Travels with haRVy

Much less wind and drier conditions arrived with the dawn so we headed out after doing some laundry and other necessities. The skies got bluer and clearer as we moved south so we decided to take another diversion out to Cape Anguille, which is just north and west of or ultimate destination. This drive took us through the beautiful Codroy Valley with rolling hills surrounding another huge bay. We stopped for lunch along the shore and Al proclaimed, “I have never seen water more royal blue.” It was pretty.

Roadside curiosity. Think this guy has too much time on his hands during the long winters here?

We returned to Highway 1 bound for Port aux Basque, which we took a quick tour of. Since it was less than inspiring we headed further along the coast on Route 470 to the smaller coastal town of Margaree where we parked next to a church with stunning views nearly all around us. The ocean was on one side and expansive fields and distant mountains on the other.

Cloudy to sunny and warm. 146 miles

We watched a couple of small planes take off this morning before getting out of bed since we were pretty much alongside the runway.

After reluctantly making our ferry reservations (more on this later) from MacDonald’s WiFi, we made our way out Cape St. George. This will be our last (of many) peninsula tours here in Newfoundland. The scenery here is endless. This drive provided more beautiful coastal views with sheer cliffs, coves, beaches, islands, causeways and more.

This area is one of the last French strongholds in Newfoundland and at the very point we came upon a ceremonial brick bread oven, but nobody was about to bake for us. What we did find of interest though was a beautiful monument explaining the 18th century deportation and migration of the Acadian people from what is now Nova Scotia to Newfoundland, Louisiana and other locales around the world.

This peninsula is a bit unique in that it provided a loop return rather than the usual need to return directly on the same road. After the tip the road rose higher to a barren moon-like landscape before descending once again to the sea. The vast expanses here continue to amaze us. I can’t even imagine how many thousands of times the word “wow” has been uttered by me or Al over the past 5 weeks.

Our afternoon concluded at Barachois Pond Provincial Park. This beautiful campground winds along the shores of a large pond below majestic peaks. Only about a dozen of the 150 sites seem to be occupied, so it is extremely quiet. We took a bit of a hike, but with rain threatening we decided to hang out at camp enjoying the tranquility.

We are keeping an eye on the weather forecast as there is a notoriously windy pass we have to drive to get down to where the ferry departs in Port aux Basque. Today it blew up to 120 kph there. Similar conditions caused this afternoon’s ferry crossing to be cancelled. It looks like the wind will shift tomorrow afternoon, so we may head out then or wait until Saturday morning. We are also a bit concerned about the remnants of Hurricane Leslie, which could affect this area by Tuesday. Keeping our fingers crossed that Sunday will provide the weather window we anticipate.

Mostly cloudy and windy. Cool to warm. 109 miles

Can you find haRVy in this photo?

Drove haRVy down to the campground beach to have breakfast by the shore. Just one other couple here this morning so it is very quiet, as it was last night too. The season has apparently come to an abrupt halt now that Labour Day is behind us. No more screaming kids in the campgrounds…hurray!

After breakfast we climbed the “Governor’s Staircase,” which begins below the level of high tide. Luckily the tide was low this morning so we were able to reach the bottom stair without getting wet. The first few flights (of MANY) are built under overhanging rock, so it almost feels as if you are ascending inside a cave. After a total of over 450 steps we were treated to another beautiful panoramic view of land and seascape.

The number of hiking trails all across this province is amazing. Every single village seems to have a few. The amount of work that has gone into building the boardwalks and staircases is truly remarkable. We suspect that they could be part of a government support make-work program, but that has not yet been officially confirmed. Whatever the case, we are grateful to take advantage of their substantial efforts and happy to be able enough to enjoy them.

We drove back off this side of Humber Arm to do a major grocery shop in Corner Brook, the only sizable city in the west. What a pleasure it was to see a substantial produce department again! We then headed south for a little over an hour and parked ourselves in Stephensville in a quiet area between the beach and a small airport. Even though the sky was mostly cloudy, we were treated to a very nice, long sunset after dinner.

Mostly sunny and warm. 86 miles

View from the breakfast table and some neighborhood shots below.

Today we drove back off the northern side of Humber Arm and out the southern side to Lark Harbour, Little Port, Bottle Cove and Blow Me Down Provincial Park. I had not read anything about this area so we did not know what to expect. The surprise was a true pleasure as we were once again rewarded at the end of the road with incredible natural beauty. We hiked at bottle Cove to Captain Cook’s “Trails End,” which we do not yet know the significance of.

We enjoyed yet another outstanding afternoon with sunny skies, warm temperatures and sparkling seas. We can’t believe the luck we’ve had with the weather so far and apparently, either can the locals who continue to remark that this is the best summer ever. We are grateful to be here now.

Sunny and warm. 63 miles

We reluctantly said our last goodbyes to Gros Morne National Park as another beautiful sunny morning developed. We decided that the park is a cross between the Adirondacks and Yosemite.

We left the campground via the longest, bumpiest gravel road we’ve encountered…ugh.

Drove south a bit on Highway 1 and then turned west to embark on a new “end of the road” adventure. The views were grand with craggy hills, long lakes, serene rivers, and big bays abundant.

Ate lunch dockside at Cox’s Cove on the Bay of Islands where the traffic was disappointingly busy. It seemed that the locals had nothing better to do on this holiday than to cruise Main Street in their pick-up trucks. We even saw one towing a boat down the street on wooden runners…strange!

Our lunch time view

On our way out we spied a nice spot near a launch ramp and decided to stop there and call it a day at 3 o’clock. It was nice to stop driving early enough to leisurely enjoy the afternoon and evening. While we were hanging out we met Colette, an ex-patriot from North Carolina who moved to Canada in the 70’s and now owns a rental property next door to where we parked as well as an organic farm and art gallery/studio. We had quite a nice visit chatting about this and that.

After dinner we enjoyed another sunset, this one was over Humber Arm.

Mostly sunny and cool to warm. 90 miles

The beach at Shallow Bay was glorious this morning. The sea was brilliant and calm with clear blue skies above. I walked south on the sand about a mile and then came back via what used to be the path on which they carried the mail to remote outports via horse drawn sleds and carriages. Unbelievably, roads did not connect these tiny villages until the mid-60’s and even then they were just hard packed gravel. Nearly fifty years later, some are not much improved.

Above photos are from the fishing exhibit at Broom Point where three brothers fished every summer from 1941 to 1975.

As we proceeded further south in Gros Morne National Park, we hit some of the highlights we missed on our way north last week because of rain. These included the fishing exhibit at Broom Point, the lighthouse at Lobster Cove Head, and Southeast Brook Falls. We also had lunch again at the Sunset Café in Rocky Harbour.

We are at the Lomond Campground on Bonne Bay for our last night in this incredibly majestic park, which we will be sad to leave.

Gloriously sunny, very cool morning, warm afternoon. 71 miles