Saturday, 22 July 2006

Deer Lake to Lomond River Lodge (Newfoundland)

Riddle for the day: What sucks when it blows?
(Email me if you have/want the answer)

The weather had started to break as it got dark, with the first few spots of rain. It rained quite a lot in the night - not heavy, but more of a thick drizzle - and in the morning the cloud was low and visibility was reduced by the drizzle. It didn't seem like a good day for cycling into Gros Morne National Park, so we were all thinking of having a rest day after our exertions. It's just a shame there wasn't much to do in Deer Lake; no internet open, no shops or nice cafes.

I lay in the tent struggling with Auracaria (Guardian cryptic crossword setter) and intermittently dozing while waiting to see if the weather would improve. In the end I gave up waiting and went out to Irvings for brunch, and bumped into Mike and Kelly coming out. They'd had the same idea and had been there for 2 hours reading the newspapers. We decided we'd consolidate the tents onto one campsite and with the money saved invest in another 6-pack of beer, but in the time I was having breakfast the weather improved quite a lot - the cloud lifted and there were some patches of blue sky - so I decided I might take the opportunity to move on.

Mike and Kelly weren't around at the campsite while I packed up, so I left a note and headed off on the 430 out of Deer Lake. It was still pretty warm, and with all the rain, pretty muggy. I was surprised that it was so warm as the wind was from the north - just the direction I was heading. The road was mostly uphill but with no steep hills to climb. En route I stopped at the Jack Ladder restaurant for a moose burger. If they're gonna keep hiding from me, I'm gonna keep eating 'em.

It's really nice the way people will just stop and chat to you; like PJ Fernandez who was just driving past in the opposite direction and stopped me for a chat. It occurred to me that Mike and Kelly might also decide to move on too with the better weather so I asked PJ to keep an eye out for them on the road and tell them I was heading for the Lomond River Lodge.

The weather was changeable. I was wetted and dried out a couple of times on the way to the campground at Lomond River lodge. It turned out to be quite a busy little campsite with cabins, a store, internet (slow dial-up) and a bar. ($15.96, showers free) Being a Saturday night they were having a band playing - hopefully not too noisily. While I was sitting in the office doing my emails, Mike and Kelly arrived. They hadn't seen PJ but had stopped at the first campsite along the road - much as I had done. They squeezed their tent onto my campsite; so we will get our beer together after all.

Distance: 48.6 km
Cycling time: 2:51
Total distance: 4376.2 km