Westward to Port Aux Basque Ferry, Newfoundland

Our last days in this incredibly beautiful province were upon us, and we are backtracking a bit to catch all the things we had missed during the last 6 weeks before heading to Gander for “Come From Away” and the ferry back to Cape Breton, those both being firm dates. These are somewhat in the order of my favorites first rather than a timeline. We have been here for almost two months and have experienced so much of Newfoundland.

Gander

I had already watched the “Come From Away” recording of the musical about the 9/11 tragedy when so many jets were forced to land here. Gander had the runways because before the days of big jets, it had been a refueling spot for crossing the Atlantic. The story is such a mixture of sad, funny, heartwarming, inspiring and highlights the genuine kindness of the Newfoundland people. It is without a doubt my favorite musical ever.

The Warm Embrace Project happened when the musical was to come to Gander for the first time in 2023. Since crocheted squares made into blankets are quintessential in Newfoundland culture, it was decided to ask for squares from anyone who had been touched by the event. They received over 2200 squares and these have become the backdrop to the Gander stage as well as the theater walls.

Gander Aviation Museum

This excellent museum also had everything from retired aircraft to a piece of the World Trade Center.

Gander had been a hub that allowed refueling for commercial, leisure, and military aircraft from North America to Europe during the early years before the jet era. For this reason there is much aviation history on display here.

Evidently there is a museum in the International airport that was also recommended. The infrastructure made it optimal for the military and we also went to the Memorial of a tragic crash in 1985 that killed over 200 people, mostly military,

Chance Cove Hike

As we rode back and left the Newfoundland East Coastline, we just couldn’t imagine anything getting better than Cobblers Path and the whales. After leaving St John’s, we had already stopped in Brigus, Cupids, the Newfoundland Distillery and had burgers at the Baccalieu Brewery. Arriving at dusk, we found a great overnight right at the Trail Parking area. There were no water features in sight, just up a large set of steps into a hill. The next morning a whole different story as we climbed up those steps.

The path opened to a gravel beach as we went but then we came into Chance Cove.

The colors of the water were between emerald and aqua and everywhere in between

Another surprise tucked away as we made our way West.

We finally have seen Capelin as they were the ones that did not survive the Capelin Roll and lay floating near the shore. Yuck.

Oceanview RV Park, Leading Tickle

This place had come highly recommended to us as a most beautiful place to camp and we had heard to call ahead.

And, yes, it is, even though we did not get one of the beachfront spots. We arrived as the sun was setting behind a thick cloud patch, so there was not too much to this one. But the peaceful cove with lapping water, and rock island towers is just what we needed.

A day of rest after so many back-to-back hikes, and they have a laundromat too. As I sat on the darkening beach finishing a phone call, a lady came down across the rock piles and invited us to join their campfire. She must have felt sorry for me as I sat in the darkness on the beach and she was just above with fire going.

The campground had two beaches and a hiking trail to a platform to view the whole area. There were only about 25 campsites and the place was delightfully small with the lovely manager telling us all about what to do in her darling Irish accent. Day 2 was very windy so we didn’t even get to the platform. I was thinking that there were so many place with rocks that made crashing and that was a tickle, but google says it’s a small opening to the sea. I was informed that there are two tickles in Leading Tickle.

We met a nice couple from Vermont Jeanie and husband who travelled in a 25-year old Pleasureway Van. They had asked the Campground host if there was any place that sold fresh cod, and in the next hour someone came driving up to their campsite and handed them a pound of cod, no charge. Our camp neighbors also gave us frozen cod that her brother had caught. Such hospitable, lovely people abound in Newfoundland. And look at this cute little cod caribou

Cape Saint George

This was such an unplanned gem, trying to figure out what to do in our two days as we travel from Corner Brook to Port aux Basque Marine Terminal. Secret Cove Brewery was on our radar after our Cedar Coves Hike, but they had a hard close at 5pm and we arrived at 455pm. So, we just carried on down the road for another 40 minutes and across the causeway until we could go no further and found this incredible boondocking spot, with pit toilets, water, and trash. Luckily it wasn’t too windy and we opened up to the ocean.

