July 7
Last night we stayed at the Viking RV and Campsite near L'Anse Aux Meadows. As soon as we pulled in, an elderly fellow who was 95 if he was a day, bounced right on up to me before I even had my bike turned off. He flashed me a huge, toothless grin.
"Boys oh Boy... dems right nice dey are!!" pointing to my bike...
"Whereye came from?"
"We're from BC" I say
"BC!!" he hoots, "Ize always wanna go - take me wit you!"
"If you can fit in my saddle bag, you can come!" I say
"Dat I ken, my dearie, dat I ken - Ize ken make meself right small!"
"Well OK then! Let's go!" I say
"Right, bye!" he hoots "I'll jus go and get me teeth!"
And then we looked at each other and just howled laughing! A hilarious exchange and I wasn't even off my bike yet! Never did find out who he was... he just wandered off and that was the last of him. :)
During dinner, we met some other motorcyclist travelers - Yvan and Carol - from Quebec. Withing a matter of minutes, we were sitting at their table and sharing stories and they were giving us tips on the Gros Morne area they'd just come from. Lovely folks...
We had a good (but COLD!!) night and the next morning, they had breakfast for us - eggs and bacon but the bread was thick cut homemade white bread with butter and homemade bakeapple and partridgeberry jam. If you've never had bakeapple, it's a small berry that grows in Newfoundland and Labrador. The plants are only a few inches high and are tough going to pick because they're spaced apart and so low to the ground. Back breaking work so they're worth their weight in gold. They look like orangey-red raspberries and have a lovely taste. Anyway, one of the best breakfasts we've had... so wonderful!
From L'Anse Aux Meadows, we headed south towards Gros Morne National Park with the intention of staying there but the weather got quite cold and rainy and then the wind started to blow. By the time we got into the park, it was pretty crummy and fog was socking it in a bit. We went through Rocky Harbour but decided to keep going. We would have liked to spend some time in Gros Morne the we thought we'd rather get through the weather. Too bad because there is so much you can do there - GREAT hiking trails and boat tours up the fjord etc. You could spend a week there alone... Instead, we headed south and got out of the wet and into some very nice sun! We drove through Pasadena and we stopped at an Irving station and called the parents of a dear old friend of mine. Great fun to surprise them (we hadn't planned on going that far south) and this led to a lovely dinner party and visit. We headed into Cornerbrook and spent the night in a Walmart parking lot because we were too tired to look elsewhere. Yes it's free. And busy. You can't believe the goings on all night in a Walmart parking lot! Great big tractor trailers there and one was a refrigeration trailer so engines and generators running all night. Thank God for ear plugs! But it got us through and off we headed the next morning.
July 8
From Cornerbrook, we headed up to Gander. Gander is a very interesting town with a big aviation history. I won't go into detail other than to say we went to the Aviation Museum there which was really great. Lots of great artifacts and they've done a wonderful job of the storytelling of the history. Of particular note - during 911, many large planes were forced to land in Gander and this small town put up over 6000 stranded travelers in every nook and cranny in their town for 4 days. Locals rallied to provide clothes, food and other necessities and saved the day for thousands. The museum has an incredible collection of the hundreds of thank you letters so many people from Canada and the US sent, expressing love, gratitude and thanks for the incredible generosity and kindness of the Gander people. Very touching...
After there, we still had some good afternoon left so we headed up the 330 to do the penninsula route. We had to pass the change to do Twillingate and Fogo Island - two places recommended to us - because we're so aware that we are really having to pare down our expectations of what we will be able to fit in on this trip. Sigh... it's HARD! So much to SEE!!! We made it to Musgrave Harbour and just outside of town is a municiple park and campsite and also the memorial sight of Banting (the Canadian who discovered insulin) - he died in a plane crash at this site. The campsite is lovely - in front is a lovely freshwater lake which is great to swim in. In behind is a small bank and then a trail down to a GORGEOUS sandy beach cove on the Atlantic! Miles of sandy beach to walk! Incredible!
