Conception Bay to Old Perlican

We came here yesterday, choosing to drive across from Dildo on Trinity Bay to Conception Bay, getting to this bay at about harbour Grace.

(In this province, or at least this part of this province, what bay you come from matters a lot. Since life was mostly about fishing in the old days, and transport was by water, your neighbours were the people on the same bay as you. Getting across land to the next bay was not easy.)

Going by car was relatively easy, and involved crossing some more of the barrens. It was pretty flat, once we were up from Dildo. And until we got to the start of Harbour Grace. Conception Bay, I guess because it's closer to St. John's, is more "modern". The houses are more fixed up, the roads are bigger (even four lanes in places), and there are malls. When we got to Carbonear, there was a Walmart, a big shopping centre, lots of traffic. A big place compared to what we had seen over the past ten days.

We are staying at the Carbonear Hotel. This is also a place out of the 1970's. Not quite plastic on everything, but thin cotton sheets on sagging beds, small and noisy fridges. Apparently, we were lucky to have a place. Most of the time, it is full of folks who work for the Hydro Utility and are building capacity for the Muskrat Falls development. But they are away this week, so the rooms are available. The view is over the harbour and quite beautiful. The boardwalk goes from the centre of town, past our place, and out to the barrens.

And again, the people are generous and friendly. Darlene asked the resident of one of the other rooms where we could go for a coffee. This man—a man in his seventies who had the appearance of having seen a lot of poverty in his life—suggested he would bring down some fixings for us. And sure enough, a few minutes later, he appeared with some instant coffee, sugar, and Carnation milk (this is Newfoundland, after all). Very thoughtful, and a wonderful gesture.











We decided that yesterday would not be a bike day. We walked into town (about a kilometre), and had a pint at the Stone Jug, a pub in town (probably the only pub in town). Food was good, beer was good, ambiance was okay, music too loud. But, as usual, the people were great. My waitress saw I was reading a book by Austin Clarke, and asked if I knew some of the authors she knew in this area. We had a good quick conversation.

Walks and rests made up the rest of the day, and we finished with a beer down by the water.












We hoped to go biking the next day, and that's what we did. We had planned out a route which took us mostly up the coast, with of course lots of ups and downs. But wonderful scenery. The weather was a bit iffy, lots of wind, cloudy, and eventually rainy. So, after only 45 km, we capitulated to the rain and wind, and put the bikes in the van, drove up to Old Perlican at the tip of the peninsula, and then came back to Carbonear.









































This place reminds me of some of what I had seen in Cape Breton, but bigger and more of it. There are enough quaint villages to fill a large catalogue. There are fancy houses, old houses, abandoned houses, poor houses. Lots of cemeteries, many churches.

We stopped for a bit at a bakery along the road.














I asked the daughter of Nora (who was kneading dough in a dishpan to make her nine loaves), how she liked it here. She had had to go to Edmonton for work, but found it mind-numbing. She was glad to be back where (as she says) she can hear the whales and the stream from her front door. Don't know what there is for work for her, but she is clearly attached to this place—at an age of, I guess, 20 years old.

We had planned tonight to be going to a music festival. We checked on it, and when we went, it was raining a bit, there was a group performing, and all of three people in the audience. We felt sorry for the folks organizing and those performing, but we didn't want to be there, either. So we had a mall cafe dinner of fish and chips (good cod there as well), and came back to the hotel.

Tomorrow: we'll see, but it's looking like rain, so biking is unlikely. More likely, we'll drive into St. John's and drop my bike for the start of its trip home.

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Location:High Rd S, Carbonear, Newfoundland, Canada

Many pieces of luck

The last two days have been remarkable in so many ways. We were stopped at a place called "The Wilds", in the south of the Avalon. When we got up in the morning, it was raining. But that was fine: we had planned to drive a ways anyway. So we packed, got in the van, and headed north by a somewhat circuitous route (going west to catch Hwy 80 before going north to Dildo.

What we had not realized was that some of this road was gravel, and quite pitted. And the rain came hard, and long. By the time we got as far north as the TCH, I (the driver) felt we had to stop and let the rain slow down before we went on. But slow it did.

We had thought we would go up as far as Hearts Content, before stopping. But we decided to go through Dildo (which was just off the highway), and our luck began. We saw a couple of B&Bs, and decided to try one called "Inn By The Bay". And what a good choice that turned out to be. Run by a couple of women, they gave us a good deal on two rooms, and we settled in. Went off for a lunch at the local restaurant (the Dildo Dory), and then back to the B&B. By now it was starting to clear, and the evening was fresh and clear. Our B&B has a fine restaurant on site, but was closed that night, so we had a snack supper in the main room, watching the sun go down over the bay.












