Monday, 03 July 2006

Swift Current to Arnolds Cove (Newfoundland)

The rain turned to thunder in the night and in the morning I lay in bed waiting for the rain to stop so I wasn't on the road until 8:45. In Swift Current, I sat on the steps of Holly's Convenience while waiting the 5 minutes for them to open at 9 am. A packet of apple turnovers and fruit juice was my breakfast. There was some light drizzle in the air, but not enough to warrant keeping on my rain-jacket as I was soon too hot. Once I climbed up away from the bay near Garden Cove I was up in the cloud and fog once again. This time it was much denser with visibility at times down to only 50 m.

From Swift Current to Goobies and the TransCanada Highway (TCH) was only 24 km which meant about one and a half hours of cycling. I was relieved to get to Goobies and was looking forward to a hot cooked breakfast when I made the mistake of following a gravel road south, which on my map joined up with the TCH. After 3 km it petered out into a dead-end, so I had to back-track. Very frustrating.

Where the route 210 joins the TCH there is a Visitor Information Centre with some gas stations and restaurants, so I tried out the restaurant in the Irvings gas station (A major supplier here in Canada) The breakfast was good and of course, no skimping on the tea. My hands were cold and damp from cycling in the fog, which made writing diary difficult for a while.

When I set off again on the TCH I was heading south straight into the wind, so it was pretty unpleasant - chilly, wet and slow. The road was moderately busy but the shoulder was quite broad so I never really felt it was too dangerous, but the thought is always there. There were a lot of RV's on the road so the tourist season must really be gearing up now. The 20 km to the Arnolds Cove turning seemed to take ages although it can't have been more that an hour and a half. Just when I was thinking that the spray from the road wasn't too bad, 2 large articulated lorries went past and doused me in spray.

When I stopped at the Tankers Inn at the Arnolds Cove turning, I went straight to the washrooms to wring out my mitts and run my hands under the hot tap to warm them up. The cycle into Arnolds Cove made a pleasant change from the TCH although there wasn't much to see. It's quite a big village - I think because it services the oil industry. I had detoured there on the off-chance that the C@P site at the library would be open - it wasn't. (A knock-on of Canada Day being on the Saturday)

I cycled back to the TCH knowing that there was a campsite only 5 km along the road, and given the atrocious conditions I decided that I had done enough for the day. I found a pleasant spot at the Putt 'n' Paddle campground, pitched the tent and crawled in to make myself as comfortable as possible.

When I had dried out and warmed up, I went up to the camp office to see if I could get my camera batteries charged. I got chatting to the owner, Lew Osmond, and after a while he invited me in for a cup of tea. We ended up talking for a couple of hours and he gave me some of his fishing tackle and some hints and tips - so hopefully if I get to wild camp somewhere nice I can see if I can get some trout for the pan. He also offered to take me fishing if he has time when I return back this way. ($15 - no showers, maybe by next year)

The estimated moose population in Newfoundland is 125,000. I haven't seen a single one.

Distance: 66.4 km
Cycling time: 4:12
Total distance: 2962.5 km