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