Newfoundland: August 2 - 4

We made it to Newfoundland! We had an uneventful 16+ hour trip, fog all the way. I’m really thankful for radar and GPS and whatever else they use these days so I didn’t have to worry about bumping into an ice berg or some rugged rocky shore. We arrived at Argentia and were camped before noon. Argentia was an American naval base until 1996, all that’s left now is a lot of deteriorating pavement and concrete and a few unused buildings. And I guess the wharf which is likely why the ferry goes there. We drove a few miles to Placentia which was a French settlement in the 1600’s. We visited the fort, Castle Hill, and toured around the town and neighbouring settlements at Freshwater, Jerseyside and Dunnville. We tried to buy some fish but had no luck. We had an early night to compensate for the previous night.

Placentia from Castle Hill Fort

Day 2 – We went back into Placentia and I toured the O’Reilly House, besides being an historic home they have information on the resettlement and the influence of the American base. We then headed south along the west coast of the Avalon Peninsula, to Cape St. Mary’s. There is an ecological reserve and a huge colony of ganets, kind of interesting but smelly and noisy. At the interpretive centre they told us we were lucky because a cable broke on the lift bridge in Placentia, shortly after we crossed it, and if we had been going back that way we would have had to make a detour.We then headed up the east coast of that leg of the peninsula and down the west coast of the other leg and camped at Trepassey. Denis found more cannons. We made a couple stops looking to buy fish but again none to be had, had to settle for smokies. We did see a cow and calf moose. 

The extremes of Newfoundland landscape

 Day 3 – We drove to Portugal Cove and left the trailer while we went to Cape Race and that was a good thing. So far the highways have been pretty rough but that trail would have shaken the trailer to pieces. There was a lighthouse and telegraph station which was very important to Atlantic ship traffic, they received the distress call from the Titanic. From a settlement of 85 people including 35 children, there’s only one lightkeeper today. Along the way we saw a lot of people picking berries, which we were told are called bake apples or cloud berries. I couldn't figure out why they'd be called bake apples but it turns out to be a 'Newfieism', the question in french is 'baie qu'appele' or what is the name of these berries. We picked up our trailer and headed up the east coast stopping at Ferryland, where there is an archaeological dig going on. The colony of Avalon was established there in 1621. After a look around there, we drove on to St. John’s

We made it!