Sunday, 25 June 2006

Port aux Basques to J T Cheeseman Provincial Park (Newfoundland)

The cafeteria was serving breakfast, including the bog-standard North American breakfast; eggs, sausage/bacon/ham, homefries, toast, tea/coffee. Newfoundland (Nfld) is in it's very own time zone, so after a smooth 5 hour 20 minute crossing we docked at 7:50 am Newfoundland time. We had been sailing through fog, but as we arrived into Port aux Basques the fog was clearing and immediately I was in love with Newfoundland. It reminded me so much of the western Isles of Scotland. It puts me into something of a quandary. I'm already thinking of spending much more time here than I had 'planned' - but if I spend too long here then it may jeopardise any chance of getting across Canada and the Rockies before the end of the cycling season. But I guess that's the beauty of travelling without any fixed plan or schedule, you can change as you want.

I was planning just to travel up the west coast of Newfoundland and then get the ferry over to Quebec. Now I have 2 decisions to make; 45 km east of Port aux Basques, the road ends - but there is a series of small ferries along the south coast that serve the small fishing communities that have no road access. Once committed, it will take 4 or 5 days to get as far as Bay l'Argent on the Burin Peninsular. There is one short section to cycle in the middle, but it will give me 3 days of rest from cycling. The second decision will whether I cycle all the way to St Johns on the Avalon Peninsular and back again, but I can delay that decision until I get to the delightfully named Goobies.

I had been first to board the ferry in North Sydney, but I was last to leave in Port aux Basques. I waited until all the cars had left before cycling out of the ferry terminal. I had forgotten to ask where the Visitor Information Centre was. (I put this down to tiredness and lack of sleep) In North Sydney there was one in the Marine Atlantic terminal building, so I was on the verge of turning back when I spied a sign for the VIC in the distance. (A white ? on horrible brown background)

I have plenty of time on my hands today (where does that saying come from; "time on my hands") as there is a campsite 7 km west of Port aux Basques, so I spent quite some time in the Visitor Information Centre. (VIC) While I was there the fog rolled in and Port aux Basques disappeared from view although oddly the VIC sat alone basking in the sun. The friendly and helpful lady in the VIC (who bore a more than passing resemblance to Dot Cotton) actually hails from one of the little fishing villages that's on the ferry. 'Outports' is the word that is used to describe these fishing villages that have to access except by boat.

When I finally cycled back down into Port aux Basques, the fog was starting to thin and blow away. As I sat in the Harbour restaurant, the ferry departed on its return journey to North Sydney and Port aux Basques too basked in the sunshine. It was so beautiful. I suddenly felt so lonely in spite of the beautiful surroundings, or perhaps because it them - having no-one to share it with.

I took a tour round town. Most places were closed as it was a Sunday. When the fog blew in once again - it was apt to appear as quickly as it could disappear - I dropped in to the Hotel Port aux Basques and sat alone in their lounge bar watching the second half of the England v. Ecuador game. David Beckham scored within 5 minutes of me turning on the TV, so I'll claim full credit for that.

From Port aux Basques I rode out on the T'Railway - an old railway line that runs all the way from Port aux Basques to St John's in the east, a distance of 883 km (547 miles) (www.trailway.ca) The T'Railway starts not surprisingly next to the Railway Heritage Museum (closed in spite of the sign) and runs through some beautiful country in the short distance to the J T Cheeseman Provincial Park where I camped for the night ($13, showers free. Drinking water to be boiled) I was so tired after only 4 hours sleep on the ferry that I spent most of the evening snoozing in the tent, only getting up at 10:30 to have a shower and collect my now recharged batteries from the camp office.

Distance: 31.3 km
Cycling time: 2:38
Total distance: 2377.5 km