Our day started out with rain, again, as it had also rained heavily all night This was the first time we had to take the trailer down in heavy rain but after 7 weeks we are getting pretty fast in setting up and taking it down, so we did not get too wet. As the day went on the rain stopped, it started to clear up and we finally got some sunshine.
Our first stop was Salvage, a quaint little village, which when we first approached it seemed unremarkable to the point where we did not know why people had recommended visiting it, but as we got to the end of the village we understood why. We took a little hike up to a lookout platform and here we really got a nice view of the village, the rock outcrops on which it is built, and the surrounding area. With Leo’s pictures we hope to share the views of this village with you as well. Salvage is certainly worth another visit in the future but a longer one so we can walk the trails.
From here we went on to Twillingate. Twillingate is another small fishing village with lots of nice scenery by day and night. It is one of the most famous villages in Newfoundland. Here is where you might see lots of icebergs, but only earlier in the season than our visit, and also lots of whales. Well we were lucky enough to see our whales, this time it was a couple of humpbacks. They were swimming not far off shore beyond the lighthouse point, and a couple of whale-watching tour boats were slowly circling them to show the tourists on board at close quarters what magnificent creatures they are. Actually it may not have been luck at all that we saw them. For all we know they are frequently sighted in this location. We had a very nice stay in Twillingate and would have stayed longer but we were now limited in time as we had to catch a ferry off the island on Wednesday. You will recall that ferry bookings fill up a couple of days in advance, so if we had decided to stay one more day here then we likely could not have made it off the island for another 3 or 4 days. If the weather turned sour again we did not want to spend that much extra time here.
On this day we again passed through the town of Gambo, where there had been a major flood three weeks ago when we drove past on our way to St. John`s. There were more concerns about flooding today, given the heavy rains which fell last night. The town seemed safe this time, but water had accumulated on the uphill side of the TransCanada Highway, threatening to wash the road away because the culverts which normally allow water to pass below had been jammed shut by debris washed down by the deluge. Crews were busy pumping it out to the lower side of the hill where it could wash away harmlessly. Our car and every other vehicle had to pass over the hoses, which were only protected by 2x4 pieces of lumber on each side. Late that day we heard on the radio that the road had actually been closed because each vehicle which drove over the hoses closed them down for a bit of time, and this delayed the pumping. The highway actually subsequently stayed closed for almost a full day, and all traffic had to take a long detour using one of the scenic routes to the north. We were very glad on hearing that news that we had made it past this spot before the highway closure took effect.Enjoy the pictures from this day which can be found here.
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