We slept wonderfully, and pretty long, given that we were in bed by nine.

I had a walk in the morning, down to the harbour and back, before breakfast. Checked my mail, read some, and had a great breakfast provided by the B&B. Then we were off on the bikes, for a ride up the coast.

A little ways up, I stopped at. Home Hardware to by a small tool for the bike. Bad choice: while I was there, my bike fell over, the contents of my front bag dumped into a puddle. Not too bad except for my iPhone, which got wet. I dried it off, but it was not going to work. Sigh! Definitely an "Oh, shit!" moment.

However, what are you going to do? So we went off again, along the road past Hopeall, Greens Harbour, Whiteway, to Cavendish, where we stopped to take a picture by the beach huts pictured on the front of the Newfoundland map and tourist brochure. Then on to Heart's Delight, and then Heart's Desire, where we met up with Darlene for a lunch by the dock. I placed my phone in the sun (it was now a clear sky) in the hopes that it would heat up enough to dry out. No luck: it was dead.






The scenery, as above, was spectacular. And the riding was not too bad: some up and downs, but pretty straight-forward.

But we have learned here not to trust the weather to be consistent. By early afternoon, it had clouded over and was spitting rain. We were in Heart's Content, so stopped for a coffee and some carrot cake in the local restaurant, served by a rather unhappy waitress to match the mood of the sky. And we decided we would push on to Winterton, with Darlene's help and encouragement.

Winterton had a Wooden Boat Museum, which we decided to go and see, and we were glad to have done this. A fascinating trip through the intricacies of boat-building, and boat evolution over the years. They had some wonderful t-shirts, but unfortunately none in our size. We had biked almost sixty kilometres, and that was enough.

So back to the B&B by van, arriving by early evening. Time for a shower, a bit of wine, and then supper here.





But there was the "Miracle of the iPhone". I thought I would check again to make sure the phone was really dead, and I got it to light up. Kind of a bizarre pattern on the screen, but there was life. I plugged it in, let it charge a bit, and it seemed to be okay. Glory be to Cod!

And supper was not too bad, either.

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Location:Front Rd,Dildo, Newfoundland,Canada

Over and up

Today was to go from Trepassey to St. Mary's. This meant traversing a peninsula, which of course means going up hills. We were told that it might be a long hill, and it was. But not as bad as those we had met the first two days. And it was foggy, although the fog lifted quite a bit by the time we got going. The photo is looking back at Trepassey as we left.






You get an idea of the amount of climbing. Again, once we were up, we were in the 'barrens", and this time it was really barren: no trees, nothing but scrub, moss, and wild flowers. And one little house stuck out there with, incongruously, a locked fence at the entrance to his drive.


















This trip across the barrens went on for about twenty kilometres. There was wind and there was fog. Temperatures were moderate, so it wasn't too bad. And traffic was very light.

Then a lovely long, curving descent into Peter's River, St. Stephens and St. Vincent (The three communities are all within a few kilometres of each other). Here we stopped, and Darlene came back with an excellent lunch, which we ate on the tailgate.


After that, we were off again for another 20 Km to Glaskiers, then St. Mary's, and finally to Riverhead. (Here, we found that the local saint was St. John the Worker, who was the patron saint of, among other things, the cemetery.)

At that point, we had covered about sixty kms altogether, and I was ready to quit. Barry agreed, so the bikes went into the van, and we drove to a hotel/camping area/golf course called "The Wilds", where we are now. Tomorrow will be a driving day, going up to Heart's Content (don't you love the names?).

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Location:St. Mary's, Newfoundland, Canada

Time in the Barrens

Getting here was not half the fun. The trip out of Ferryland was a lot of up and down, going from Ferryland to Fermeuse, to Renews, to Cappahayden. (You know you're in an interesting place when the spell-checker underlines the names of all these towns.)

Our place in Ferryland was run by a couple that do some singing for charities, and so on. They had agreed to sing a few songs for us after our breakfast, and we were delighted to be on the receiving end of those. Charlie plays the button accordion and Maxine plays a guitar. Maxine sings.

Then off on the bikes, of course going uphill from the start. Some downs, some ups. But after Cappahayden, we were up on "the Barrens" (pronounced Bah-runs, in Newfoundland). And barren it was. The picture doesn't really show it too well, but there was a lot of land that looked like the great north. Short of trees, and trees that were very short. Scrub bush and lots of wildflowers. It was both stark and beautiful.












