Searching for Vikings

After yesterday's washout, today was what riding is all about.  Clear skies, little wind, no traffic and temperatures around 17.  I'm heading to L'Anse Meadows at the north tip of the Northern Peninsula.  I knew I wasn't going to make it there in one day so I just kept riding until I got tired and ended up in the lovely coastal village of Port au Choix.  On the way up I went through Gros Morne National Park where one of the lakes reminded me of Shuswap Lake.  I did plan to take lots of pictures but  smoke had blown in from a fire in Labrador so hopefully, on the way back, the sky will be clear. 

I stayed last night in Gander.  This city of 10,000 played an important role in 9 11 terrorist attacks.  6,500 people on route mainly to the States, were diverted there.  The citizen of Gander opened their hearts and wallets to accommodate the "plane people" for as long as 4 days.  Gander, back in the 50's and 60's was a busy hub refueling cross-Atlantic jet liners.  As planes became more fuel efficient with longer cruising ranges, the need for a stop-over became unnecessary.  Ganders airport does have two very long runways that could handle any plane so this made a perfect place to ground all air traffic.  I read some of the stories from both passengers and townsfolk.  It's very moving.  I also read that NYC had given Gander some steel from the fallen WTC tower as an appreciative gesture.  I set out this morning to find this.  One would think it would be displayed at the Gander airport but noooo. It's at the museum which didn't open for an hour.  I gave up and rode on.

After a quick re-fuel in Deer Lake, it was on to Gros Morne. 

Rocky Harbour

Love the colour

 

Lunch; coffee and a muffin

 



After lunch, I started up Hwy 430 with no destination in mind.  This highway skirts along the shoreline to The Gulf of St.

Lawrence.  At times the riding was challenging due to the stiff wind blowing off the Gulf.  My goal is to camp as much as possible but unfortunately, rain i forcasted for all night and into the next day.  So, I bit the bullit once again and looked for a motel.  Pretty slim pickin's up this way but I saw a roadside sign advertising the Sea Echo Motel in Port au Choix.

 

 

 

 

 

Killing time in Gander

Due to a rain delay, here are some various pictures:

Lobster feast in Marcellin's garage.

Only moose I've seen so far.

Wanda

Hopewell Rocks

Local PEI beer

No shortage of Lighthouses

In Trinity

A good beer in Trinity.

Another lighthouse

 

Yet another lobster dinner.

Trinity, Newfoundland

Leaving St.John's around 10:00, I headed for the Bonavista Peninsula to visit the picturesque village of Trinity arriving around 2:00.  With no campgrounds in the area, I needed to find something else.  In a gift gallery, I asked the shop owner if they know any motels in the area.  It just so happened that an owner of a local B&B, www.therollinghills.com was in the shop and had one room left.  Apparently, there are no motels, just B&B's. First time I've ever stayed in one.

 

Of the four rooms, I got the smallest but it does have a private bathroom. 

 



Trinity



Local Laundromat

 

Very nice experience as a first time B&Ber.  Sat and chatted with the owner Ed and the other 3 couples, all from the Toronto area.  For breakfast, Marg made a ham & cheese omelet with fresh fruit and all the coffee I could drink.  Unfortunately, it rained all night but stopped just long enough to allow me to pack up the bike and get my hopes up for the day.  Didn't get far down the road when the sky's opened up and hasn't stopped yet.  The combo of chilly temperatures, driving rain and a very brisk wind forced me to call it a day in Gander around 2pm.  I was hoping to make it to Twillingate. 

Hosts Marg and Ed sporting two "Ugly Sticks".  They're musical instruments.  Those are beer caps nailed to the stick for enhanced tonal quality

Marg was keen to ride away with me.

The point of the title.

