This was our final day trip on the island of Newfoundland. I had wanted to do this trip at the beginning of our travels here but we just did not get to doing it so we made sure we left enough time at the end of our trip here.
This was another very scenic route with the kind of landscape I have come to really like here in Newfoundland – ‘the rock gardens’. We visited several small villages along the way to Rose Blanche, our destination point and the end point of the southern highway leading east from Port Aux Basques. There are other communities along the south coast which one can visit by ferry which stops at several on its way east. But that trip will have to wait until we return to Newfoundland.
At Rose Blanche we visited a beautifully restored stone lighthouse, which is now the only remaining stone lighthouse in Atlantic Canada. The original lighthouse was made of rock cut from the shore stone around it. It functioned as a lighthouse from 1873 up to 1946 when the government installed an automated electric light and ceased to use this lighthouse. It deteriorated in the succeeding years as the surf spray from storms soaked the mortar with salt water, and the attached residential building largely crumbled to ruins leaving only the lighthouse tower standing. Then the local people in 1988 decided to push for its restoration to its original state. They completed the restoration in 1999. It now is a very important tourist attraction for the area. They also added various walking trails with interpretative signs along the way. It was all very nicely done and was a pleasant finish to the end of wonderful vacation on the island of Newfoundland.Pictures from today’s trip can be found here.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Day 50 & 51 – Bottlecove & Lark Harbour, Newfoundland
Day 50 (Snday August 17, 2008). Today we met up with a work colleague of Leo`s at her parents’ house in the town of Beachside. We got to see a true, Newfoundland Cape Cod house from the inside. It was a very nice home with a large kitchen with a beautiful and huge wood stove for heating, and cooking if needed.
We had a very nice and sociable chat with this family, exchanging information about where our trip had taken us and other spots we might consider in future. They were glad to hear our excitement about visiting their beautiful province. After our visit we had to move on again to our next campground to rest up for our trip the next day. Leo did not take any pictures this day as we had rain during most of it.
Day 51– Bottle Cove and Lark Harbour, Newfoundland.
Today we hoped to reach close to Port Aux Basques where we plan on staying a couple of nights before we sail back to the mainland. But first we took a side trip to the towns of Lark Harbour and Bottle Cove along the inlet from the sea known as Humber Arm.
Lark Harbour is ‘just’ west of Newfoundland`s second-biggest city, Corner Brook. At least that is what it seemed like as we had to follow a highway which seemed to weave through one long, continuous village with a new name for each new section. When this ended we began to see some separation in the villages. First we encountered the village of Frenchman’s Cove, where there were lots of dories on the beach all painted orange: a sight to see for sure. This is the first time we had seen this many dories in this colour and we of course we had to ask why. The answer was a very logical answer: so they can be seen on the water easily in case of emergency. On we drove then to Lark Harbour, the most beautiful spot in Newfoundland according to some local people here,
They sure did not lie about it being highly scenic, but I would not call it the most beautiful spot in Newfoundland. The town itself was a bit bland, but the mountainous scenery around the inlet was certainly impressive. Again we saw .orange dories here and there was also a three-masted hermaphroditic sailing ship moored here, with one mast square-rigged, and the others fore and aft rigged. She was called the ``Caledonia``. It was another feast for Leo to photograph.
We had coffee at a local teahouse, where one of the attractions was their deck on which one can sometimes view whales swimming in their inlet, and on which various bones of whales were to be viewed. Then we went on to our next stop: Bottle Cove. This village was only a few kilometres further up the road, where the road actually ended (we seem to take lots of roads in Newfoundland that come to a dead end).
After this little side trip we drove on to Codroy campground, our first campsite in Newfoundland and also our last one.Pictures of our day can be found here.
We had a very nice and sociable chat with this family, exchanging information about where our trip had taken us and other spots we might consider in future. They were glad to hear our excitement about visiting their beautiful province. After our visit we had to move on again to our next campground to rest up for our trip the next day. Leo did not take any pictures this day as we had rain during most of it.
Day 51– Bottle Cove and Lark Harbour, Newfoundland.
Today we hoped to reach close to Port Aux Basques where we plan on staying a couple of nights before we sail back to the mainland. But first we took a side trip to the towns of Lark Harbour and Bottle Cove along the inlet from the sea known as Humber Arm.
Lark Harbour is ‘just’ west of Newfoundland`s second-biggest city, Corner Brook. At least that is what it seemed like as we had to follow a highway which seemed to weave through one long, continuous village with a new name for each new section. When this ended we began to see some separation in the villages. First we encountered the village of Frenchman’s Cove, where there were lots of dories on the beach all painted orange: a sight to see for sure. This is the first time we had seen this many dories in this colour and we of course we had to ask why. The answer was a very logical answer: so they can be seen on the water easily in case of emergency. On we drove then to Lark Harbour, the most beautiful spot in Newfoundland according to some local people here,
They sure did not lie about it being highly scenic, but I would not call it the most beautiful spot in Newfoundland. The town itself was a bit bland, but the mountainous scenery around the inlet was certainly impressive. Again we saw .orange dories here and there was also a three-masted hermaphroditic sailing ship moored here, with one mast square-rigged, and the others fore and aft rigged. She was called the ``Caledonia``. It was another feast for Leo to photograph.
We had coffee at a local teahouse, where one of the attractions was their deck on which one can sometimes view whales swimming in their inlet, and on which various bones of whales were to be viewed. Then we went on to our next stop: Bottle Cove. This village was only a few kilometres further up the road, where the road actually ended (we seem to take lots of roads in Newfoundland that come to a dead end).
After this little side trip we drove on to Codroy campground, our first campsite in Newfoundland and also our last one.Pictures of our day can be found here.
Day 49 - (Saturday, August 16, 2008) – Salvage & Twillingate, Newfoundland
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.
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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