NL July 27

Sorry, no chair view, no sunset. But this (scary, in my opinion) picture of Joey Smallwood overlooked us all night long:

Surprisingly, though we were so close top to the highway, it was quiet and we had a good sleep. But we left in thick fog which dissipated a few miles down the road.

We drove through Terra Nova Park and, again, no Moose.We stopped in Clarenville`s Sobey`s, and a worker recognized David from Fogo Island! Now THAT`S a small world.

While I was getting coffee at McDonald`s, David was getting these pics (reminiscent of an overnight stay in the states a couple of years ago):

We headed to new territory next: the Burin Peninsula. This was a different Newfoundland landscape, very similar to Northern Ontario. Rocks, mountains, lakes and trees (and fog today):

There are seven Viewpoints on the peninsula, small pitchouts with different geological and historical markers. Each has a sign about a kilometer before the site. The first was a picture of a Caribou and the words ``Feeling Erratic?`` The pitchout talked about the glacial formation of this landscape. AND this would be a great overnight camping spot.

Though the weather predicted 90% rain today, it only rained for a few minutes, really a sun shower, at noon.

The next Viewpoint sign was a picture of beets and the word “Uprooted”. Here was a house, now a museum containing period artifacts, that had been floated once 20 minutes down the road then brought to this resting place. It was a great display:

(yep, that’s another “Ugly Stick”):

There are many Salmon fishing spots along the road (complete with “unofficial” RV Parks). Poor Salmon have to swim here from the ocean; though it’s nearby, we’re at at least 300 feet elevation in many places.

Next Viewpoint sign depicted a sailor and the words “Dories to Drill Rigs” in Marystown. We got travel info there. The town is the commercial hub of the peninsula complete with Walmart and Tim’s!

Next stop, Burin. It’s an old fishing village, a little upscale, which now seems a little confused about what it wants to be. Parts are refurbished and contain shops and a cafe. Others are not-too-well-kept historical markers. When we got there, the fog was so thick that it was silent. We saw and heard nothing but some ducks (really):

But we chatted with some guys at the Coast Guard Station, and got a lesson in politics and economics in Newfoundland. Interesting:

As the fog lifted, more people appeared and we spoke for a while with a guy (looked like actor Robert Carlisle) who owned this beautiful house and had a different viewpoint on Burin:

He said a local, now with money, has bought many properties here recently. He has weatherproofed them and they lie vacant. Apparently, he has “big plans!”. Our new friend is quite cynical about this all. But there ARE some pretty sights:

We left there, drove further along and saw the sign wit a miner’s picture and the words, “Dig a little deeper”. And this Viewpoint is our free home for tonight.

Here’s a foggy view from my chair:

NL July 26

Here’s last night’s gorgeous sunset:

We made a farewell tour of Fogo Island before we headed to the ferry. Though there were threats of rain for the entire day, we woke to, and enjoyed, a couple of hours of sunshine.

First stop was Shoal Cove with a strange, black building that we think is an art gallery. To me, it didn’t fit the landscape:

And from here, we got our first sight of the Fogo Island Inn. See it to the right, juxtaposed against this lovely, well-preserved church (not impressed with the Inn so far):

We pulled in to Joe Batt’s Arm and parked at the Etheridge Point’s picnic area. This would be a great place for overnight free camping. Here we also saw “The Witch’s Foot” (it requires some imagination; think big toe, right foot):

OR, is the Fogo Island Inn the Witch’s Foot from across the cove?

We heard yesterday that the owner of the Inn, a local girl,got rich and wanted to erect this posh, eco-friendly, artsy hotel and restaurant. If you go online, you won’t find prices. But we’ve since learned that the cheapest room is $850 a night, meals included, and it goes up to $3,000 a night! There’s been a lot to say about this by the locals. It’s only been open two months, so time will tell. But they did send an invitation to each household on Fogo and Change Islands offering a tour, dinner, room and breakfast for two, gratis.

A guy we talked to last night went and said they had a great meal (sauteed Stinging Nettles and all). A woman we met today can’t wait to go for her anniversary. We ran in to Toronto/Pontypool couple who had stayed two nights there, and she said it was expensive but fabulous.

For me, it’s sort of ugly. But other places on our little tour were much more beautiful:

We drove on to Tilting, a village which is a National Historic Site. It maintains the character of an old fishing village and is very “Irish”. Though places have been modernized, much remains as once was. As we were touring some fishing stages and old fenced gardens and root cellars, the church bells began to ring…MANY times. It was 9:30, and a local woman told us it was for the 10:00 Mass. Like “get up and get to church!”. By the way, there WERE several cars parked by the church after 10:00:

We met a man with his granddaughter who was visiting from-unbelievably-Pontypool! And he confirmed that there WAS an RV Dump in the middle of the street (which we happily used):

We were bid farewell by these Tilting sheep grazing as they must have many years ago:

By the way, we learned that the Caution Moose signs we saw coming in were, in fact, Caution CARIBOU signs. Jeesh, another elusive animal (but not to the guy who obviously found a few):

So the ferry left on time, we saw new friend Angus once again on the ferry, and two young kids played accordion and an Ugly Stick. They were heading to a festival in Twillingate and were just practising (Angus and I shared a dance):

It started to pour as we headed to Gander. The Welcome to Gander area features a sculpture of a helicopter, then a helicopter flew over our heads in the Walmart parking lot AND we saw the funniest sign on the Trans Canada: “Caution: Low Flying Aircraft”. What were we expected to do?

The rain and fog has forced us to stop at the Joey Smallwood Lookout in Gambo. No view from my chair tonight, and don’t expect a sunset picture tomorrow.

NL July 25

Hiked 8.2 km (me an extra 5.2!)

Here’s last night’s sunset over our little cove:

We were up and out before 8:00! An unusual event.

Up the Brimstone Head Trail, reputed, by the Flat Earth Society to be one of the four corners of the earth! It was a trail over bog, rocks and wooden steps and very beautiful:

On the return, we went down the Simm’s Beach trail and saw the remnants of an old garden and paddock (locals later suggested it was an old man’s garden AND even later I saw that a young Simms boy died at Tripoli and was awarded for bravery):

We also checked out the cove for Whales, and sure enough, two Minkes appeared:

Back for a coffee and snack and off for a hike in to town. We saw Angus (from the ferry) again, hugged and were offered cod (here it’s 15 cod per boat per day for these weeks). We took pictures of this lovely town.

…including the three churches. We saw two other picture-takers at the Anglican Church. One’s great grandfather had been the minister there many years before. A lovely moment:

After lunch, I felt compelled to try one more trail myself, over 5 km on the Fogo Head Trail. Demanding but rewarding:

The rest of this day was spent chatting with John and Berit. They’re full-timers, originally from Latvia (him ) and Norway (her). They spoke of their travels here for the Brimstone Folk Festival in two weeks, to the Florida Keys for the winter, and to Minot, North Dakota in the Fall for a mega-Scandinavian Festival.

After dinner and sitting out awaiting tonight’s sunset, we spoke more with John, were offered cod, chatted with a local guy who had given Berit a Bake Apple Cheesecake recipe which won her $100 at that Scandinavian Festival, and I went over and sang with the neighbour who was playing guitar.

Stellar day.

Here’s the view of our campsite from the top of the Brimstone Head Trail (look closely and you’ll see the MoHo):