Blogs from Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada, North America

Thursday 21st September 2023 8.00hrs – Saturday 23rdSeptember 2023 19.00hrs St Johns, Newfoundland Boy was I glad to see land again, especially when we heard that some of the Bridge windows had smashed in the storm as well!! It seemed quite rough as we were approaching ‘The Narrows’ where we had a good view of Signal Hill and all the old houses that seemed to tumble down into the water, as well as the Cathedral and “The Rooms” high up on the hill!! ‘The Narrows’ is a small stretch of water that opens into the sheltered bay of St Johns. John Cabot discovered Newfoundland in 1497 and St John’s is the oldest Port in Canada but the first English fishing Captain to enter St Johns was ‘Admiral of the Harbour by Ancient Custom’ and Sir Humphrey ... read more

Editor’s note: We are back home on Pender having flown out of St. John’s the morning of the day Hurricane Fiona hit the Atlantic provinces. Apart from having a 5:00 am flight, our trip was relatively painless. The Baccalieu Trail We traversed part of the trail to get to our B and B in New Perlican (which apparently is older than Old Perlican) and on our first morning there we headed north to finish the job. Several towns were on our way but the main target was Bay de Verde and Blunden House. The house was built in the late 1890s which makes it pretty new in BDV terms as the first European visitors to the area came in the 1500s. It is a good example of the merchant class of housing with one section for ... read more

As we gathered for breakfast on Day 10, many of the conversations were around the fact that this was the last time we would leave suitcases outside our rooms for loading onto the bus. Our last hotel is in St. John’s, the terminus of this great bus tour. Still almost 200 km to go. Bay Bulls boat trip When you leave Clarenville you start down the isthmus that joins the Avalon Peninsula to the rest of The Rock. Traffic is starting to build. Fortunately, we are soon back on the side roads towards Witless Bay and Bay Bulls. There we joined a couple of other bus tours on a fair-sized boat to visit the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. Most people (including Dianne and me) rushed to the upper deck where we hoped to get better viewing. ... read more

Labrador The 5:00am wakeup call to catch an early ferry made us feel right at home. Hurry up and wait. The trip to the ferry was uneventful and the ferry was very similar to BC Ferries Salish class ships. The first difference we noticed was that the ramps at our ferry terminals drop down to the ferry from the dock whereas the ferry here had ramps on both ends that dropped down onto the ferry dock. The interiors were slightly different, but ferries are ferries, and we had a nice crossing back to the Canadian mainland. Landing at Blanc-Sablon in La Belle Provence, we headed north to our first destination, the lighthouse at Point Amour. Yes, another lighthouse. It’s amazing how many there are, and they all have something unique to offer. This one is the ... read more

Well, it’s finally happening! We’re taking our first major trip since our last blogged adventure, the Hawaii Herniated Disk debacle. That one started with a 54 hour journey from snowy Victoria to sunny and warm Maui and ended with stops in a couple of emergency rooms. But I digress. We are heading out on another adventure to a distant island, this time Newfoundland (and Labrador). We begin with a reunion in Victoria of St. Andrew’s Elementary staff. Dianne was teacher, vice-principal and principal there for the 15 years before we moved to Chemainus in 2004. Should be fun! The trip passes through Toronto which isn’t a highlight given the recent problems at the airport. We are taking a red-eye from Victoria and this gets us into Deer Lake in the afternoon instead of the middle of ... read more