Saturday 01 July 2006 (Canada Day)

Frenchmans Cove to Lawn

It rained heavily in the night, and come the morning the weather wasn't looking too promising. I a gap in the showers I cycled the short distance down to the Community Centre where they were serving breakfast as part of their Canada Day celebrations. When they heard I was cycling, they loaded up my plate - eggs, bologna, beans, pancakes, toast, toutons (fried bread dough - tasty) Newfoundlanders, like Kiwis, seem to pronounce e like i : "Wit on the bike today?" - Well, I like to think I'm quite humorous...

After my hearty breakfast I went back to the campsite to pack up the tent while it was dry. I'd been told over breakfast to "Watch out for the moose!" I haven't seen any. "There's lots of them between here and Grand Bank". Lots? I'm bound to see at least one then? I set off on my wold moose chase at about 9:30.

The road wasn't too hilly but as expected I was still cycling into the prevailing wind so that even on the flat it was difficult to maintain a speed much more than 10 - 12 km/h. After more than 2 hours and 35 km I arrived in Grand Bank (still moose-less) and stopped at the Provincial Seaman's Museum for an hour or so and then cycled into town and found Sharon's Nook - Tea Room. A very nice little restaurant where I had the homemade lasagna with garlic bread and Chef's salad. Grand Bank was once a major cod fishing port, but looks very quiet nowadays. The weather had stayed dry, indeed there were the occasional patches of blue sky and even some sun.

Fortune was awaiting me 3 km along the road; the little community of Fortune that is. From here you can go to France for the day! There is a daily ferry service to St. Pierre, an island 20 km off the coast that is still a French territory. You need your passport to go.

It was a depressing thought that I still had 20 km to go cycling straight into the wind, but there was nothing else to do but grin and bear it. "The Boot" as the bottom part of the Burin Peninsula is known because of its shape, is flatter and less rugged, but still seems to be mainly open wilderness. By 4 pm I was moving into a thin fog of low cloud and when I did feel the occasional bit of warmth from the sun, it was soon whisked away by the wind. As I reached the 'toe' of The Boot and finally turned the corner, I was at last spared the worst of the wind but now the fog was much thicker, with visibility down to 100 yards at the most. Although the temperature dropped by 10 degrees to 14 C I was still able to carry on in just shorts and t-shirt. By 5 pm I reached Lamaline and it seemed as though I had been riding in the think fog for hours when in fact it had only been 30 minutes. Time seemed to stretch out in my little bubble of visibility. At least the road was now fairly quiet, and the fog and the rough road surface conspired to slow down any passing traffic. Most drivers here seemed not to bother with lights in the fog.

Someone in Lamaline was telling me that it was 'always foggy here', so there seemed to be little point in stopping, I might as well carry on cycling. The fog was condensing on my cycling helmet and dripping off the visor. It was also condensing on the hair of my arms and legs and no doubt my beard. I had to take off my cycling specs, so that I could see where I was going. For 2 more hours I cycled on, seeing only the road ahead of me and a little bit of the 'barrens' to each side. Often if was difficult to tell if the road was going up or down - except for how difficult it was to pedal.

By 7 pm I had reached Lawn where I stopped to ask where I could camp. One suggestion was by the Town Office, and as I was pitching my tent a nearby resident came over and suggested that it might be better if I camped in their garden - so that's what I did. (Even if his wife was worried that I might be a terrorist! Maybe time for a haircut and a shave?) He seemed to end every sentence with "Yis boy"

Needless to say, no moose.

Distance: 104.8 km
Cycling time: 6:59
Total distance: 2723.0 km