End of Days

This is our last day in Canada for a while.  American customs, Homeland Security and CIA willing we will cross into the US tomorrow.  Tomorrow night we will, hopefully, be in Bangor Maine. 

As we were heading to the ferry we encountered very strong winds.  Apparently Environment Canada posted a “Wreckhouse” wind warning.  Now THAT sounds ominous!  Wreckhouse, we found out, is a place just to the North and West of the ferry terminal where the wind can get up to 200 kph.  It is called Wreckhouse because the wind used to blow the trains off the tracks and has even blown semi-trailer trucks off the road.  As we were approaching Port Aux Basques there was a huge flashing sign saying there was a high wind hazard and cars should pull off the road.  I did not know if that meant right there or if the wind got too strong.  It was unclear.  You would think that with an issue like that they would try to be specific.  Luckily we had booked our accommodation at a place called Codroy, which was just before the Wreckhouse area.   The wind howled until about midnight.  I kept looking outside to see if there were any semi’s flying by, but no luck.  Just a few houses and an old woman with a pointy hat on a bicycle.

We came across from Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland to North Sydney, Nova Scotia on the Marine Atlantic Ferry.   We all gripe about BC Ferries and all the problems that beset them but now that I have seen Marine Atlantic BC Ferries looks pretty good.  If Marine Atlantic is the Air Canada of ferries then BC Ferries is the Westjet.  The ferry was an hour and a half late leaving Newfoundland after taking two and a half hours to load.  When we got to Sydney it took almost that long to unload.  Apparently a motor home was stalled and no one could leave the ship until it got started again.   I wonder what would happen if there was an emergency?

Our car was sequestered in the belly of the ferry which meant that we had to drive down a ramp to the front of the ferry then back up to reach our parking space.  When it came time to unload we had to drive to the front of the ferry and turn around and go up the ramp to the stern of the ferry and turn around again and drive in a circle once more to eventually get to a ramp off the ferry.   We were humming the “Blue Danube” waltz as we went around and around and around in circles inside the ferry.  How we maintained the good humour to do so is questionable.

It was sad to leave Newfoundland.  We both really enjoyed our stay there.  Everyone at the B&B in Sydney agreed with us.  Most of them had been on the same ferry as us and the topic at breakfast was, of course, Marine Atlantic.  I tried to change the subject to “Newfoundland” to make sure that the ferry service did not leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.  The great breaky helped.

Bald Eagle flying over Bras D'Or lake- Cape Breton

Since our next destination is Florida we are going to have to start training for further drives.   Up until now, because I am a wuss, we have only been averaging about 100 k per day.   Now that I am not on the bike we can extend our distances; but that will take some training.  Our bums are not used to sitting for that long on soft seats.  Today we drove from Sydney to Moncton – about 500 kilometers.  We got out of the car like much older people – groaning and grumbling and stretching our backs.

There are a couple of hurricanes hanging about off the east coast.  I hope we don’t encounter them in any meaningful way.  Our little car with the carrier on the roof and the bicycles hanging off the back is not the most aerodynamic of vehicles.  Even with me sitting inside it is not really heavy although it is pretty close to the ground.  If the wind is behind us, great!   If it is from the side or the front we might end up going some place we hadn’t planned on...  

What the wind was blowing

I don't think we are in Kansas anymore...

  

I'se de bye

Gros Morne mountain

Newfoundland continues to enchant us. We have left St. John’s and are gradually working our way across the province to Port Au Basque to catch the ferry to Nova Scotia.  We stopped in Gander to spend the night and went for a walk to work out the kinks from sitting in the car too long.   In contrast to St. John’s, which is the oldest city in North America, Gander is relatively new having been built during WW2 as an airbase.  It is the site of the famous 9-11 incident which brought the hospitality of the Newfoundlanders to fame.  This hospitality and warmth is a real thing.  Everyone we met on the street greeted us – even a group of young girls who interrupted their heavy conversation about hair and makeup to smile and say hello.  Our waitress at the restaurant said to us, “ Oi reconnize ye frum earlier t’day, me love.  Ye were out walkin’, eh?”

