On our own again

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Observations on bus touring

We had never taken a tour of this type preferring to make our own arrangements (I have a great travel planner). We took this one on the recommendation of friends who had taken the trip pre-COVID. I was nervous about travelling with a bunch of “old people”. Yes, I saw the irony in that statement. The people on the tour turned out to be great. We now have lots of new friends (foreshadowing).

The tour guides had a great system of assigning us to different seats every day so no one got the coveted front seats for more than half a day. There were twice daily draws to see who would be the King and Queen for the next half day. Patti had arranged for “door prizes” and the drawing of the door prize winners and the front seats became a source of great amusement during some of the long drives between sites. At every stop we varied the order of exiting from the coach, so no one was “always last”. A very well-run tour. Even our bus driver, Charles, got into the act. In addition to very professional driving, he had many interesting stories to share during the breaks and he managed a few good quips during Darrell’s patter on the mike.

And now, back to regularly scheduled blogging….

The Avalon Peninsula is roughly “H” shaped, consisting of four mini peninsulas stuck onto the rest of Newfoundland by a narrow isthmus. St John’s is in the upper right section. Since the tour ended there, my travel planner arranged for us to stay there three more days then head out on a circuit through the other minis.

We returned to a couple of places in St John’s that we had seen on the tour. We spent a while in the Rooms. This museum was well organized and covered a lot of the history of Newfoundland and Labrador, but I guess I would have been surprised if it hadn’t. We chatted with a chap who was displaying how they processed cod back in the day. It was similar to the presentation we had in the Bonavista Peninsula but it there is always something new to learn.

Off to the north to see what we could see. Our daughter, Christine, had visited Bell Island for 10 days when she was in high school so we started by taking a look at it from the mainland (well, main island of Newfoundland I guess that should be). We did discover that you should eat when you see a restaurant and buy gas when you pass a gas station because these places can become scarce when you are out of the city. We were chatting with one couple who added use a washroom when you pass one for the same reason. I can hear my mother agreeing with that sentiment.

Our Airbnb was close to Bowring Park so we decided to go for another walkabout. The only problem was that St John’s was being lashed by the tail edge of Hurricane Earl and it was very windy with lots of rain squalls. At one point we put away our umbrellas as they kept turning inside out in the gusty winds. One of the nice parts of this kind of travelling is that we stopped in a convenience store to buy some hot chocolate and had a very nice chat with the clerk and one of her customers. Harder to do that on a tour.

I think we got out of St John’s before the flooding began but we kept hearing about it as we headed towards the northwestern mini peninsula. We avoided the TCH (no one seems to call it the Trans Canada Highway) and passed through a lot of small towns. Our bus driver, Charles, had recommended Brigus as a nice place to visit.

The town was indeed very pretty. We visited the Brigus Tunnel; a pretty grand name for what it is. The sign says it was built to provide easy access to the wharf (see picture). It’s hard to believe going around this rock would have been more difficult than drilling the tunnel. We were walking around the town thinking we should find a place to eat. A white car (obviously a rental) passed me and I noticed the window coming down as it approached Dianne. I figured someone was going to ask directions to something. I saw Dianne laughing and discovered it was a couple we had been on the tour with who were also spending a few post-tour days on the peninsula. We had a very nice lunch; both the food and the company were great.

When we had been on the Bonavista Peninsula, we heard about the Alphabet Fleet where a company had a fleet of vessels where the name of each vessel started with the next letter of the alphabet. Most of them had a sad end. The Kyle was launched in 1913 and after an interesting career was severely damaged by heavy sea ice in 1965 and driven aground in 1967 at Harbour Grace. Left in situ (according to Google), it was purchased by the government of Newfoundland in 1973. Quite a sight.

Harbour Grace was also connected to Amelia Earhart as the first woman to fly the Atlantic. Her statue is in front of an old C-47/DC-3 with a list of notable trans-Atlantic flights that departed from Harbour Grace. It was interesting to note how many were “lost”.

We traversed a lot of back roads until we came to Victoria when it was time to head across the peninsula towards the town of New Perlican on the west side of the peninsula, on Trinity Bay. We were told the town is actually older than Old Perlican which is 42.2 km further north. We didn’t ask.

We were booked into a B and B rather than an Airbnb which was a nice change. In addition to the B and B they operate a studio where they make some beautiful stained-glass items as well as many from sea glass. We had great chats with them, including their cat. Each day’s breakfast was different and equally as delicious. We were also treated to tasty homemade treats. In an Airbnb you often don’t even meet the host, although some think that is a feature, not a problem.

After the great lunch we had in Brigus with Roger and Christine, we made PBandJ sandwiches for supper. A short walk up the coast was followed by an early night after a great travel day. Tomorrow, we head up to BDV (Bay de Verde to the uninitiated). The other couple in the B and B said they had been there that day and the main attraction was closed. But we live in hope. ToBeContinued.

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Photos

Cod fish
Loved this photo in the Rooms museum. I had no idea how big cod were. My only experience was in a plate of fish and chips. This told quite a story.

St. John's harbour
This was the first freight(?) we saw in NL. Lots of fishing boats but none like this one.

Harbour defences at Cape Spear
These reminded us of Ft Rodd Hill and MacCauley Point in Victoria

Cape Spear
We were there. ·Eastern most point in Canada,

Pensive times
A reflective moment at Cape Spear. Parks Canada has a program to put red Adirondak chairs all over the parks. It started in Gros Morne and they even offered a prize if you could find them all.

Reflective II (or vacant?)
Just trying to keep up with my travel planner.

Gorgeous water views.
Strange as it may seem, we have a lot of pictures like this.

Basilica of St John the Baptist
We did get back to celebrate Mass with the local congregation.

House moving
Another photo in the Rooms. As part of the resettlement program, they moved the houses to the new locations. Quite a community effort.

Bridge over troubled waters?
Not when we were there but Hurricane Earl passed a couple of days later.

Bowring Park
Interesting structures left from another time.

Ferry to Bell Island
This was the location Christine would have left from to go to Bell Island (in background). Maybe a new boat? It was a long, long time ago.

Like I said....
we have lots of pictures of water crashing into the shore.

Interesting food bank
We ran into several of these cupboards around the peninsula. Like the little libraries that offer take one/leave one for books, this one supports individuals needs for groceries.

The effects of Hurricane Earl
As we were heading out of St John's, we passed this raging torrent. No roads were washed out at this point but I think later there were lots of issues.

Rain?
As I mentioned, Earl shared lots of water.

And fog
Normally, this is a great view of St John's from the Rooms. Today? Not so much.

Brigus tunnel
Quite a job to blast this hole in the rock.

Brigus library
As a member of the library board on Pender, Dianne has a great love for stopping in at little local libraries and comparing notes. Unfortunately, this one was closed the day we were there.

Unexpectedly meeting old friends
Great lunch with Roger and Christine who had been on the bus tour with us and were also touring around the Avalon Peninsula.

The Kyle in Harbour Grace
As are most of our photos, this one was taken by Dianne. Much more artistic than mine.

My Kyle shot
The boat looks remarkably good considering it has been sitting on these rocks since the mid-1960s.

Harbour Grace
Lot's happened in this little town. Amelia Earhart was pretty famous and the airport saw a lot of planes like this one.

Stages at New Perlican
Stages are the little shacks the fisherman use to store their equipment for use in the cod fishery. Most are kept up quite well and are very colourful.

The Baccalieu Trail
This map of the Avalon Peninsula I found on the internet shows the Baccalieu Trail which is what we are doing in this blog and also the next one. Not exactly in the order shown but we hit all the spots. Our B and B in New Perlican was about where the 3 is shown.