Fog Bound Again

Other than one day of sunlight, we are certainly seeing our share of fog and rain. But it's warm, so at least it's not in your bones.

Back to Tuesday night - we caught the Neddy Norris show in Cow Head. It was not quite what we expected - but better. 1 young guy from Toronto and 3 young women - all locals; 1 from Cow Head, another from mainland western Labrador and the 3rd from a very small town - Kippens (the south west of NFLD). They treated us to a variety of songs, ballads and verse even an original by one of the troup. I'll add a few of the titles from the list when I have it handy.

Next morning we did a hike at the local Cow Head Lighthouse trail before our drive. It was a very pretty walk - we saw rabbits and fox - with lots of views. The lighthouse itself was a metal structure and surprisingly low for a landmark - but since it was up the hill I guess it was visible from sea. We followed the trail down to the waterside (there was actually a campsite down the trail) where the water front was very interesting. The rocks are metamorphic with lots of pools and the cliffs to the edge are full of moss and small wind dwarfed flowers and trees with waterfalls trickling down the faces. Very beautiful and peaceful. The iris' were especially unique in dwarf form.





On the way out, we encountered a black fox who was very accustomed to humans. The locals are apparently concerned by it's lack of fear, but the couple living at the site were certain it is very safe. It hangs around all the time - digging and burying gloves and such in her garden. It's just very used to people.

Next our drive up the coast to the point with great hopes of seeing icebergs. We drove through intermittent rain, some fog and overall clouds into St. Anthony's. At a stop for late lunch in Tim Horton's, we heard that there was an iceberg visible from the end of the road. So we drove out to catch a sighting. It may be the only one we see - a small one from a distance - as the local news sounds like sightings are slim to none. But Michael didn't even take a photo as it was so far out and we still had hopes that we would see more - but alas that appears to be it.



After checking into our B&B at Viking Nest, we took the local trail up the hill outside Hay Cove. Since it was lightly raining, Mike decided to leave his camera behind - which was a mistake as the views from the top of the fog rolling into the bays was spectacular.
No moose - but signs again. No coyotes - again signs though. Mike tried to scramble back to get his camera - so he did end up getting a few shots but they were much more fog bound than our original views unfortunately.

We were going to take a picnic for dinner - but the rain got heavier so we ate in our room with a nice bottle of wine and watched movies on Michael's laptop. Great to have your own travelling entertainment!

It's a lovely little fishing village - and according to Thelma (our hostess) her husband as one of the fishermen is really struggling. He was offered $.30 a pound for cod - just outlandish giving the sale price. And they don't know what they will get till the last minute. And getting a buyer is tough. Something just isn't right with this picture.

And now we are off to L'Anse aux Meadows to check out the viking village. Not sure if we'll try the iceberg trip today - doesn't sound promising....maybe the early boat tomorrow when the weather is supposed to be a bit better?

Trippin Tuesday in Gros Morne

Well we've more than made up for lost hiking time today! Awoke to a blue sky at 7am which unfortunately quickly clouded over before we could get on the trail. But the clouds made way to sun by mid day and now at 4:15 at room in Cow Head I am actually sunburnt.

First off - we had a very nice dinner last evening. started with a sampler of cheeses from Quebec - very nice. Michael had the Prime Rib steak and I had rack of lamb - a whole rack of lamb. It was very good - but both Mike and I have left overs for snacking on today!

After a quick breakfast at 8am, we first headed to the Gros Morne mountain trail. It's graded difficult - but that is mostly for the top section where you climb up the last 400m almost straight up the scree through a valley. Given our timing for the day, we skipped the long trail and just went to the base point where the views were quite impressive. The mountains here are very different - they are all flat top due to glaciation. The geology of the area is very unique altough we have not done any great learnings on the topic, they are very old mountain formations / rocks which are now exposed. the signs of glaciation are clear - between the fjords and the rocks clearly deposited out of place by retreating glaciers - with the odd mega boulder sitting completely out of context on a flat plain.

After that hike, we travelled up the coast past Green Point. We were going to do a trail, but missed the entrance so just went to the end of the trail where we found Green Point - a small fishing outpost with an amazing geological find at the end of the 'town'. Green Point consists of exposed sedimentary layers dating back through many geological eras. The point is used as the benchmark for distinction between Cambrian and Ordovician periods as of 2000. The shales represent 30 million years of history of the ocean floor. Quite an interesting chance find!

From there to Western Brook Pond where the boat tour up the "pond" showcases the fjords. Having been on similar tours in New Zealand and craving hikes, we decided to do the hikes around the boat launch area rather than the boat tour. But much to our disappointment, Parks Canada let us down. (not to mention that they didn't open the park office till 9 am so we along with many others had to wait in the morning for our park passes). It turns out that there were 2 trails 3 years ago - one in each direction from the boat launch. They stopped maintaining one of them 3 years ago so the boardwalk is now decayed and you can't really walk across the bog - as well as it's overgrown with trees. The 'good' walk requires you to cross the brook - which is about waist high at this time. The bridge was washed out and they have no plans to rebuild it. YOu are expected to cross the stream. Not quite sure why that wasn't mentioned to us when they gave us the trail map. So instead we headed to Cow Head - and probably just as well as we're both tired and at least this way we can rest before heading to the Gros Morne Theatre tonight. We're off to see Neddy's cabaret. And you can get served beer there too - so it's all good.