After about 45 kilometres of this, I was bushed. And by then, Darlene had thankfully come along with some lunch for us. I decided to do the final 16 km or so in the van, but Barry pushed on, even doing the steep hill coming into Trepassey (the call it Coarse Hill Road—I like that). And we are staying at the one and only inn in town. The Trepassey Inn is out of the seventies. It has wonderful friendly and helpful staff, but the facilities need some refreshing. To its credit, it was clean and pleasant, and the area was quiet and dark for sleeping.

(Trepassey was on its way to becoming a major town back about 20 years ago. The fish were plentiful, a factory was being built, there was a commercial centre that was as big as any on the South Shore. The schools were full. But then the cod fishery collapsed. The enrolment in the school went from 800 to 24! Businesses closed. Lots of people moved out. The town now looks like something, as Darlene says, between Cornwall and Sudbury.)

A fine supper, followed by a fine sleep.

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Location:Highway 10,Trepassey,Canada

Puffin and Huffin'

We were in Witless Bay. And that is the area of a nature reserve, specially for the Puffin. One of the dangers, apparently, of being a puffin, is that the fledglings, when they learn to fly, see the lights of the town and think that they are the moon, so fly towards them. Local people volunteer to capture them and release them from the much-more-dangerous terrain around where we were staying, and releasing them into the waters of the Bay, where they learn to swim, dive, and escape many of the dangers of their early life. This has been going on for many years. And, thanks to Peter (our host) we got to see it today.

He came and knocked on our door, said there was a release going on this morning just down the road, so of course we went (or at least Barry and I went). The young puffins do not have the multi-coloured beaks of their adults, or the sad eyes, but they are still cute and are a fair size. There were about ten of them, captured the previous night. We were told that the waves were high and the kelp was in to shore, so they might not do the release from here, but instead take them out on a boat and release them from there.


















After that, we were on our way. Little did we know that one of the hardest places to get out of—on a bike—was Witless Bay. A long and hard climb out of the bay onto the flatlands got me warm, and already tired. But then there was a longish area of gentle hills and valleys, and the next many kms went fast. Before hitting other bigger hills.

We had agreed to stop in Tors Cove, where our friend Dave Paddon recommended a friend at Running the Goat Press. So we did that (down a steep road from the highway), spent some really nice time with the folks at the press (and bought one of Dave's books), had some food and set off again.

Land was pretty good to us until we hit Admiral's Cove and the town of Cape Broyle. From here, there was a long, tough slog up a hill to the town of Calvert. I had to stop part-way up and rest, before completing it.

Fortunately, from here, it was almost all downhill into our stay for the night, Ferryland. Darlene and I had been here four years ago, and had visited the digs around the Colony of Avalon, dating back to 1610! The place where we are is owned and operated by the woman who runs the museum, so her take on history is much appreciated. We had a lovely chat with Maxine and her husband Charlie (or Darlene did, while I had a sleep to recover from my ride, and Barry went for a walk about 3 km out to the light house). They also sing (this is Newfoundland, after all), so we might get some music with our breakfast tomorrow.

















But back to tonight. We went out, back to Cape Broyle and the Riverside Restaurant, for a pan-fried cod dinner that couldn't be beat. And some fish and chips, also with cod, that was spectacular.

On the way home, we had a quintessential Newfie experience. We had been warned to watch for moose, and sure enough, a mother and calf walked right out in front of the van. Fortunately, the van brakes were good, and there were no calamities on either side. But it took a while for our hearts to slow down.

Now home and to bed. Tomorrow we try for Trepassey, but probably we will not bike the entire 74 kilometres.

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Location:Highway 10,Ferryland,Canada

At Wit's End

I stole the name of this post from the cafe up the street in the little town of Witless Bay, which is situated on its eponymous bay. We are in a B&B at the seaside, a few kilometres outside of the "centre" of town. And today was our first bicycle day, getting here by bike from St. John's.

Yesterday was actually the day I should start with: it was a very good and lucky day. I have had concerns about how to get my bike back to Ontario. I assumed that any bike shop could pack it in a box, and I would get it onto the plane and home. Turns out to be more complicated. Stores here are running out of bike boxes, being the end of the season. And they ask for a few days to do the work. And they don't open until a very relaxed 10 or 11 o"clock (—"ish", as they say). And they are open even shorter hours on Sundays. So I had thought, what if I could leave it with them, they packed and shipped it to me. I would be without it for a week or so, but then would be okay. I went into the shop when they opened, and they said "of course", no problem. And it is even cheaper than I had feared, so I can drop it off the morning of my flight, and they will look after it for me.

Then we went to a shop to look for a t-shirt, and we were lucky in finding that without too much trouble. And then we went out to rent the van. After going through the motions, we had our massive "mini"van, went back into town, shopped and even found a parking place on the main drag outside our hotel.











Early supper in our room, some packing, and early to bed.