Before I went to George St. I took a practice ride out to Cape Spear.  Just so I wouldn't get lost.  So when I got up at 4:30, I was feeling confident that I could get dressed, push the bike down the lane so I wouldn't wake up the campground, and make it to sunrise which was at 5:22.  It seems that there isn't a straight road in the city.  It's very hilly and no chance of having any parallel roads.  Somehow, even with the help of my now not-so trusty GPS, I got lost and ended up on a highway out-of-town.  The only way I saw out of this mess was to take a U-turn where I wasn't supposed to.  Luckily, as it turned out, the only other car on the road at that time of the morning, was a cop, who proceeded to pull me over. He was a bit perplexed as to why a motorcycle from BC is tearing around the highway at that time of the morning.  After a quick explanation and pointing to the ever increasing light in the sky, he told me to follow him to the entrance of the road to Cape Spear. An appreciative wave and I was finally headed in the right direction.  I'm sure that will be a story for the boys at Timmy's later on that morning. 

I did make it in time and fired off dozens of photo's.  Here's a few:

Newfoundland!

 

 

My first destination was St. John's.  What a difference a day makes.  When I got on the ferry in Nova Scotia, it was over 30 c but as I rode off, thinking it would be warm, I had to make a quick pit stop to bundle up.  The temperature there had dropped overnight to 14 c at noon!  It took about 2 hours to ride to St. John's and with my trusty GPS by my side, headed straight to Pippy Park Campground situated right in the middle of the city.  Except for the constant drone of the city, you would think you're in a secluded park in the country. 

After I set up my tent, I grabbed a cab and headed down to George St.  The cabbie suggested Kelly's Pub who, in his opinion, has the best fish and chips in the city.  Who am I to argue.

Sooo, After a few beers and a plate of, quite tasty, fish and chips, I wandered around a while and headed it back.  My plan was to get up at 4:30 and see the sunrise so I couldn't be too late.  (I'm too sensible for my own good sometimes)

The Ferry ride to the Rock

Before I go on and on about Newfoundland, let's go back to the ferry ride from North Sydney, NS to Argentia NL.  They recommend getting to the ferry terminal 2 hours ahead of the 5 o'clock departure, so, I get there 2 1/2 hours early at 2:30.  Typical me.  The ferry ends up being over 3 hours late departing due to some minor detail.  Seems the front loading door won't close.  I supposed that's important.  I had booked the ferry just a couple of days ahead of time and any overnight accommodation was sold out.  There is, however, a number of very comfortable lounges with big reclining seats so I settled on that.  The first lounge, although very comfy, was also very hot so I moved downstairs to the movie/lounge area.  The a/c was working very well so I settled in for a long night.  But first, I had to sit though 2 movies which were played very loud.   The first was an animated movie that was at least entertaining but the second movie, which started at 11:00 was one with Jennifer Anniston and Adam Sandler.  As Andy and I both agree, ADAM SANDLER ISN'T FUNNY!!!!  When that was finally over, I tried to sleep.  I got maybe 3 hours of broken sleep and gave up trying around 6 am.  The ferry was supposed to arrive at 8 am but with the delayed departure, it finally got in at 11:30.  Now, unlike the BC ferries where you head down to the car deck early and get ready to peel out the minute it docks and open up, the Atlantic-Marine Ferries don't let you go below until the boat is docked.  So by the time me and the other 100 or so Harley bikers (there was a big rally in St. John's) got ready, it was another 45 minutes.  All in all, the ferry was very similar to the cruise ship we were on in May.  The big difference is that you pay for your food. 


On the Ferry

 

Confederation Bridge

I took a detour off my plan. As I followed the coast of New Brunswick with no particular destination in mind, I caught site of the Confederation Bridge. The lure was too much and before you could say McCains potatoes, I was headed to PEI. To cross the bridge to PEI is free, but the kicker is that it costs a motorcycle $40 to get off the island, by bridge or ferry, which is what I'm on now taking advantage of the free WiFi. The next destination is North Sydney NS to catch the all-night ferry to Nfld. I might have to make a pit stop at Future Shop to look at a tablet. I think my netbook is packing it in so before I loose all my data, I'm going to see if they can transfer everything over. I'm unable to transfer my camera pictures to the netbook so for now I'll be using my phone.