Friday 14 July 2006

Trinity to Cape Bonavista (Newfoundland)

It was cold and cloudy in the morning, so I went back to 'bed' and treated myself to a lie-in. When I finally got up it took me much longer than usual to pack up, partly because I'd spent two nights in the same place so the tent was a bit more of a mess than usual, and also because I'd had to unpack the two front panniers to dry them out as they tend to leak a little in very wet weather.

It was after 10 am when I finally set off. Newfoundland isn't making things easy for me weather-wise; just when I could have done with one more day of wind from the south-west, I had to battle into a wind from the east - which could account for why it's turned so so the past couple of days. It was definitely a two-layer day for cycling as my cycle-computer was showing just 12 or 13 degrees Celsius.

It was a slow, cold, grey, hilly, chilly ride. After nearly 2 hours I had got as far as Port Union where I stopped at The Seaport Inn to rest and have lunch. To Bonavista was only another 15 km and as I was now cycling north the wind was less of a problem. The Ryan Premises in Bonavista is a National Historic Site of Canada. The remaining buildings represent part of the old Ryan estate established by James Ryan, a merchant, who imported goods to 'sell' to the fishermen in return for their salt cod. As the merchants controlled the prices for both the imported goods and the fish, he controlled the market and could keep the fisherfolk indebted whilst becoming immensely rich themselves. The millionaires of their day. So business practices never really change then. The Ryans also had premises in Trinity. The local fishing industry was incredibly productive, labour-intensive and hard.

The library was closed by the time I got there but I found a little cafe that had internet (The only place I've seen selling moose pie or caribou pie!) I cycled out through the Dungeon Provincial Park to the Cape Bonavista lighthouse with its colonies of puffin and other seabirds. By now it was getting late so I needed to find somewhere to camp for the night. I'd passed a little cafe on the road to the lighthouse, so on the way back I stopped and asked if I could camp in their garden - which gave me some shelter from the wind.

Distance: 63.5 km
Cycling time: 3:51
Total distance: 3722.5 km