Sojourn Days 21-30
Day 21 August 9 It had been very breezy during the night, since we were right on the open water, and it made for great sleeping weather. The nights have been cool, but the days have been unusually HOT and very dry! We have not been allowed to have a camp fire for days now, due to the wind and severe drought conditions.
Stopped by the library in Summerside to read our email since it had been quite some time. We are not able to upload the web page at libraries, but just trying to keep up with our email helps a lot. While in the library we realized that for a couple of days, we have been in the Atlantic time zone, and had not changed our watches and clocks. Ah, such a life, that you do not have to rely on the time.
We drove through Charlottetown and enjoyed looking at the old Victorian styled homes and the churches built in the mid 1770s. We then headed to the northern shore of the island and found our spot for the night. The Innkeeper recommended his favorite place to get a good lobster dinner, and we set out exploring the little towns and villages along the coast. Our afternoon break was in North Rustico and the perfect spot for a cold beer and a smoked salmon sandwich. From the deck we could see the harbor, and the fishing boats coming and going. Very picturesque. The rest of the afternoon we spent driving the country roads and admiring the beauty of the land. They grow a lot of wheat on the island, and it is not unusual to see entire expanses of multi-hued colors patch worked in the fields.
We ate our dinner at the New Glasgow Lobster Suppers restaurant. I should say, that was “we” and hundreds of other people. It was obviously, THE place to go for a good meal, and we were very pleased. Our dinner included all you could eat of chowder, fresh baked breads and rolls, steamed mussels, salads, a whole lobster, (size predetermined by choice and price), and a variety of homemade deserts and a beverage. It was delicious and we were stuffed by the time that we left.
Day 22 August 10 Drove as far as St. Peters Bay toward the eastern side of the Island, and stopped to ask what the rows of white markers were in the bay, since we had seen them a number of times. At times it looked as if there were a couple hundred yards square of white or yellow buoys. We learned that they were attached to nets holding mussels that are growing on the floor of the lake. We also learned that the lobsters that are served in the area, are only harvested a few months out of the year, but are then kept in privately owned “pounds” where they continue to grow and are available for marketing.
While in town, we spotted a rustic seafood shack with a large sign that read Fish and Chips, and since it was calling us by name, we just had to stop. The haddock lunch was great and we were joined at our outdoor table by a nice couple that travel all year long. The conversation with them was most interesting, and they shared several of their favorite places that we should see if possible. We have run into other couples that do that as well. What a life it must be!
The wind gusts today were very strong, and coupled with the severe dryness in this region, caused lots of blowing dust as we drove around. The soil here is mostly red sand, and it was covering everything. They measure their drought condition by percentages, and we read that it was at 50% below normal presently.
Our camp site was a blessing as we were directly facing the Northumberland Strait and was on the side of the island with the wind coming directly toward us. Today was one of the hottest days they had recorded in years. The humidex reaching into the 40s Celsius. And to think that we left Florida to get into a cool climate!!!
Day 23 August 11 Sailed on the 8:30 AM ferry from Woods Island, PEI to Caribou, Nova Scotia. It was a crystal clear morning, and a nice trip over the Strait. The lady in the visitor center suggested it would be in our best interest to make reservations in Sydney since everything was booked for the weekend due to the special activities in town.
We arrived in Sydney, Nova Scotia late afternoon. This is our first chance to upload in days. It will probably be more difficult to get connected in Newfoundland so don’t worry, we’ll get back with more of our travelogue as soon as possible. We will upload this tonight and then we’ll do another upload tomorrow while we are still in the hotel. After that it could be several days before you hear from us again.
We sail to Newfoundland on Monday the 13th and we sail back to Nova Scotia on the 22nd. We’re doing our laundry this afternoon and plan to walk along the water of Sydney Harbour tonight to an outdoor concert that is taking place. See y’all later, Barney and Diane on the road…….
Day 24 August 12 Although we tried to find a church this morning that we could attend, we had to settle for watching Dr. Schuller on TV. Last night we stopped at several churches that we passed on foot, however, they either did not show any service times, or were not active churches, just historical buildings. Unlike our trip to Alaska last year, it has been difficult this trip to be able to locate a church in our area.
Drove to Louisbourg, which was about 30 KM from Sydney. It is famous for having a large fortress built by the French that dates back into the early 1700s. They lost both of their major skirmishes, one in 1735, and then again in 1748. It is manned by a host of people representing that period in time, and acting the roles appropriate to the life within the fortress. We ate scallop burgers (yum yum) for lunch in a charming waterfront cafe, and spent some time at the lighthouse point before heading back to Sydney.
