Would You Like Ice With That?

Saturday morning was cool and overcast, with the odd shower passing through. The showers cooperated with our attempts to bundle up our camp, however, and stopped long enough for us to get the tent and bedding put away, and for us to have a bite of breakfast, before starting up again. Linda had spent a lot of the night awake from a dog barking and howling hysterically.....although I hadn't heard the problem, and I suspect that the earlier sight of the fox had encouraged her imagination regarding animals caught in leg traps, or worse. We drove along the fingers and bays in the south part of Trinity Bay, past beautiful downtown Come By Chance, and then Goobies, through Clarenville, working our way onto the Bonavista Peninsula. We stopped at the historic town of Trinity, a well-kept historic merchant/fishing town, and then continued to the end of the side-highway, to visit Old and New Bonaventure, typical fishing villages (in our minds, at least), shrouded in fog.




Scenic and Historic Old Bonaventure








Then we continued on to the village of Elliston, the Root Cellar Capital of the World - over 130 root cellars dug into small hillocks around the town.



One of Many of Elliston's Rootcellars









They were also having a Puffin Festival, so we asked how to find the puffins, and were directed to a rock outside of town which had a large colony of puffins crowded on the rock.....so we ended up finding the puffins without the boat trip!





Puffins






By this time, the fog was rolling around us wherever we went, and the temperature was dropping drastically. By the time we reached the end of the Peninsula, at the town of Bonavista, the temperature was down to 7C, and the fog was quite thick. Here, John Cabot landed and claimed the New Founde Land for England in 1497. A replica of his ship, the "Matthew", was built here 12 years ago to celebrat the 500 year anniversary of his landing, so we visited the ship and took a tour. She is a very small ship, a Caravel, and very impressively built in traditional methods. We found it very interesting to compare this ship with the "Hector" we'd toured in Pictou, which had sailed about 300 years after "Matthew". Neither one would have been a comfortable ship for the crew for an Atlantic crossing - our tiny 32 foot sloop at home would likely fare as well, and be more comfortable.



Matthew Replica









By the time we left the ship, and Bonavista, it was nearing 1700, so we drove back along the other side of the Peninsula, and then turned north to Terra Nova National Park, to a damp and cold campsite. The temperature never got back above 7C, so we fixed a quick supper of chili on bread, and cuddled up in the tent for the night. Any colder, and we'd be chipping ice in the morning.

Bright and early the next morning, we were not anxious to leave our nice warm sleeping bags to face the 5C temperatures. We'd had showers overnight, with mist and fog still lingering as we ate our porridge. It was a replay of yesterday, as we had time to pack up our camp before the rain started up again. It lasted all day, as we drove North through Glovertown and Gambo (birthplace of Joey Smallwood), turning off the main highway to follow the water again. We were surprised to find some lovely sand beaches in New-Wes Valley (not the image of Newfoundland so far), but the fog, rain, and cold kept us appreciating the views from our car. We cruised several times through the town of Newtown - Newfoundland's answer to Venice. It is a community built on 17 small islands, with bridges and channels joining the village together - quite a lovely sight.



The Venice of Newfoundland









Just north of there, we passed more beautiful sand beaches at Lumsden. We ended up at Newfoundland's Bay of Islands, and the town of Twillingate - the Iceberg Capital of Newfoundland. We were hoping to see some bergs, as on the West Coast ice is something we use for our drinks. As we approached Twillingate I tried to talk Linda into a campsite at Dildo Run Provincial Park. Although the price of a campsite was right, and the name was appealing, the weather was still quite cold, wet, and foggy - and she wouldn't buy it! So we compromised, and found a lovely little log cabin a few kilometres from Twillingate. With a solid roof, a heater, a real bed, and even a t.v., it became a trip highlight. Not only did we get the view of the Atlantic from our cabin windows, but an Iceberg lay just outside, in the bay.



Icebergs








We explored the town a bit, visiting the museum, and spotting several more Icebergs in our travels. Then back to our cabin to enjoy a fondue with a bottle of wine, with the Iceberg smiling at us from a short distance.