A 5-mile hike in the morning where we were on our way before 10 am, that has never been done. What an incredible cliff walk.

The coast was incredible and had a variety of hiking terrains.

It looked as if an ATV path had paralleled the hiking (All Trails) path. Then there would be an occasional sign pointing back to the hiking only section as we walked.

About ¼ mile from the end, we were walking down the ATV path when All Trails alerted us that we were off. When we back tracked, we found a small entrance back into the woods so we took it. This was a quite steep descent and overgrown with fallen trees blocking the path. We had decided to take the ATV Path back up this final section for this reason, and would recommend going down as well, or make sure to have poles and boots for the end of this All Trials hike section.

Both trails had access to a small peek through the trees to the massive vertical slab of rock where a seabird cacophony was in full swing. Unfortunately, it was pretty far for I-phone photos.

Rose Blanche Lighthouse Museum / Hike

This was supposed to be a day of killing time until the 11:45 pm Port aux Basque Ferry back to the mainland and here we saw yet another terrain of Newfoundland that is unique to the area and that we had not experienced. Rose Blanche means white rock in French.

Coastal marsh grass grows around the boulders and hills and is scattered with lovely flowers.

The lighthouse was a house that looked comfortable with immediate access to the fresnel light.

Many room displays included antiques of the time and some boat models. Very well done.

There was an enclave of cottages as well as an Air B and B right on the property. There was even a stage where they said there were concerts sometimes and a snack bar.

It looked like it was springing to life and lots of teenagers were busy applying fresh paint and a lovely gift shop too. I loved that feeling of this place. There was an option to park for the night and included restrooms and covered little eating areas if it rained for $25. Most importantly there was Wi-Fi because there was No cell coverage, in most of this entire area driving from Port aux Basque eastward along the coast. They just got electricity and a road in 1963.

The cool ocean breeze made it perfect to hike around and the paths were well maintained and displayed placards for many different flowers that one passed.

Barachois Falls

The intrigue of this area is bright green low shrubbery that grows over the boulders and hills and there is a multitude of small and large ponds that dot the landscape.

The main road east is narrow and not so safe for parking, so this Barachois Falls parking area was the first perfect place to get out and see the terrain. And bonus was a rushing cascading waterfall. The falls were yellow from the tannin, but it was lovely to be able to get right to the falls.

It was a short 1 mile short super easy hike with boardwalks and benches. This was right on the way to Rose Blanche Lighthouse and there were so many lilly covered ponds on the way.

Harvey Trail, Isle aux Morts

We still had a bit of time to kill before the ferry and decided to add on an easy 2 mile final coastal hike. A bit more up and down, but this lovely loop had so many cool flowers.

I named this one the ghost fluff flower, and there were a variety of fluffs and sizes.

Then look at the dark gray pine cones on this low growing coastal pine. We had seen a lot of low growing Christmas tree shrubbery on Cape St George, but not with those cones.

The Harvey Trail was named Ann and George Harvey and their Newfoundland dog, Hairy Man who was legendary for rescuing people from two shipwrecks in the 1800’s. As these dogs can weigh up to 160 pounds and have webbed feet for swimming, there are many stories of them rescuing and providing aid to their masters.

Many colorful chairs and gazebos dotted this leisurely 2 mile loop. The parking area was big and there were “No Parking” signs were not to be seen. This would be a good place to overnight before the ferry as it is close, but peaceful and allows for a bit of walking before the crossing.

The sky had started to sputter and it was time to say good-bye to Newfoundland and head to the ferry.

Pilley’s Island / Roberts Arm

We had decided to drive to one of those many arms that stick out on the Newfoundland coast, and try Bumblebee Bight Brewery on Pilley’s Island. This town looked very fresh and this up-scale restaurant brewery pub was popular because most people had reservations, not us. We just had our first really good porter there and delicious smoked fish dip and brussels sprouts as we sat at the small bar and interacted with the friendly staff as they poured beer. Bubble Bee Bight was a harvest host and would definitely stay in this area next time. As this was pretty far up the arm, with our overnight RV spot right across the water in the next arm, we had hoped for a ferry like they had at Cape Breton that just allowed you to go directly across, saving at least an hour of driving. But there was none and we arrived right before the dusk was setting in.

