Posted by: sunnyharvy | August 5, 2012

A weekend of folk music

It took us a while to get our bearings in this “big city” after so much simpler country living, but we eventually found our way around to the places and things we needed. We haven’t fallen in love with St. John’s during our stay, but the 36th Annual Newfoundland and Folk Festival surpassed all expectations.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Arts Society (NLFAS) is a charitable organization whose mandate is the promotion and preservation of the traditional folk arts of the province. They produce a weekly folk night here in St. John’s and many youth and holiday programs, in addition to this annual 3-day extravaganza. It may not draw the crowds or the international talent that Newport does, but it delivers plenty of fabulous music and a great time. We spent two whole days and three evenings enjoying entertainment on the main stage, workshops in the tents, and dancing on the grass. An extra unexpected bonus was learning about Newfoundland history and culture from the words of the local songwriters. That will definitely enhance the rest of our tour here, I’m sure.

We had hoped to bike to the event venue each day, but the city streets are not conducive (hills and traffic), so we decided to drive haRVy in each day. The park had no parking available, so we were concerned about this, but did not see another alternative. We managed to get there early each day to find the same shady parking spot right across from the main entrance waiting for us. We came back to haRVy for most meals, jackets, and other comforts as our needs dictated which proved extremely convenient. I doubt we would have stayed there from 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday otherwise.

Most all of the musicians delivered high-quality entertainment with a broad variety of offerings from Newfoundland and other Canadian provinces, Ireland, Scotland, England and France, as well as Louisiana, Jamaica and Greece! I probably even missed a few, but that’s what I recall. Nearly all were from Canada, most from Newfoundland and one from Ireland. Americans were few and far between, if there were any. Our favorite performers, for those of you curious to learn (hear) more online were Qristina and Quinn Bachand, Amelia Curran, Jim Payne, Andrew James O’Brien, and Vishten.

Not bad for an urban campsite, right?

Friday: cloudy and warm with light rain. 9 miles
Saturday: sunny & hot with a life-saving light breeze. 3 miles
Sunday: sunny & cool. 3 miles

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Posted by: sunnyharvy | August 2, 2012

Welcome to “The Rock”

We disembarked the ferry onto Newfoundland soil at 10:15 local time…a half hour later than Atlantic Time.

We didn’t need to be in St. John’s until dinner time, so we took the very long way around the Avalon Peninsula “Shore Road” to visit Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve at the southern tip. A sign stating, “Narrow Road 13 km” greeted us at the turnoff from the “highway.” Towards the end of that drive the fog got so thick that we couldn’t see the interpretive center just a couple hundred feet from the parking lot. We donned our rain gear for the one mile hike along the cliffs to “bird rock” where all our efforts were richly rewarded.

Literally thousands of nesting shorebirds including Northern Gannets, Murres, Kittiwakes, Razorbills, and Guillemots reside on the rock, plus nearby ledges, outcrops, overhangs and plateaus. We were able to proceed to within 50 feet of some of the colonies. It was quite spectacular (and noisy!).

I suspect that this little excursion, which included windy, bumpy, up and down roads across vast expanses of land, will prove to be a good sampling of what’s to come here on “The Rock.” It took us nearly 5 hours to cover a distance of just 152 miles!

Cloudy, misty, and foggy, cool to warm. 152 miles

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Posted by: sunnyharvy | August 1, 2012

Ferry Crossing to Newfoundland

We finally got to a really good Farmers Market in Baddeck this morning, so we purchased some great fresh veggies, artisan bread and condiments.

This ferry is slightly larger than those we previously boarded, to say the least!

Ferry boarding began at 5:15 p.m. for our 6:30 departure. We packed up our overnight bags and computers and headed up to our cabin. The “Atlantic Vision” is actually much nicer than we expected. Our cabin was reasonably comfortable with twin beds, a large window, full private bath, cable TV and WiFi. The seas were very calm so the 16-hour crossing was smooth. The only bummer was that the thick cloud cover obscured the sunset, a full moon, and the sunrise. We had quite a nice dinner onboard as well as a surprisingly good night’s sleep.

Atlantic Marine is marketing this overnight crossing as a sort of mini-cruise and they are doing a pretty good job of making it feel that way. It’s an expensive ride, but at least we enjoyed the experience and it got us close to St. John’s where we wanted to begin our tour of Newfoundland.

