NL July 30

Hiked 6.9 km

Here’s last night’s sunset over the trees:

Up early again and took the 3.5 km hike to the waterfalls in the park. It was a nice trail through the woods and the end was beautiful:

Along the way, we saw Moose footprints, but, of course, no Moose. But these Ravens were having a noisy feed on some Spruce buds or something:

We continued south towards the bottom of the peninsula. We stopped in at Ferryland and took a shot of the oldest church in Newfoundland made from local stones:

We decided to forgo the Interpretive Centre, but we do know that this is the site of a 17th century British Colony and that archeological work is being done at the site. We decided, instead, to take the drive and hike to the Ferryland Head Lighthouse. It was built in 1870 and manned until the 1980’s. Now, it’s the site of “Lighthouse Picnics”, a restaurant (closed today). But we had a great hike, explored the lighthouse’s exterior and sat and saw some Minke whales! And some more grazing sheep. The parking area for the lighthouse would make a great free camp site

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We ate lunch there and before we headed on, saw a Humpback spout and tail in the distance..

Over Fermeuse, we saw actual Wind Turbines, nine of them working, and continue to wonder why Newfoundland doesn’t invest in this technology. There’s plenty of barren land and wind:

In Fermeuse, we got this great harbour view from the Ultramar gas station:

Renews has a beautiful cove and lookout (another possible camping area) and even had a “Devil’s Foot” to go with our “Witch’s Foot" in Fogo (sadly, no photos). But we did snap this beautiful salt box:

We thought we’d stay at Chance Cove Provincial Park, free camping allowed. We headed down the 6 km gravel road, but we decided to turn back after about 1/4 of the way. This was a bad road.

The landscape here is very barren. And there are Caribou around (yeah, right):

We ended up in Portugal Cove South. The women in the Interpretive Centre gave us some advice about the sites there. There is the Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve here; it’s a beach full of fossils that are protected, and access to the Cape Race Lighthouse and Marconi Site (now a museum) which were used to relay word of the sinking of the Titanic. However, the 20 km road is gravel and they advised against driving out.

But they DID advise us to spend the night right here, on the pebbled beach. We did some rock collecting (they’re beautifully rounded, coloured and polished). I keep looking for Whales in the cove.

Here’s the view from my chair:

NL July 29

A gorgeous sunset last night:

followed by a beautiful sunrise this morning (and no, I won’t be doing daily sunrises!):

We drove up the coast a bit more to Garnish. It has several old saltbox houses, nicely refurbished, but sort of placed here and there in the village, almost as if they were moved from elsewhere and just dropped here. You almost drive straight in to one on the highway. Maybe they were resettled here.

No one is awake anywhere. But Walmart in Marystown was open! As we headed north up the peninsula, we were passed by small convoys of fifth wheels and motorhomes. They must have been travelling south together.

We got back to the TCH, got some gas and information about Avalon and continued. Highway 13 is through the woods and there are several “trailer parks” with old trailers, school buses like we’ve been seeing around. When we stopped for propane in Witless Bay, the young man explained that “if it has wheels, it can be parked anywhere”. So, these are small summer communities and fishing or hunting camps placed wherever there is a likely gravel road and flat area. At least I think that’s what he said. He was about 18, at least 6 foot 8, and had the hardest-to-understand accent so far!

We decided on a Whale Watching-Puffin Tour and rejected the bigger, slightly longer and certainly busier boats for the small Molly Bawn. While we were driving there, we passed this awesome “River of Boats”, small replicas of a fishing village and all types of boats floating (they were anchored) in a small pond on the side of the road:

On the real-sized boat, we headed out with only six others. The three to four foot swells bounced us around a lot, but we headed out to two of the four small islands in the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. We saw Puffins immediately flying, floating and fishing:

We saw Razorbills, Gannets and Murres as well. This is a nice Murre and Puffin together:

And even some sheep grazing:

Then, at Pee Pee Island was the Puffin Rock. Puffins were everywhere, in droves, floating and swarming. It was amazing to see them from the lower level:

Further along (I forget the Island’s name) we stayed for a while and were mesmerized by the nesting Murres (like little Penguins) and Kittiwakes and more Puffins. Plus a juvenile Bald Eagle just waiting for lunch (he caused the swarming):

We headed back and noticed a spout and got a Humpback Whale, tail and all. Further in the cove before we docked, we had a Minke, very close:

We decided to head to La Manche Provincial Park, got a huge site (15) with leftover firewood.

So, here are two views from my chair (before and after the fire, along with my dinner view):

NL July 28

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:

He spoke not-so-favourably about the French and the “one-way street” of their using Newfoundland services but there being little on St-Pierre that Newfoundlanders can afford. The French also buy cabins and spend the hunting and fishing season here. It’s been interesting getting these perspectives.

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: