8/15 The plan for the day was to get over to 330 and north, do the 332 loop to Frederickton Harbor, and then continue on 330 to Musgrave Harbor and then take 320 to 1 so we could go to Bonavista peninsula.
Jean-Francois had told me time and again to turn into whatever I want to see and he’ll come back. He rode past the the turn onto 332, so I went ahead expecting him to catch up in a couple minutes. After 15 minutes there was still no sign of him and I was afraid he’d be too far down 330 for me to catch him so I continued on 332 alone. Joke was on me — neither the map nor mapsource showed that the road sort of ended and turned to rough gravel with absolutely nothing out there.
With gravel issues it fortunately struck me funny and I just kept going , hoping the road would not get any worse, and look at it as good practice. I was more worried about finding Jean-Francois and being slowed down by gravel didn’t help that situation.
Eventually the gravel turned back into pavement and I made my way back to 330. Still no sign of Jean-Francois so I stopped to turn on my radio and tried calling him. Nothing.
I continued on around the peninsula to Musgrave Harbor and got off the road to go see it as planned. Back on 330, still calling on the radio and no answer.
It had been a couple hours and I was starting to get concerned. When I got to Nells West Valley where 320 started I didn’t think it was a good idea to start off on a new road, so I turned around and went back. We heard each other on the radio and saw each other a short time later.
This was part of Jean-Francois’s extra 500+ miles that he rode — he had been all over the place, up and down 332 two times, trying to locate me. So much for having a plan.
We stayed at Lockston Path Provincial Park near Trinity which could only be reached down a long gravel road. They were full when we arrived and we were sent to overflow — it was on a slope by the water and was actually very nice.
8/16 We started packing in the morning despite the fact that rain looked imminent. We up at the motorcycles chatting with some of the neighboring campers when we had to make a run for the tent when a heavy thunderstorm hit. It stopped raining around 10:00 so we dried things off and packed. Before leaving we asked our neighbors for a good lunch spot and he recommended his mom’s place on 235.
Jean-Francois wasn’t that excited about heading out to Bonavista point — he figured another view and lighthouse after many.
On the way there, near the town of Maberly (the Root Cellar Capital of the World. I’m serious) is Puffin Island. We parked a ways away and walked. The view of the water was gorgeous. We stopped at a root cellar.
Puffin Island was a surprise. The island is separated from the mainland so the birds can only be viewed from a distance. We were lucky to notice that two puffins had nested on this side and we were able to get a lot of pictures and watch them for quite a while.
Watching the birds on the island is funny since they aren’t the most graceful bird. Put the were like missiles in the air and would fly out to float on the water for long periods of time. I found out that puffins spend 9 months of the year on the water.
Puffin Island was awesome. The people of Maberly maintain it and don’t charge admission, so if you’re there they would appreciate any donation you can make.
Next was the lighthouse. Turns out it was restored to look like when it was in use in the late 1800’s so we took a tour. It had the original oil lamps still in the tower. It was really nice and we were both glad we’d gone out to the peninsula.
We stopped at Suzie’s on 235 as recommended. Jean-Francois got to have cod tongue one more time. It’s a quaint little restaurant with home cooking.
While we ate lunch we reviewed maps and decided it was time to head for St. John’s and camp somewhere along the way. We stopped for fuel and made the decision to go all the way into St. John’s and stay at Pippy Park in town. After getting lost and having a very nice man hop in his car and lead us there we arrived at 9:00 PM.
Puffin and Bonavista pictures:
http://motorcycle-journeys.com/past/canada_2009/photos/newfoundland/bonavista/index.html
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