NFLD Day 4

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Payback for two beautiful days. It's absolutely pouring rain this morning. I'm talking sheets here. Cats and dogs. When it rains in Newfoundland, it rains! You get the picture.

We have breakfast at the hotel restaurant, then pack, check out, and head south from St. John's down highway 10. Our goal is the southeastern hump of the Avalon Pennisula, the so-called Irish Loop.

We drive through Bay Bulls and stop at a diner in Witless Bay for a pit stop. There is an ecological reserve here consisting of five offshore islands that has one of the largest concentrations of sea birds in the world, including puffins. The Witless Bay Ecological Reserve is accessible only through boat tours. We're not sure if a tour is worth attempting today, given the weather (did I mention that it's raining?), but as it turns out, the point is moot. First, as we are informed by the diner's proprietor, the majority of the seabirds, including the puffins, have already left; and, second, despite what it says in our guidebooks, all the boat tour operators have packed it in for the season because this summer's poor weather and low visitor count have made it unprofitable. Bummer!

Nothing to do but continue down the highway. Many small communities, each with their own bay or harbour. The forest has become strictly coniferous; the only leaves in the forest are to be found on the small plants and flowers at ground level.

We stop in Ferryland at a diner for lunch. Wonderful clam chowder. It has shrimps and scallops in it! In Ferryland, we were hoping to visit a reconstructed 17th century settlement called the Colony of Avalon. However, we hear a group at another table talking about it being closed. We chat with them and with the diner's owner. Apparently, the funding for the project was cut this year and they had to close early. A second disappointment. After lunch, we seek it out the site anyway. Everything is indeed shut down and deserted. We coax our car down a rocky road towards the old lighthouse on the point. However, we get as far as an ancient cannon pointing out to sea and call it quits. We can see the lighthouse in the misty distance. The wind is by now accelerating the raindrops into lethal weapons.

The day is looking like it may be a washout. A bit desperate now about finding a reason to justify this leg of the trip, we decide to stop in a small town called Renews, which owes its name to its history as a port where ships could "renew" their supplies. Apparently, the famous Mayflower stopped by Renews on its way to Plymouth. We locate the historic Catholic church, built in 1876. Tucked in behind it, in a hidden ravine, is a "grotto" where Catholics used to meet secretly in earlier centuries to celebrate their faith in defiance of the Presbyterian majority.

We continue to travel south along the eastern shore. The conifers are becoming smaller and more stunted, and all of a sudden we are in the barrens: ponds and peat bogs, with nothing higher than ferns and scrub, stretching as far as the eye can see. It reminds us of the Falkland Islands–a world away, but a similar ecology.

We stop at Portugal Cove, which is near the southeastern tip of Avalon. I'm interested in a museum there about the fossils found at nearby Mistaken Point. The rocks there have yielded one of the world's richest collections of pre-Cambrian fossils, about 565 million years old. At that ancient time, hard body parts like bone, shell, cartilage and teeth had not yet appeared, and the soft-bodied creatures that lived at the bottom of the ocean generally did not leave fossils. However, at what is now Mistaken Point, a volcanic eruption buried an entire community of these creatures under a thick layer of ash that preserved their imprints. Fascinating stuff. We have interesting chats with the museum staff, who are volunteers. Very thick accents here, with a distinct Irish lilt.

The rain has abated somewhat, though it is very windy on the barrens. We push on. Around 4 pm, we are at Trepassy, and we have to decide whether to stop there for the night or continue. According to our book, there's an inn at St. Mary's that we should be able to reach in another hour, and so we decide to keep going. We are now driving west around the bottom of Avalon, then north again up the other side. The road is deserted except for us. The villages sweep by; not a soul can be seen on this dreary evening, although lights in the windows reveal that people really do live here.

We finally reach St. Mary's and find the inn closed for the day. Sorry for the inconvenience. So we push on. We figure that if we can make it back to highway 1 (the Trans-Canada), we will have better accommodation choices. By the time we reach it about 6:30 pm, Vi has determined that the town of Holyrood, about 10k north of the highway, looks promising for food and accommodations. Hurrah for Holyrood!

Like most Newfoundland towns, Holyrood lies at the end of picturesque bay. The first motel we try is full, but the proprietor gets on the phone and finds another place that has a vacancy. We end up with a lovely suite that is really a full apartment.

We select a local diner for supper at the recommendation of the hotel owner. Fresh, home-cooked food really hits the spot. As a bonus, we are treated to a magnificent sunset reflecting against the rising cloud ceiling. Outside we can see a huge cross on the top of a nearby mountain, Holyrood's own version of Mount Royal.

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Comments

[Gail MacDonald]

Last blog
Well, all I can say is you guys possess a great deal of intestinal fortitude - the highway can be so eerie when you're alone....and to have to be looking for lodgings at that hour...whew! Looking forward to next dispatch. Gail

[D MJ Binkley]

Newfoundland
Beautiful