Thursday, 29 June 2006

Francois to Rencontre East (Newfoundland)

I had set the alarm for 5:30 am so that I had plenty of time to have some breakfast and pack up the tent before heading down to get the ferry which was scheduled to depart at 7 am. I loaded up the bike as quickly as I could to escape the blackflies, which seemed to be immune to DEET here. Maybe they've learnt to hold their breath. I free wheeled down the steep paths to the wharf at 6:30 where the ferry lay apparently deserted. By the time I had loaded my luggage someone had appeared to help me with my bike. (Francois to Hermitage - $6.50)

The sky was overcast but there was no fog - until we set sail. As soon as we cleared the harbour and were out into the open sea we were swallowed up in a fog bank and the land disappeared. There was only one other passenger - a young lad who had been on yesterdays ferry trip. He was much chattier this morning (but he's not from Francois!) until he disappeared off to sleep.

It was too cold and damp to stay on the top deck for very long so I went below to the passenger cabin equipped with its old airline seats. I sat and read my Newfoundland & Labrador brochure. It's a 200 page colour brochure and so it's quite heavy. I went through and ripped out any pages I thought I could do without; shops and galleries, accommodation (except campsites), etc. It was about half the weight by the time I had finished. There's so much to see and do here it seems - you could easily spend the whole summer.

After two and a half hours we arrived at McCallum, another small outport, still in the fog. There was no cargo to load or unload, and only 3 new passengers to board so our visit to McCallum was very brief. We arrived into Hermitage at about 11 am after another foggy voyage. I headed up to the C@P site but that too was closed in spite of the sign (Open Tues, Weds & Thurs only) so I set off for the cycle to Pools Cove. The 364 and 360 roads were pretty hilly with a few steep bottom gear climbs but the scenery was beautiful. The low cloud hung over the mountain tops and the road when it climbed up higher. Just when things were looking bad and it was spitting with rain, the cloud behind me broke to reveal some blue sky and the sun which slowly caught up with me.

If the scenery was beautiful before, it was really beautiful now - spoiled only by the dreaded telegraph poles. I've had a rant about these before. I'm sure they look at the road to see which side is more scenic, and put them there. The 362 road to Pools Cove was flatter and more open, but no less beautiful. There were a couple of final hills to climb before I finally rolled down into Pools Cove, which has great views all around. My cycling for the day was over and I still hadn't seen any moose.

I went to Tara's Cafe, which sounds quite nice, but is actually more of a chip shop cum convenience store cum video shop. My young friend from the ferry was there (having been collected by his uncle in Hermitage) and was amused that I'd taken so long to get from hermitage to Pools Cove. Given the terrain I thought I'd done quite well - 54 km in a little over 3 hours. I cooled my self down with a 'soft-serve' ice cream, re-hydrated myself with a tea and re-fuelled with a clam dinner; deep fried battered clam strips and chips in gravy - like I said before, it's difficult to find food here that doesn't come with chips. If you're lucky enough to get coleslaw, it comes in a tiny plastic pot. Tara's daughter, Nikita, (10 in August) kept me company. She was very cheerful and chatty, telling me that she'd like to travel one day, to see the Statue of Liberty for real, and China! She was keen to learn new words and languages even though she found them difficult. She certainly has the personality to travel well. As I was leaving, she said that she hoped I'd come back one day; I didn't have the heart to say it was unlikely, so I said I hoped so too. You never know.

I cycled down to the wharf expecting to find the ferry but it was late in arriving, although there was still plenty of time before its scheduled departure time. When it did arrive the MV Marine Eagle seemed to be a little awkward for a ferry; the gangway was very steep, there was a limited cargo area and no inside passenger seating. It turned out that it was a stand-in for the normal ferry, the MV Northern Seal. When we finally set off it was only 5 minutes after the scheduled departure time at 5.50 pm and we sailed through the usual stunning scenery that I'm getting quite blase about now.

The ferrymen on this boat were all more friendly and chattier, and I also got chatting to one of the other 2 passengers, a lady who'd left Rencontre East ten years ago with her husband and 4 children to move to Alberta. She was telling me of the problems of the outports and Newfoundland in general - no jobs and the youngsters moving away. this was her first visit back in those ten years because of the cost of flying in Canada.

Rencontre East (Just called Rowncounter by the locals) is a bit larger than some of the other outports I've stayed in - about 200 permanent residents, but the paths were all still gravel so I had to push the bike up to the school only to find that the C@P site was closed for the summer for refurbishment. I'm so far behind with the blog now that I don't know if I'll ever be able to catch up!

I found a quiet spot behind the school to pitch the tent for the night - overlooking the harbour.

Distance: 54.8 km
Cycling time: 3:29
Total distance: 2521.7 km