I don’t think you could get away with anything in Gander…

We went and explored a bit of Gros Morne National park yesterday and today.  Telen had been there before about twenty years ago and wanted to see it again.  It really is beautiful and apparently is a world heritage site because of that.  Not to demean the park but, as beautiful as it is, it is not more beautiful than most places in BC - including our own Vancouver Island.  It is different, however, in that there are many small villages perched right on the shore and the houses are placed in more or less complete disorder.  None of this "streets and avenues" business – you build the houses where you live, bye.

The Village of Norris Point

We stopped at a lighthouse and had a chat with the Parks Canada lady who was curating it.  We asked her where a good place to get lunch was and she said to go to Jackie’s Place.  When I asked her where that was she pointed out the door and said “Roight dere.”   I looked out the door and all I could see was the parking lot and some trees.  When I looked puzzled she said, “Oi can see it frum here, bye!” and pointed across the bay to the village of Rocky Harbour in the distance.  We never did find Jackie or her restaurant, if she had one.   For all we know it might have just been Jackie’s house and maybe she made a good lunch.

Interestingly enough, in the lighthouse where they had a brief history of the west of Newfoundland, they referred to 1949 as the year Canada joined Newfoundland.   I love it.

Today we took a cruise around Bonne Bay which is part of Gros Morne park.  It was quite interesting learning about the history and geology of the area.  We came across some porpoises in the bay and we gave chase.   I thought we were going to run them down we came so close and the porpoises were swimming hard to get away.   If a captain had done that in BC we would find him hanging above the harbor with the crows feasting on his eyeballs.

Telen spotted a moose on the hillside as we were cruising by.  Apparently moose were introduced here in 1900 and have since made a concerted effort to take over Newfoundland.

Telen's Moose running from the sound of a wok 

I think they should introduce some Chinese to deal with them.  I am sure they would come up with some recipes for stir-fried moose.   But then what would we do with all the Chinese?

I‘m not sure Telen will forgive me for that remark…

I mean, Boris and Natasha haven’t even been able to deal with one Moose much less over half a million of them.

Sunning myself on the balmy beaches of Newfoundland near Lobster Cove Head

Here are some interesting things we noticed here.  Lots of houses still have their Christmas lights up.   And that is not through neglect – the houses and yards here are immaculate.  People seem to put solar lights in the cemeteries on the graves of their loved ones.  Are ghosts afraid of the dark?  No one gives you distances in kilometers; they give to you in time.   “It’s boot 1 are west of ‘ere, bye.” (it’s about 1 hour west of here, boy)

People here in Newfoundland are proud of being Newfies.  They have a long history of taking care of each other and struggling to wrest a living from an inhospitable land.  This has shaped their character making them strong, proud, resilient and caring. 

They have a right to be proud.

Saint John's

I am finally able to include some pictures now.   So, for those of you who are scoffing at my yellow streak with regards to Cape Breton I am enclosing some photos of the road.  These are not my photos.  I am not sure how I would get into a position to get these photos and if I did the pictures would only be a shaky blur.  Ok, I am a wuss.

The road.  Seriously!

I never claimed to be otherwise.

We have made it to St. John’s Newfoundland.  It is not that easy to get here.   The only way to get to Newfoundland is by ferry.  This is not your BC ferry where the trip lasts one and a half hours and you barely have time to finish your coffee.   The trip from North Sydney Nova Scotia to Argentia Newfoundland is sixteen hours.  So, since it was rainy, windy and cold and since the car does not float well, we took the ferry. 

We might have better off swimming.

Marine Atlantic is the Air Canada of ferry corporations.  “We are not happy until you are unhappy”.  As I mentioned before they bumped us by 2 days so that we had to kill 2 days and, since we did the Cabot trail, those 2 days nearly killed me.  When we got to the ferry terminal at 4 pm they told us that they had just called for boarding.   I thought that was peculiar because the ferry did not leave for 2 hours.  When we finally boarded the ferry it was almost 6 pm.  2 hours to load the ferry??   We had booked a cabin to sleep in since the ferry was running overnight. No one had told us which cabin was ours so we went to the purser’s office to find out.  Well, since we had been bumped from a previous sailing our cabin had been cancelled and we were put on a waiting list. No one had told us that!  I was a little bit rude to the gentleman who was dealing with us.  I don’t think that put me in their good books.