One thing to note - the roads in Newfoundland are absolutely, without any hesitation in my saying this, atrocious! The locals think so too! The side roads are in a terrible state of disrepair - pot holes and huge dips and bumps everywhere. It makes for very slow and uncomfortable travel. I can't imagine it in a huge RV! The main highways (like the Trans Canada) are great but they cut inland for fast travel and you see nothing but a swath of trees. That's it. If you want to see the shoreline at all, you take the side roads and take your chances with your vehicle! I've decided I'm going to write a letter to the Newfoundland government when I get home about the roads... sheesh!!
July 9
From Musgrave Harbour, we came down the east side of the peninsula into Gambo, came through Terra Nova National Park and headed up the 230 to Bonavista. Bonavista was where Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) first landed in Canada! As the story goes, when he saw the harbour, he said it was a "Bona Vista" - a beautiful sight... And truly it is. Bonavista is a town that sort of typifies what most of us think about Newfoundland - it's one of the oldest towns in Canada and has over 1000 heritage buildings. We did a walkabout with a self-guided map and some of the buildings are incredible. We went and saw the Matthew - an historically accurate replica of Cabot's ship. You can go aboard and tour around it. It's surprisingly small considering they came across the Atlantic in it. When we went on it, it was in dry dock for repairs but they do float it at the dock during the summers. A great thing to see. Parks Canada also have a fantastic historical site (I'll dig through my stuff and find the name later) but it's a collection of buildings from one of the big fisheries from the 1700s that are still there and they've converted into a museum. Really neat to see and very well done. We've come to realize just how important the cod fishery was to the colonization of Canada back then. It was all about the fish and feeding millions of French and British across the pond...
We met a fisherman on the dock, David Abbott, who we chatted with for about an hour and then he told us he'd take us out to the Cape to see the lighthouse and the puffins. We followed him out there and we hung out with him for about an hour and who should creep up behind us and surprise us but our friends we met in L'Anse Aux Meadows, Yvan and Carol from Quebec who are also on a motorcycle! It was like old home week!! They left to find their B&B and David took us out to Elliston to find our campsite and show us where the HUGE puffin site it there. What a great guy! He wouldn't let us buy him breakfast or anything to say thinks - just one of so many kind, generous people we've met on this trip...
Our campsite at Elliston was right by the water. Lovely. Another COLD night! Thank God for power and the small car heater we brought!
July 10
After packing up camp, we headed over to the puffin area - a huge rocky point you can walk out on. There were thousands of little puffins!!! SO AWESOME!! They're about the size of small duck and have duck-like bodies: short little wings and bright orange webbed feet. They have white breasts and pretty little puffin heads - black and white with their orange striped beaks. They are so fearless, if you are quiet and walk slowly, you can walk within 2 feet of them. I sat on the grass and one of them walked right up to me and checked me out before waddling away! It was so amazing. We stayed for about an hour...
From there, we went back into Bonavista and saw the last of the things we didn't see yesterday and then met Yvan and Carol for lunch. What great people...
After lunch, we headed down the peninsula to Trinity. What a GORGEOUS little town! It's another of the oldest towns in North America and the heritage side of the town is run sort of like Barkerville - they have interpreters and do tours although people still live in the houses and the heritage buildings are still used as shops, the post office etc. They also have a little summer theater there - The Rising Tide theater company. Lynn quickly found the Blacksmith and he and Wade hit it off immediately so I left him there and wandered around the town. Just lovely. We decided to stay the night so we bought tickets for the theater show that night which was an awesome Newfoundland review with skits, singing, some stand up comedy and a small play. Fabulous.
We got a campsite and the historical Trinity Cabins... they've been around for a long time (don't have a date with me) but Corine, the owner, said people in the 1950s used to catch the train there and carry their luggage with them down the road for 2 miles to get there to camp. It was a destination place to come! Corine and her husband Glen were so welcoming and open, it was instant friendship. In the office area, they have a sitting room like a living room and all her family were there visiting like they do most nights. We were invited to stay so after we set up camp we went back up and hung out.. Pam, one of the other campers, went and got her guitar and she sang for us and invited me to come and play spoons and sing and we all sat around until the wee hours playing music. SO FUN!
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