This morning, we were up and getting our things out to the van. Then a final breakfast at the Rocket Cafe (for me, a breakfast croissant followed by a pain au chocolat). Then we drove out towards the edge of town, Barry and I got our bikes out of the van and put on our bike shoes, and we were off. Darlene had her first experience of driving the van, and followed us. This was a shake-down for us. The trip itself to here was only about 30 km, with some serious hills, but otherwise uneventful. And we got to the B&B by about noon (Darlene of course got there before us). Hosts were Peter and Mary. Peter took a liking to DArlene and talked with her for quite a while before we got there. He is a sculptor and worker in clay. He had several statues in the wooded area around the house, which he called his fairies. And a garden which he was proud of. A lovely place, looking out over the bay, with the fresh air coming in the windows, along with the sounds of the sea breaking on a pebbly beach.





And, I understand, there are puffins around here, although I haven't yet seen one.

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Location:Bears Cove Rd,Witless Bay,Canada

A good first day

The day broke early for us: about 6:00 local time. And the sun rose through the window of our room quite a lovely sight out through the mouth of the harbour. Made contact with Barry, and we went out for a coffee. It is cooler and fresher here than at home, the air is lovely. And St. John's is as pretty and charming as I remember. Coffee was a long affair, catching up between Barry and I, as we looked over the downtown and onto the harbour.

Barry and I walked along Water Street (the oldest street in North America), looking in windows, visiting a few shops, and then went home to put our respective bikes together. Then back downtown to get the tires inflated, and see what would be involved in getting my bike back home at the end of this trip. Turns out to be a bit more complicated than I had thought, so some re-thinking will take place, and re-planning.

Eventually we got some lunch as well at a pub called the Yellow Belly Brewery(one Darlene and I had been to on a previous trip) and ate outdoors, enjoying the fresh air until a city truck came along to suck out the sewers.






Fortunately, we had also found another cycle shop near this place, one which was much better with us at finding solutions to our needs. I will talk with them this morning about how to get my bike home after the trip.

Darlene wanted to go back to the Inn for a bath and a read, so Barry and I set out to walk up to Signal Hill: a walk which is all uphill, and not mildly so. But the view was amazing.







Needless to say, the walk down was easier than the walk up. We came down through a part of the City called The Battery, and into a downtown park facing onto the Port, before going home. (Those are statues of the Newfoundland dog and the Labrador dog that the children are on.)



Supper was very local, and very good. Cod Tongues, cod fillet, fish soup, mussels. And local beer. Darlene went out for some music after that, and she tells me had a wonderful time listening to fiddles and singing.



I was asleep quite quickly, waking with the sun again this morning.
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Location:Duckworth St,St. John's,Canada

A Rocky Start

Well, we had decided to do a bike trip in Newfoundland. Barry was coming from the far other side of the country, and we would meet in St. John's, bike down the Avalon Peninsula and around, coming back up to Carbonear on Trinity Bay, then back to St. John's. Now, how to do it.

Darlene and I were ready to go. Turns out that some construction work at the house (new windows) had to happen on the day we were leaving, so there was a bit of extra disruption there to begin with. But we know the guys doing the work, and it was also kind of exciting. So we were all set, bags packed and bike in a box for the trip. Cab was called.

Omar, the man we have used in the past, arrived a few minutes late (no big problem: we had planned a good cushion of time), and we got the stuff in the van and ready to go. As we drove off, the van produced this "thump-thump-thump" with every bump, coming from the rear wheel well. Doesn't sound good. We stopped and looked, couldn't see anything wrong, and continued on. But the sound continued, and we stopped again. (Thoughts of a wheel coming off while we were driving on the highway did not appeal.) Again, nothing to find, so we went gingerly on to the Hamilton Airport, via the slower back roads for safety, and made it okay.

Then at the airport, we had to check in the bike. They (not surprisingly, needed me to open the box, so they could check the contents. When I did, I discovered that the bike shop, whom I had paid to pack it up for me, had neglected to deflate the tires as they needed to do! So more fiddling, re-taping, swearing, and so on.

It was a relief to get onto the plane. We had the exit aisle seat, so had some more leg room, and also a full row for the two of us. A very pleasant flight. And even the holdover in Halifax had a certain pleasant feel about it.

Getting into St. John's was easy, bags arrived quickly, and we got into the van for the ride into town. Our driver was what I had hoped: a Newf character who regaled us along the way in, with stories of his family and the city. We knew we had arrived on the East Coast, my son!

Everything was quiet at the Inn, Barry had arrived and gone to bed, and we got some help from a fellow guest in hauling our bags up the three flights of stairs to our room. Soon to bed and soon to sleep.


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Location:Duckworth St,St. John's,Canada