Moping Monday at SugarHill Inn in Gros Morne

We are sitting here in our room in the inn mid-afternoon in the pouring rain. We did try to make a start this morning, but the rain sent us back here. And the weather does not sound too much better for the next week.... Although tomorrow has a chance of breaks in the clouds vs. today's threats of thunderstorms. At any rate, no kayaking out in the fjords I'm quite sure!

After another nice breakfast at George House, we headed out by about 10 am yesterday (Sunday) for our drive. We were not quite sure how long to expect to be driving - the google map estimate of 9 hours we guessed was high - but we ended up with just over a 6 hour drive, so it was much milder than expected.
We started in the fog and driving rain, and luckily they cleared way to just plain old overcast for the majority of the drive. But we did spot our first moose - no photo unfortunately but hopefully we'll see more - but only from a distance as the sign entering Gros Morne indicated 15 car/moose meetings this season in the park! Mike did the whole drive except for the last 20km from the park info centre. I got off quite easy! We stopped just before our destination at a lookout point with a small hike to a viewpoint and the rain held off as we took our view.

We had not stopped for lunch, so headed into Norris Point for gas and to check out restaurants soon after arriving- but ended up going into Rocky Harbour where we found a great little spot.


Java Jack's is run by a mother and her daughters who moved here from Jasper when the husband/father was transferred here from Jasper, Alta. Mike had the salad with fresh from their garden greens, pears, walnuts, and blue cheese along with seared scallops in a mango curry. I had a house salad and the bubbly bake - a very yummy dish full of lobster, shrimp, scallop, fish in a bubbling cream sauce. Along side we had a 1/2 bottle of rioja - very nice meal and ambiance.


This morning we passed on the early ferry across to the other side of the bay since it was raining so heavily (and foggy). And then when the rain and fog persisted, we even passed on the noon ferry. We did stop in the local bakery however. It was attached to the grocery outlet and when we asked for the bakery we were lead out the back through a storage room to a back room where the bakers where busy. Quite funny actually. But they did have some fresh baked cookies which were not out in the store so we picked up a pack of the along with a fresh loaf of bread and some cheese from the store. We were luckily able to comply with the check out sign indicating payment now required - no more credit will be honoured beyond 2 weeks.



So here we sit listening to the pouring rain - drinking a beer and updating the blog. We'll probably read books, watch a movie and enjoy dinner here in the inn. And hope the weather improves....but we are relaxing even if we aren't getting any exercise.

The Baccalieu Trail - Avalon

We arrived at George House around 8:30pm last evening having made good time on the drive from the airport. We were the only ones in the George house last night - but the parking lot is looking fuller tonight. We quickly headed over to Dildo Dory Grill as they last served at 9pm.

Despite having had several small meals during the day, we both ended up ordering an actual dinner. I had cod tongues with scrunchums (sp?) and Mike had the seafood lasagne. We each accompanied it with a local St. John's beer. There are several to choose from, so over the next couple weeks we'll need to put a dent in the list.

Today we rose liesurely and after a nice breakfast next door at Inn by the Bay (same owners), we headed on a tour round the north Avalon circuit with a full agenda.

Our first stop was at a local church garage sale and cemetery where Michael got several photos.
Next off to Heart's Content; home of the first trans-Atlantic telegraph site. In 1866 the first telegraph line was successfully laid (earlier attempts were short lived).



The actual lines still are visible coming out of the ocean incredibly.


From here we went north a bit more to Winterton Boat Building Museum. We did not do the full tour, but did check out the current boat building. This is the 400th anniversary of Cupids - the oldest English speaking settlement in what is now Canada. It was settled John Guy. After having been dropped off in Oct, he and his co-settlers (not certain how many) built the Indeavour - over the first winter for their use in exploring the area (along with several smaller fishing boats). They are recreating that ship now in Winterton - although with the willingness of the shipbuilder to engage in conversation rather than work, I'm not sure they'll get far!


Next we continued north Grate's Cove. Unfortunately, Michael took ill right about this point. We saw some spectactular towns all along and at Grate's Cove where Mike managed to take some photos and we each had a bowl of soup.

But Mike wasn't so good by then and he back seated it over to Bay de Verde where he again managed to take some photos. It is a very interesting town where until recently a great portion of the area was covered with 'flakes' - raised wooden structures for drying the fish. But now there is little fishing although there were several fishing trawlers and there was a processing plant in the bay.

By then Michael moved to the back seat and I just continued round the loop, but we just made a stop into a Walmart in Carbonear to pick up a cooler before heading back to the B&B. We had hoped to make it to Cupids - but we were running short of time at any rate. So here we are - Mikey trying to catch a few winks and feel better and me recording our day. Soon we should head down for our evening drinks and appetizers and later off to dinner reservations around 7pm (not sure where - part of our package - suspect it may be back to Dildo Dory which is fine).