Cedar Cove

Driving from Corner Brook was beautiful and reminded us very much like the Pocono Mountains. We drove and drove, to Lark Cove and parked. As we started up the trail, people told us to take the ATV trail because it was really muddy on the hiking trail. They were very insistent so we took their advice, so not so picturesque except at the end.

A few Red Coast Guard trucks passed us on this gravel one lane path, and at the end of the hike we found the incident command post for a Swiss container ship that had run aground several months ago. This container ship became aground in this cove after losing power in a storm. All fuels and potentially polluting fluids were in the process of being removed as well as shipping containers, luckily all crew was rescued. They were still in the process of deciding if after unloading, it could be dragged back to sea or cut up and removed.

Talking with the Coast Guard was quite interesting for what we thought was to be a leisurely hike.

Then John spotted this owl on a rock on the way down and that made our nature loving selves complete. Evidently, they put this gravel road in specifically for the cleanup of the container ship, hope her home wasn’t destroyed as the gravel road was quite new.

Brigus

A quaint vibrant fishing town with old historic buildings.

It had a cool tunnel to the harbor because some founding father wanted a quick way to his boat. So after much blasting and slow hard pick-axing labor, they have a tunnel which now has lots of graffiti.

The old Vindicator Press building was now a really cool breakfast lunch café, and as recommended by of Topsail Pastor with an adjoining community garden that looked well organized.

We had an excellent meal after starving ourselves all the way from St. John’s. Evidently, they have quite the Blueberry fest at the end of Summer. Our St John’s friends have told us that the wild blueberries are especially delicious and grow all over the place.

Cupids

This is the oldest colony on Newfoundland dating back to August 1610 when the English arrived at Cupers Cove in Conception Bay. The settlers also tried to establish fur trading with the fist nation, Beothuk. The Cupids Legacy Center is a first-rate museum and I learned more about Cod Fishing. The cod were more plentiful in Labrador so at first men would just leave for the summer to fish. Then it became a thing for families to have a building in Labrador and the whole family would sail on schooners up there in the summer. They had movie clips from the early 50’s which told about summer family life in Labrador. The men would catch twice a day and the whole family would be involved drying them. But then the cod became scarce there too, and like all of Newfoundland was banned in 1992.

Alexander Murray Trail

We had become accustomed to hiking on cliff edges and looking down a dramatic rugged coast and emerald water. There was none of this at the scenic part of this loop trail including 2,200 steps;

the elves had been very busy here with this almost 6-mile, 1200 feet elevation trail. Yes, there was a nice view of the surrounding waters and green mountains, but it was all from quite a distance and even a bit hazy.

It was also quite hot and we got extreme heat warnings on our phones. But we are desert people, so besides being a bit humid we were fine. If we had seen a moose in one of those distant green hills maybe we would have felt more satisfied. It was almost a bit too processed for hiking and then there was probably more than a mile of walking through bushes although they were flowering pretty pink, but after a while a bit monotonous. Coastal Newfoundland hiking has made us spoiled. It was satisfying to look up at the mountain that we had accomplished, but that is what we have in our country.

So this is the first hike with which I felt a bit ho hum. It was a bit out of the way, especially since the highway takes you way south to Gander and Grand Falls-Windsor. And then back up one of those many coastal peninsulas, thankfully it was not at the end. The parking for the trail was across the street on the highway and there was a gift shop right near the trail head and looked like a private residence attached to it. We stopped in at the Roy’s Pub just next store and got to chat with Terry, a local guy which is always so refreshing. He said that right up the road there is a place called Rattling Brook which would also be a good place to overnight park. We have no cell service here, but the Pub had a Wi-Fi. Behind the pub there was a big gravel parking lot and a covered picnic area – all very new with a sign that just said sponsored by the Town of Kings Point, and I can even get the Wi-Fi from the pub as I type at the picnic table.