Cloudy, some rain, warm. 49 miles + ferry ride

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Posted by: sunnyharvy | July 31, 2012

Kicking back in Baddeck, Nova Scotia

Today we rode bikes around the area, kicked back at our campsite, grilled some local grass fed beef steaks and generally enjoyed not needing to cover any mileage.

Tonight we attended a Ceilidh in Baddeck for some traditional Gaelic fiddle music performed by locals.

Baddeck Parish Hall where we heard some great local fiddle music.

This is not the most desirable campground we’ve camped in, as all three in this area are too close to the highway, but we are spending two nights here before heading for North Sydney to board the ferry to Newfoundland.

Sunny & Hot. 15 miles

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Posted by: sunnyharvy | July 30, 2012

Moving on to Cape Breton

Went to an exercise class at the community center with Melanie this morning where I met an interesting bunch of the local ladies. The workout was pretty good too.

While we had good internet access we did some online work and researched camping options at our next projected stop in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. Baddeck is a lovely little town we visited a few years ago when we did a quick tour in my VW bug.

As we said our fond farewells, Melanie presented me with a jar of cherry jam she had just made from her own fruit. Yesterday Bev gave me a huge bunch of Swiss chard from her garden, which was great because there were no greens available at the farmers market.

This has been a fun stop with much more personal interaction than usual. Nice people living in a pretty place.

We looked for a picnic spot along our route and went a bit off the road to Brule Point where we witnessed an interesting phenomenon across the strait. The horizon actually seemed to drop off the edge of the earth with the puffy white clouds reflecting on the glassy surface. It was quite extraordinary. Photographs don’t really capture it, but we took dozens of shots to try anyway.

We made it to our campground destination around 6:30 and settled in for the evening.

Gloriously sunny with mid 70 temps. 207 miles

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Posted by: sunnyharvy | July 29, 2012

Pugwash Harbourfest and more

We began our first full day in Nova Scotia with no plans, but it didn’t take long to fill it up with activity. Melanie informed us that a nearby town was hosting the annual Pugwash HarbourFest 2012 featuring Tall Ships (2), Theodore Tugboat (wicked cute), canoe jousting, soap box derby racing, helicopter rides, boat races, live musical entertainment and much more. We got there fairly early to buy some veggies at the Farmers Market. It’s a good thing we did because by noontime the little village was quickly filling up with cars looking for parking spaces. We walked around enjoying the festivities and consumed a delightful lunch at the local café.

While in Pugwash we also toured the Thinkers’ Lodge, a national historic site not often open to the public. From the brochure: “For more than half a century Thinkers’ Lodge has been a gathering place for serious thinkers with ambitious goals…renowned for engaging great minds of many nations in the exchange of ideas.” In 1957 a groundbreaking meeting of 20 scientists from around the world with no political was instrumental in the formation of an international movement for nuclear disarmament and world peace. We were fascinated to learn about Cyrus Eaton who established the Thinkers’ Lodge and the meetings that occurred (and continue) here. If you would like to know more about the Pugwash conferences or the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, which shone a global spotlight on the deadly consequences of war in the nuclear age, visit http://www.thinkerslodge.com.

Just as we arrived back at the farm, Charlie was rushing off to help friends with a boat rigging problem. Al jumped in the truck with him and an unexpected adventure ensued. I wasn’t there so I can’t tell the entire story, but apparently they took down and re-hoisted the mast unnecessarily. Luckily there were five of them to do it. When Melanie and I arrived about an hour later, Al was standing in ankle deep mud directing the tightening of the rig. The good news is that a lively happy hour followed with lots of jovial story telling about the joys and sorrows of sailboat ownership. Our hosts, Bev and Jean, sailed many of the same areas we have aboard their Beneteau 38. Now we all own RVs!

It is extremely unlikely that any of the above described experiences would have occurred if we had not looked up our Escapee hosts and stayed here. There is really nothing like staying with convivial locals. We are grateful for all the sources now available to find such folks. And, of course, for people like Melanie and Charlie who welcome us.

Smallest Lighthouse in Nova Scotia at 1.5 feet?

Cool to warm, mostly cloudy. 32 miles

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