Telen was trying to calm me down and sent me down to the car to get some pillows and a blanket so we could try to sleep in a chair overnight.  I was not looking forward to trying to ride into St. John’s with no sleep.   We decided to get some dinner and paid an exorbitant amount of money for the buffet.  I thought that might calm me down a little.  The ray of light in this buffet was the roast beef.  I saved a few slabs of it to use as soles for my bike shoes.  Far better than the carbon fibre they came with.   Periodically there would be announcements of people who were on the waiting list to come and get their cabin.  About halfway through dinner our name was called and we scurried to the reception to get our cabin assignment.  $189.00 for a cabin.   It had better be good.   I went down to get our toiletries, clothes etc from the car.   Sorry, once the vessel is underway your are not allowed to access your motor-vehicle, sir.

So now we had a cabin but not even a toothbrush!  We ended up buying travel toothbrushes and a disposable razor from the gift shop and retired to our cabin.  The cabin was the size of a closet with 2 sets of bunks in it set amidships so we did not even have a window.   For $189.00!

To compensate us for our two day delay Marine Atlantic was mailing us vouchers for $200.00 to be used on our next trip with them.  Mailing them to Victoria!   So, we went into the ferry terminal in Argentia to see if we could get the vouchers directly and use them on our trip back.  They pulled the “not my department” trick on me and everyone gave me another person to phone but “Dey won’t be in ‘til Tuesday, sor.  It’s a long weekend, ya know.”

There is no way off of Newfoundland except by Marine Atlantic.  I think they are a secret department of the federal government whose mission is to keep Newfoundlanders from spreading their subversive good natures to the rest of Canada.

In spite of our rude introduction to Newfoundland we love it here.  Mind you, we are here in the summer when the weather is good.  There is so much energy and life in this place and the city itself is beautiful.  And no one can top the Newfies for warmth and humour.

Telen dipping her wheel in the Atlantic

me too!

Well, I made it to the other side of the continent and climbed Signal Hill.  I did it!  I lifted my bike up for the traditional “end of the trip” salute on the top of Signal Hill with some very mixed emotions; elation that I did it and sadness that the cycling part is over.  There was some pride in that I rode most of the way and humbleness that I did not ride the whole way.  I know that Telen is proud of me and that feels good but I am not completely proud of myself because I had to ride in the car some of the time.

The Traditional Cyclist's Salute

We celebrated with lobster for dinner.  I am actually getting kind of tired of Lobster.  We went to a café today for lunch that served traditional Newfoundland food.   Telen had cod tongues.  Apparently that is very popular here.  I had cod au gratin.  Interesting taste sensation.  Cod and cheese…  Maybe I will stick with lobster.  

This trip has shown me how amazing Canada is.  And how big!  It has shown me how the culture changes as one travels across the country.  It makes me proud to say I am Canadian.

Telen writes:

Being here in Newfoundland has brought back fond memories of how warm and gentle the Newfies are.  I lived here for a year in 1988 completing my internship.  St. John’s has grown in size and prospered into a quaint metropolis.  There are various coffee specialty shops, even a Starbucks and a selection of ethnic cuisine restaurants.  None of these was available 24 years ago.  After the collapse of the cod fisheries in the early 1990’s, the oil industry from Hibernia has gradually helped the recovery of the economy.  The locals said that they are pleased to see people returning to the Rock.  How can you not love this place when a sentence is often finished with “mi darling”, “mi dukky” or “mi love”.

Yes, I do like eating cod tongues!

I feel a twinge of sadness that this portion of our journey is near the end.  Each place we have visited and all the people we have met will be in our memories for a long time to come.