Easting/Drinking

Newfoundland Distillery, Clarks Beach

This was a classy place right on the water’s edge with Jared shaking up excellent cocktails. John had just found out that his eye pressure was still low and was a bit blue about this news. Jared shook several espresso martinis which he muddled with a hot pepper, similar to cayenne pepper, no annoying seeds here. He then suggested using spiced rum which was a little twist and John was feeling better in no time. Luckily I was the driver!

Harbor Grounds, Corn Brook

Corner Brook was a good stopping spot on the journey west to the ferry. The forecast was rain, and we were waiting it out. This is one of the spend all afternoon sucking up their Wi-Fi to get my photos and backups on the web and also posting my blog. Much of rural Newfoundland which is away from the ½ dozen big cities has very limited cell coverage and there is even quite a bit of 3G which means phone calling for the most part. Many times pubs and restaurants have poor Wi-FI, so it is a bit challenging in these areas. Corner Brook is one of those cities that actually had some 5G. They didn’t seem to mind and as we looked over the harbor where a big cruise ship had been diverted here because of the bad weather in Labrador. The homemade soups and savory bacon and cheese biscuit was excellent, not to mention their coffee as well. Perfect way to spend a rainy morning into the afternoon.

Boomstick Inn and Brewery

Well we can’t go to Corner Brook without visiting our favorite Boomstick Brewery, we needed a place to overnight and the back parking lot we knew to be perfect for Vinny. We met our waitress from our first days on the province, and this time we got acquainted with the another bartender. Well he had yet another way of adding heat to John’s Espresso Martini. He had a special bottle of tequila that had cayenne peppers at the bottom. So now this martini, maybe it’s not a martini any more, was made with tequila. It left the heat a bit in your chest rather than at your mouth.

Rivers Edge Grill and Salmon Interpretation Center

Left Gander trying to find a place for breakfast, no luck. We had camped in the Elks Parking lot after meeting a member who was running the bar at Come From Away. He said we were welcome to stay in Lodge parking. The town of Gander seems to have few restaurants that caught our eye. Rosie Bakery was closed on Sunday so we carried onto Grand Falls Windsor where we not only had a delightful breakfast on the deck, but also adjoining was a salmon interpretive center where you could see salmon going through the fish ladder and learn about the life of a salmon.

Deer Lake Strawberry Festival

The traverse to the ferry allowed us to stop here at the final fest day on a Sunday. They had two evening bands scheduled, one of which had been recommended to us. We found a great overnight spot in a parking lot that was full of festival goers and undoubtedly would empty out.

The festival was like a big carnival, but had a stage and beer tent in the back, not quite our cup of tea. We decided to go to the Beach Restaurant which was right on Deer Lake, but had to cross a busy road. Finally found our way, discovering a nice path on the way back, but still had to hurdle the metal highway fence back to the main street area of town. The place needs a bit of city planning to make it walking friendly. I did find a chocolate covered strawberry at the fest, but that is about for the “strawberry” designation of the fest on this last evening. We met a very nice group of people, but besides the last band, it was not our thing even though the fest had been going on for years. John did however do his first axe throwing at this carnival.

Deer Lake is a convenient stopping place, and on our first days had really good ice cream. We had also stopped at Peter’s Pizza here as we went to Gros Morne from Twillingate and it was good and convenient with Wi-Fi.

Well this concludes our Newfoundland two month Vinny VanGo Adventures.

BTW We have come to understand that the term Newfie is considered especially by the mature generation to be derogatory, whereas I only mean it in an endearing and admiring way, I have asked many people now and it seems like younger generation does not feel quite that way. It seems like from the times when Newfoundland Labrador joined Canada in 1949, and was no longer a self-governing dominion within the British Empire, my perception was that they were looked down upon like newcomers have been in many cultures. They were called Newfies. I wonder if the Kiwis in New Zealand have a similar opposition in meaning?

Westward to the Ferry