Saturday, 29 July 2006

Port au Choix to Green Island Brook (Newfoundland)

I had just got back to the tent at 9:30 pm from updating blog when it started to rain. It rained pretty heavily (it always sounds worse in a tent) for a few hours, and there were some rumbles of thunder too, off in the distance - maybe over the Long Range Mountains. By morning the rain had stopped and the tent had almost been blown dry by the wind. Ingornachoix Bay, which had been calm last night, now had some small waves breaking onto the rocks.

I dragged myself from bed, forced down a breakfast of Nutri-grain bars (5) and yogurt, packed up the bike and was on the road again by 7:45. There seemed to be a migration of snails across the road from the beach side to that landward side - I don't know if that means anything. Storm coming? I didn't fancy their chances much of getting safely across.

From Port au Choix it was 13 km to get back to the 430, cycling into a weak offshore breeze from the south east. I 'cracked-on' to put some distance under my wheels while the weather was dry. By 10 am when it was starting to spit I had already done 40 km, and there wasn't much along the way other than the Long Range Mountains and trees to my right and the sea and a couple of very small communities to my left. Eddie's Cove West and Barr'd Harbour were just a handful of houses. Piles of lobster pots and some small potato allotments were also occasionally at the side of the road.

The spitting rain was getting slowly heavier, so I was quite damp by the time I got to the Viking 430 gas bar/store/restaurant at 11 am and almost 60 km. I guess I'm getting to one of the remoter parts of Newfoundland now; luxuries may be few and far between. At least I was expecting my breakfast to come on a plate rather than a polystyrene take-out box. Tea was 'make it yourself'.

It was about 1:30 pm and I had done about 90 km by the time I got to the St Barbe turning. St Barbe is where the 'Labrador Ferry' sails from (actually goes to Blanc Sablon in Quebec, right on the border with Labrador) I went to the ferry terminal to see if I could get any information about Blanc Sablon, but there was none to be had. The ticket office was closed. I went next door to the Dockside Motel for a nice pan-fried Cod lunch.

From St Barbe I headed back to the 430 and along the coast through a series of little fishing communities. At Flower's Cove I stopped to visit Marjorie's Bridge - a reconstruction of the first, and for a long time only, bridge giving access to the village, and also to see the 'Thrombolites' on the shore. I guess these are supposedly 'fossilized' stromatolites built by micro-organisms that aren't themselves preserved. Flower's Cove looked quite pretty - again a nice day would make it well worth a visit. Even on a day like today there is a misty ethereal light from the sun in the west that was quite enchanting.

I carried on through a few more communities - they are all quite close together here - and then decided that it might be a good idea to find somewhere to camp. After Eddie's Cove East there are no more communities on the road for 80 km or more and I thought that it might not be easy to find somewhere good to camp right next to the 430. Also, the sky to the east was looking quite dark and threatening. I stopped at Green Island Brook and asked around about somewhere good to camp. Eventually I found a nice spot back past the wharf and behind the beach - next to the fishing nets laid out to be washed by the rain and dried by the sun. I had toyed with the idea of carrying on cycling for a couple more hours, but it turned out to be a good decision as not long after I had pitched the tent, it started to rain.

This week was Green Island Brook's 'Come Home' week, where friends and family members are all invited back to the community, and events and activities are organised for the reunion. It's something I've seen quite a few times on my travels around Newfoundland. Last night they were supposed to have a bonfire and fireworks but it was cancelled because of the rain. Looks like it might be cancelled again tonight.

I went back to Minnie's Place in the evening, as they'd been so friendly and helpful, and also because they were the only place in town serving food. On thing that is common here in Newfoundland is having gravy on your chips/fries. At the town hall they had built a rough extension covered with tarpaulin, for the 'Come Home' party. The rain had collected between the layers of tarpaulin, so even though it had stopped raining outside it was still raining inside! I stopped in for a quick beer and then went to bed.

Distance: 136.4 km
Cycling time: 6:59
Total distance: 4833.2 km