Since today is Sunday, NOTHING in town is open for business, except a few eating establishments, and a couple of gas stations. All of the shops, including Wal-Mart are closed for the day! ‘Nuf said?
Our room overlooks Sydney Harbour, and a boardwalk. Tonight there will be fireworks over the water, and more entertainment., Hopefully they will be over early, since we must be up by 4AM to catch our 14 hour ferry ride to Newfoundland.
Day 25 August 13 The front desk rang our room right on time, and with a very sleepy effort, we got our things together and were in the car by 4:30AM for the half hour drive to the ferry terminal in North Sydney. There was very little traffic on the road, but the staging area was packed when we arrived. By the time we processed through the toll gate, the backup had cleared and we were promptly loaded onboard.
We left port right on schedule which was 6AM, and spent a long day on the North Atlantic Ocean with no land in sight, except for a few small islands about one third of the way out. The ferry was nice and the staff did their best to accommodate folks, but it is still a long boring ride. We had the laptop and some reading material with us, and they helped to keep us occupied. The entire day was overcast and drizzling, with a light fog, so it was a perfect day to be inside and dry on the boat.
About 10 hours into the trip, which is supposed to be 14.5 hours total (270 nautical miles), they announced that due to trouble with one of the 4 engines, our arrival time will be 2 hours later than scheduled. Groan…………..
They then announced that once on land, we must be extremely cautious of the “moose on the loose”. A number of bad accidents have occurred recently, and the worst months are July and August, and the worst time is dusk to dawn, so we will be in prime time on both accounts. As if that is not bad enough, we were told this morning that our right headlight was out, so we will only see the moose on the left side of the van.
By the time that we were off of the ferry, and drove to a campground it was nearly midnight, and we were zombies.
Day 26 August 14 The little taste that we had today of Newfoundland, and specifically St. John’s was that this is one beautiful place! The locals refer to Newfoundland as “The Rock”. A man on the ferry said that we will remember him telling us during our time here, that “the people will kill you with kindness” and that was demonstrated twice before we even had breakfast.
Barney fixed the headlight, and we attended to chores in the morning, then spent the afternoon touring the city and some surrounding points of interest. We drove north of St. John’s along the beautiful coast, then up to Signal Hill and Cabot Tower which overlooks the city and its harbor entrance. We ended up the day at Cape Spear, which is the farthest eastern point on North America. When you stand there, you are reminded that the entire population of the continent is west of you. You can’t help but think of the enormity of it all.
It is hard to believe that we could see anything more beautiful than the scenes we saw today, but everyone tells us of other places to go that are their favorites, and we now feel like we need more time here to see “The Rock”. We are going to call and to see if we can delay our return ferry, and the Keltic Lodge reservation in Nova Scotia so we will have more time.
Day 27 August 15 For those of you who have never had the privilege of sleeping in a heavily wooded campground, with the cool breezes blowing through the trees, and the moon and stars your night light, we wish you the opportunity to experience it some time in your life. It is pure delight.
Newfoundland (Nfld) is broken down into tourist regions and we are presently in the Avalon Region. Within a region are a number of road loops or routes you can drive. Today we drove the Marine Drive which was mostly little villages along Conception Bay. Most of the day we had a light drizzle, which for Nfld seemed like the perfect setting.
We moved both of our reservations in Nova Scotia to later dates to give us 5 more days in Nfld. This allows us to relax and not feel pushed. It also makes us get back to the US a little later and improve our timing for the fall colors in New England.
The temptation to stop and take a picture around each curve is overwhelming to us right now, and yet we realize that all of the pictures are going to look very similar. We are disappointed that we are unable to convey the feeling of the panorama, but we are so glad that we are here to enjoy it ourselves.
One town we visited today, Brigus is a small charming town, with white picket fences around most everyone’s property, and several historic buildings. The townspeople were quite proud of the fact that Capt. Bartlett, was the first Canadian to reach the Arctic Circle, and he was born and buried in the town. The village of Cupids, on our route, carries the distinction of being the first English Colony established in Canada in 1583.
Day 28 August 16 Today we drove the Baccalieu Trail in the Avalon region. We drove both sides of the peninsula going out along Conception Bay and coming back along Trinity Bay. Little fishing villages dotted the shoreline of both bays. Each area is unique within itself, and we have already decided there is no way that we will be able to see it all. We drove to Bay de Verde and stopped to have lunch on some rocks overlooking the small bay near the town. While we were eating we realized that there were whales surfacing everywhere below us. We could have easily spent the day there enjoying the sunshine and cool breezes. Moving on we were in many remote areas and some that actually came to a dead end, and we would have to retrace our route to get back on the “main” road. We even drove a one lane gravel road from Grates Cove to Daniel’s Cove (about 9 miles) and never saw another vehicle. That is remote!
