Author: Gale

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

8/14 Fleur de Lys had originally been on my stop list, but after asking some people decided to head back out of the Baie Verte peninsula and go to Twillingate so we took 340 back to 1 and then caught 410 to go out on Notre Dame Bay.

If you look at MapSource it appears there is no way to get out there, but you cross New World Island and there is a bridge to Twillingate Island.

Twillingate is said to be the Iceberg Capital of the World, but we found out you need to get there by mid July at the latest. One of the few items on my wish list I didn’t get to see — an iceberg. But in light of how stunning the view was from Twillingate – it is one of the most beautiful vistas I have seen in my life – I’m okay with not seeing an iceberg.

We walked out past the lighthouse to the edge of the cliffs and just sat there looking for quite a while — that’s how beautiful if was. This is definitely in the Top 3 most beautiful places on the trip maybe barely nudged out of first by Forillon.

The town was quaint and very pretty too, just no a whole lot of places to eat.

We camped that night at Dildo Run Provincial Park. Definitely one of my favorite campsites for the trip. If you get there try to grab site 26. You have to haul your stuff down wooden steps, but it’s secluded and a perfect site.

Pictures of Twillingate:
http://motorcycle-journeys.com/past/canada_2009/photos/newfoundland/twillingate/index.html

8/13 Up early to go out to the lighthouse for pictures. There was no one there so Jean-Francois and I went out on the rocks to get pictures of lighthouse with the waves that were crashing in. I tried a lot of different shots with varying success and later learned that when you’re in a high moisture salt water environment your lens gets clouded with salt water. Some of the shots turned out very well anyway. It was a beautiful sunny day without the wind from the night before so it was nice for extended picture taking.

We stopped at the national historic site on the way out and learned about the people who had lived in the area thousands of years ago.

It was a very windy ride on highway 430 to Deer Lake to pick up Trans Canada Highway 1 to go to the Baie Vert peninsula. However, compared to the wind we’d encountered previously it was pretty tolerable. We have heard there may be icebergs at Twillingate, so we’re heading in that direction.

Camped at Flatland Pond south of Baie Vert which  was full of RVs and blasting generators. Not a great campground.

Port au Choix Lighthouse pictures:
http://motorcycle-journeys.com/past/canada_2009/photos/newfoundland/port_au_choix/index.html

8/12 We took the ferry from from St. Barbe to Blanc Sablon, QC. It was kind of fun to be back in Quebec even though it was brief. We took the last little bit of the Route of the Whales to cross into Labrador.

The plan was to ride to Red Bay since Jean-Francois wanted to see the national historic site there and stay the night before taking the ferry back to Newfoundland.

The pavement in Labrador was definitely the worst we saw on the trip which is understandable considering how hard it is for them to get materials. I was envious watching Jean-Francois’s motorcycle — his tires would take the bounce, his shocks would do their job, and the top of his motorcycle would float above. My F650 was taking a beating and so was I.

The road was the Labrador Coastal Highway and was pretty. We arrived at Red Bay where there was no wind and the black flies immediately descended.

The Red Bay Historic Site was very good — artifacts and information about the Basque fisherman who settled the area.

Red Bay is at the end of the pavement so we decided to try to make it back to the evening ferry to Newfoundland. As we rode the coastal highway a tall ship with all sails up was in the strait and we could see the ferry approaching the port. The wind had really picked up, which was good for the black flies but not good for the ride back.

The ferry left on time at 6:00 and we were on it. We arrived in St. Barbe at 7:30 and rode an hour to Port au Choix to camp that night. It was terribly windy riding the road west to Port au Choix and I noticed the trees along the side of the road while we were riding out there — they had all grown seriously bent over due to the prevailing. The campsite was out in the open along the water with absolutely no wind protection so it was difficult setting up camp in the high wind. The wind made dinner an interesting project too.

Pictures of Labrador:
http://motorcycle-journeys.com/past/canada_2009/photos/newfoundland/labrador/index.html

8/10 We left Shallow Bay with the plan to go to Port au Choix but decided to leave that for the trip back since we would have to come back the same way. We considered crossing on the ferry to Labrador but when we stopped to check it was extremely windy and and Jean-Francois preferred to cross on a less windy day.

Now here’s a real case of stupidity on my part. It’s too windy to take the ferry, right? What’s it going to be like on a motorcycle.

One of the things very high on my wish list was L’Anse aux Meadows where the Vikings landed 1000 years ago, but I was aware the west coast of Newfoundland is notorious for very high winds.  I had read there had been a train along that western coast but it was abandoned because the train would get blown off the tracks.

It was frighteningly windy (for me) on the way to St. Anthony. I would have stopped if there indeed was was someplace to stop, but there is nothing on that ride northeast to St. Anthony. It occurred to me I wouldn’t want to stop anyway since I wasn’t sure I could hold the bike up against the wind.

I was pretty fried by the time we got close to St. Anthony and turned north on 436 to go to L’Anse aux Meadows. There was a short stretch of pavement and the road gave way to construction and a bed of deep gravel. I made it about 3 km down the road and had a melt down. I had been terrified of the wind, I was worn out by fear, and this was more than I could handle in one day. I was so scared and I cried. Jean-Francois came back and was very kind. Patiently explained that I couldn’t just stop there. People stopped and asked if we needed help and he told them I was just upset. I stayed put until I wasn’t crying, let JF turn my motorcycle around, and rode back to pavement. Thank god.

We got into St. Anthony and I declared it a rain day (hotels were supposed to be reserved for rain days) even though it was raining and we stayed at Grenfell Heritage House in a room that had a wonderfully comfortable bed. Beds are so awesome after several nights of camping…

That night we went to the Lightkeepers for a nice seafood dinner and watched whales playing in the water off shore. It was a lovely evening.

8/11 Rain kept us at the hotel until 10:00. We stored our stuff before leaving because I was going to ride with Jean-Francois to get out to L’Anse aux Meadows. I cannot tell you how awful the road was and how glad I was that I wan NOT on my motorcycle. They had torn the road up more — you can see pictures at the link below. I know they have to do all their road construction in the summer, but the degree of this destruction with no way around it was ridiculous. Even cars were having a hard time on the road.

The day had turned bright and sunny and L’Anse aux Meadows was worth the trip. They have preserved the mounds from the original buildings and it was amazing to stand there and look out at what they had seen when they arrived so long ago in their small boats. I read that they never traveled unless land was with two days. That’s how they crossed the North Atlantic from Norway – Iceland to Greenland to Newfoundland. Replicas of there homes are reconstructed a short distance away.

We walked the hiking trail along the shore and saw two more moose galloping across the park on the way back.

If you go to L’Anse aux Meadows go to the Norseman for a meal while you’re there — wonderful food.

By the way — 436 was even worse on the trip back. Soooo glad I was riding with JF. We left for St. Barbe (ferry to Labrador) around 6:30 and camped at an abandoned campground that night.

Newfoundland feels so strongly about keeping people off the roads at night because of collisions with moose they encourage what they call “gravel pit” camping. If the sun is going down and you are out in the middle of nowhere, pull over where ever you find a decent spot and no one will question you. There were signs everywhere posting how many people had died in moose accidents that year.

Pictures of L’Anse aux Meadows:
http://motorcycle-journeys.com/past/canada_2009/photos/newfoundland/lanse_aux_meadows/index.html