Tuesday, 27 June 2006

Grand Bruit to Burgeo (Newfoundland)

It was dark inside the storehouse when I woke up, but I could see the light creeping in around the door. I took a stroll around Grand Bruit and took some photographs in the fog. By 7:30 am I could tell where the sun was behind the clouds and then some patches of blus sky appeared overhead, and as the ferry arrived the sun finally broke through. The turnaround time for the ferry was pretty quick - in about 5 minutes we were loaded and off for the 3 hour voyage to Burgeo. We were back under the grey cloud but clear off the fog which we could see lying along the coast, with the mountain tops poking through. En route there were Orca, but only the skipper got to see these (damn) but we did get a good view of some dolphins. I don't know what species they were, but they were quite large.

We were enveloped by the fog again as we came into Burgeo. The place seemed deserted as I cycled from the wharf. By comparison with Grand Bruit, Burgeo is a heaving metropolis of 2000 people. Away from the wharf there was less fog and more people, shops and house. It's not surprising that Burgeo is so big as it is the only place along this part of the coast that a road access; the 480 is a side road off the TransCanada Highway that travels for 148 km through 'the barrens' to Burgeo with no other settlements along the way.

I cycled round the town and tried to suss out the lie of the land. I found the supermarket and stocked up on food. As I don't have much cycling over the next couple of days I could buy much more than I would normally carry to give myself a bit of variety. Having bought loads of food I then went to Joy's Place and treated myself to lunch. From them I found out where to find the Town Office (to get a rough map of town) and the school (where the library and internet were) When I was in the washroom at the library, I was dryinig my hands under the blower, when I noticed the following on a condom machine : "Condoms $1 - Loonys only" ! (A condom machine in a school/library - very enlightened!) Loonys and Toonys incidentally are what the Canadians call the $1 and $2 coins. My theory is Loony comes from the French L'une and Toony from the English Two.

Burgeo is quite a pretty place too, with lots of water. Around each corner is either a little lake or an inlet from the sea, so sheltered and calm that they almost look like a lake too. The town seems to have been built on a series of islands that are now seamlessly connected. From town I cycled out to Sandbanks Provincial Park where I pitched the tent ($13, showers free) The park has a series of trails, but as it was foggy I cycled back to town and watched the France v Spain match at Joy's Place. As it's difficult to find anything to eat that isn't 'something and chips' I tried the one of the Chinese 'combination dishes' on offer at Joy's Place. It was pretty good and certainly made a pleasant change.

Distance: 19.3 km
Cycling time: 1:20
Total distance: 2460.1 km