Our daytime temperatures have been in the low 70s, and the nighttime temperatures in the upper 50s. Once we stopped for the evening, we both changed from shorts to long pants and windbreakers.
While in a Wal-Mart we had an occasion to speak with a young lady pharmacist. Our conversation with her revealed a strange accent so we asked her where she came from. She said that Wal-Mart had recruited her from South Africa! She continued, “South Africa not being the place to be right now, I readily accepted their offer”.
Our campsite was right on Bellevue Beach. We were within steps of the edge of the clear water. Pastel rocks of every hue made up the edge of the beach. For the first time since we left Quebec Province, we were allowed to have a campfire, however, it was too windy to build a fire, so we cooked hamburgers on the grill, and made it an early night.
Day 29 August 17 Once again neither of us could be sure what day of the week it was, until we fired up the computer. It has to be the ultimate sign of a totally relaxed trip, not to mention the sheer joy of being retired. Our days are flying by and there is so much beauty here to see, that we are getting concerned that we will have to give up much of it and make better time, or delay our ferry trip one more time.
We are now exploring the Discovery Trail in the Eastern Region. Stopped in a little town called Trinity, which was a whole community of historic structures. The church dated back to 1730, and the town itself in the late 1600s. The streets were so narrow that we parked the van and walked through it. Our next stop was in Bonavista which is where John Cabot landed in 1497 a mere 500 years after the Vikings did it and a mere 500 years before we did it!
We found a public library and were able to check our email messages. Barney had 59, and I had 39. The connection speed was unbearably slow, but at least we felt assured that there were no major crises at home or with our families. We then drove toward the Cape and the lighthouse, and found Dungeon Provincial Park overlooking Bonavista Bay. In addition to the scenic views, there were also horses, sheep and goats roaming in the pastures. We loved this area.
Not wanting to leave, we decided to stay at White’s B&B and spend the night. Went into town and had a delicious codfish dinner, drove through the historic part of town, and ended up at the coastal rocks to watch the Puffins come in to roost at dusk. There must have been thousands of them coming in from the ocean and we were lucky to have been there at the right moment.
Day 30 August 18 Drove the entire day in rain on the way to Twillingate which is where the Atlantic Ocean and the Notre Dame Bay meet. This is called the Road to the Isles and all of the islands near here are a part of the Kittiwake Coast, and is located within the Central Region. A good portion of the drive was through the Terra Nova National Park. Along the way, we read again from our biker friend Blair Rasmussen’s travelogue (link no longer available), and thought about the monumental personal effort it took to set out on a bicycle in April from Newfoundland with his goal being Inuvik, Yukon and the Arctic Circle.
Upon arriving in Twillingate, we secured a campsite, and then set out touring the winding streets of the town. Our first stop was the lighthouse and it was raining and blowing so hard, that all we could do was run up to the observation area, take a quick look, and rush back to the warmth of the van. 
The view below was great, and you could see deep into the chasm and see how clear the blue green water was. We continued exploring and found a great spot to stop and just reflect on all that was surrounding us. What a feeling to realize where we are, and the fact that it was all created 600 million years ago, and where we fit into the overall scheme of things.
This is an area known for its icebergs, and we saw many photographs and paintings of ones that had floated by in the bay. We stopped to enjoy a gallery of wonderful paintings from a local artist, and learned many historical facts. We were told that occasionally they get a polar bear that has gotten stranded on an ice floe, and arrives in town, very hungry. When possible they relocate them back up north, but a recent one that decided he wanted his lunch on the wharf ended up stuffed instead and on exhibit in the local museum.
One of the paintings showed a two story home on logs and barrels being floated down the water to a new location designated by the local government and another one that was moved by 500 men pulling it through the ice and snow. It was not an uncommon practice years ago, in order to make Provincial services available to people who lived in remote areas, the government attempted to relocate them to more centralized places (usually not by choice). We met a lady who had just bought a painting and said her home was moved when she was only 3 years old, and it was very meaningful to her.
We looked for a church that had an early service before heading back to our camp for the night. The earliest service we found was at 11 AM so we plan to get on the road early and stop in what ever town we happen to be near.
The odometer reads 4600 miles.