Fogo, Twillingate, Mortons Harbour....well Twillingate at least

Sitting here in the window seat of our B&B in Durrell, Twillingate as Michael edits todays photos. Another day of spectacular views mixed with fog and rain. But now that we are further south and east again, it is back to warmer at least – no more need for mittens – we even have the fan running to cool the room down.

Last evening we watched another movie in our room as there was not much happening in Springdale – it was not a very pretty town – the first non-picturesque town we have been to I’d say. We stopped by the salmon run river – but despite a few fishers out, there was no sign of any fish. The wildlife staff work out of the station as they have for close to 100 years – but I’m not sure there are many salmon left to protect. We also drove into town to check out the waterfront trail where the bird sanctuary was. It was a flat boardwalk tour with lots of bugs and the tide was out – so we gave it a bye as the weather was rainy.

This morning we had an entertaining breakfast as our hostess played her ‘Joey Smallwood’ dancing man on her knee to her local songs. The highlight of Springdale. Her home was ripe with Newfoundland tartan and her two children’s books that she has published. We headed out early – so early that I managed to leave my brand new Gros Morne jacket on my breakfast chair. I’m hoping it can catch up with us in St. John’s – or that it can be mailed back home to me in Barrie. I did phone from our gas fill spot to arrange – also cancelled our reservation of the 21st as we have decided to try to stay near the puffins that night instead – we’ve missed the icebergs so I have to make sure I at least see the puffins! We managed to book a place later in the day from the tourist info site – so that seems to be sorted out at least.

Our drive was fairly long again today – about 3 ½ hours- but it was relaxed. We passed a couple more moose – so now up to about 8 or so – these were the closest I think. Unfortunately while they are close near the highway, they are generally moving fairly quickly to get out of the way, so photo ops are not great.

En route to our overnight we passed many scenic vistas and made a stop at the lobster pool. It was a large barn type structure with about 2 feet of water and the whole thing was full of lobsters. The local b’y who runs it buys them from the local fishers and keeps them alive by feeding them all summer till they run out. Lobster season closed a couple of weeks ago, and this supply will keep him going till August some time. We saw one that was huge – weighed in at 6.2 pounds! The 2 we bought were cooked and 2.2 lbs each. Quite a steal at $14 per. We had them for late lunch here at the Whitsha Inn with some wine / beer – quite decadent and very very good lobster.

Once checked in we walked over to the 2 local sites – the Durrell museum where we saw a stuffed polar bear – a small one at “only” 480lbs – they get up to a ton. Still would not want to run into it! Lots of local paraphernalia from woodworking and such – but this time for the fishing industry rather than the farming implements we are more used to seeing.

Then we were off to the local Auk Winery. They make lots of berry wines on the island – and Auk had quite a selection. Many are available in Nfld liquor stores, but several were only available from the winery direct. We had a tour – quite interesting as it is run out of an old school and the gymnasium is now the wine making room. We ended up ordering a case for shipping home to Barrie (free shipping by the case) for gifts, of the blueberry iceberg wine. Iceberg wine is made from the water from icebergs – filtered that is!

Then “home” for a Jacuzzi tub (all that sitting in cars is hard on the back), short nap and then out to the very tip of Twillingate to Long Point. It was well worth the drive as the views were amazing. We actually arrived to a bride and groom at the viewpoint and expected their wedding party to arrive for photos. But it turned out they were merely escaping the chaos of their day and were alone getting away from the party. They headed back soon – unfortunately Mike missed taking their photo for them as it would have been nice to send it to them I think.

The sky was very interesting as there were small patches of clear sky in the north distance and thin strips to the west – but there were also vast bands where you could see the rain and fog. And all above a landscape of cliffs, breaking waves, islands and lush green mosses.

We waited a while to see if the setting sun would provide more dramatic skies as they had the night before, but eventually decided to head off for dinner. But further down the hill, we found another short trail where the views were also spectacular. So we stopped there too for Michael to make more shots.

Then off to dinner at R&J’s as recommended by the tourist info – we unfortunately were not able to get tickets to the ‘All Around the Circle’ show which came highly recommended by many folk. We substituted our chips for salad at least tonight so that we feel like we are getting at least a little bit of veg!

After dinner, Mike went for a walk around the neighbourhood and took a few shots of the local scenery. At that point the locals were unaware of the tragedy which was about to unfold later that night.

And now back it’s almost 10:30 and I don’t have internet for the second night – so just recording for later posting. Hoping the boys got to the cottage okay and managed to get the place opened and running. So another day done.