and we teased the driver about the stink of his cargo. Turned out to be shrimp and he said there’s nothing worse than that smell, and though HE cleans after he unloads, most drivers don’t. So there’s a constant stink and a spray that flies while driving. He told us to NEVER follow a shrimp truck.

The town was fogged in, so, no surprise, no whales to be seen (NOTHING to be seen) from the Fishing Point Lighthouse. So, giddy with a full tank of gas, we went exploring. First we took a look at the PBY Canso Water Bomber in town:

Then we took a cruise around the harbour. And there was a surprise concert from the Anglican Church’s bell tower.

Next was a trip to St. Anthony Bight and a surprise encounter with eight ducks in the middle of the road. Not sure what kind yet:

Then a surprise trail (John Pattey’s Trail) in pretty St. Carol’s:

(can you see us parked below?):

Other surprises were in Great Brehart: a sweet little fishing harbour, the cemetery, the Flat Point Trail and Partridgeberry Jam from the Jam House:

Along the way to these places were THE best roadside gardens and woodpiles:

And, though these towns had like 100 people tops, there had to be, surprisingly, 75 cars and trucks on the road.

We decided to just stop back in St. Anthony for some groceries and headed north to the Pistolet Bay Provincial Park (site 21). Our next surprise was that the park was no longer offering guided tours of the Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve (though advertised and a main reason we headed here).

We headed to Raleigh, a picturesque fishing village:

and found the Reserve. We drove to the parking lot, almost got stuck and left that dream behind.

We decided to try out Ship Cove and Cape Onion and received another surprise: three icebergs:

Back at the campground, we had dinner, visited with people, and decided to move on tomorrow.

And, to no one’s surprise, we didn’t see a moose (though it seems everyone else has), but we did see a mouse:

…and a campground rabbit:

Not surprisingly, another great day in Newfoundland!

Here’s the view of my chair:

NL July 20

 

Here’s the beginning of a sunset from last night. Time here is a little strange. Anywhere in Labrador, we’re on Newfoundland Time. BUT 5 minutes down the road into Quebec, we’re on Eastern Time. So, by our watches, we were up at 6:00 AM, but it was only 4:30 AM. Only in Quebec…

Time to say goodbye to Labrador, but first a drive along the Quebec coast. The scenery was so different: mountains and waterfalls in the rocks. There were STEEP (17%) declines, and a whole road system for snowmobiles along the highway complete with road signs and great little tripods made of tree poles to mark the trails. Here are some photos just as the fog was settling and we decided to head back:

We stopped for groceries at Chez Barney’s in Quebec and were again amused by the French/English differences in signage. Here, some signs were bilingual, very few French only, and often English only. Oh, if the language police in the rest of Quebec only knew…

Maybe next time, we’ll do THIS Labrador trip (IF they keep working on the road):

We lined up for the ferry and chatted with three Florida Goldwing riders, two women from Barrie (one via Peterborough) and the salmon fishing guys we met on the way over. They got one salmon and said it basically cost them $750 a pound!

Fog the whole way over and on land, so we decided to stay in our little Flower’s Cove campsite one more night.

So here’s the view from my chair, barely:

NL July 19

Hiked 9.25 km (ouch)
No sunset again (tired and bugged!), but a great morning with plans to hike all the trails in all the fishing villages south of the park.
We took parts of the Oceanview trail in West. St. Modest and saw their lighthouse:

then dropped in on a small harbour in Capstan Island:

before stopping in L’Anse au Loup. And the Capelin Caper began. First, we walked a sandy beach, saw a lot of dead fish, and, as I collected a giant handful of beach glass, David watched the fishermen just off shore:


He started to chat with Art, worker at the Labrador Fishermen’s Union Shrimp Company Limited’s Cold Storage plant beside the beach. I joined them and learned that the company brings in capelin, flash freezes them, cold stores them and ships to Japan and China. Apparently, they’re sold for 10 cents a pound and the Japanese brine them, dry them and sell them for $1.00 a FISH as a bar snack.
Oh, and the “greenhouses” we saw on the way to Red Bay? Well, that’s a mink farm. AND this same company sells them their capelin.
As we continued to chat, we watched the whole process evolve:



Samples from each box are checked for male/female ratio, etc. then Nora fries some up for the boys:

We were invited to sample as well, and they were delicious. Much like the smelt I remember from long ago! It was a great experience being with these lovely people.
We headed next to Point Amour. First stop was the Maritime Archaic Burial Mound, where the remains of a child who had died 7,500 years ago were found:

Across the road was a cemetery where a memorial to seamen who died in the sinking of the HMS Raleigh AND of a 23 year old, Ernest Ginman, who died in the Marconi Service. Many stories here:

The Port Amour lighthouse is Canada’s second tallest:

Along the shore is the Raleigh Trail which houses many pieces of wreckage of the ship that was sunk in the 1920’s:



David found his next MoHo here too:


Next stop was the Overfall Brook Trail in Forteau. We hiked a while then turned back (our nothing to prove theory), but did finally get a shot of this elusive butterfly:

We next drove in to Quebec and found this parking area for the Ile Aux Perroquets Trail (Puffin Island) and, after a walk on the trail and an entertaining chat with two town maintenance guys, we decided to stay here for the night. It was a more angry sea here:


and we couldn’t see the Puffins clearly but knew they were there.
This was a great day in Labrador.
Here are three views from my chair:

this one is the Puffin Rock: