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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The Red Bay Historic Site was very good — artifacts and information about the Basque fisherman who settled the area.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n