Tuesday, 01 August 2006

L'Anse aux Meadows (Newfoundland)

It was cloudy when I got up during the night, and was still cloudy and chilly in the morning, but I was hopeful of a good day as there were some breaks in the cloud towards the horizon. As I was camped on a picnic site I thought that it wasn't a good idea to leave the tent there so I packed up and set off in search of breakfast, back 6 km to the Northern Delight Restaurant in Gunner's Cove.

As it was still cloudy and cool I cycled back to St. Lunaure-Griquet to the library to do some blog and research. I also needed to get some cash - fortunately many little convenience stores here have ATM's inside (Wouldn't last long in the UK!) - and go to the Post Office. In the afternoon I took a cycle out to Quirpon, yet another fishing village spread out in a thin ribbon all round the edge of a rocky headland and bay.

It was too cold and gloomy to bother doing any of the hiking I had hoped to do today, so I headed back to L'Anse aux Meadows to visit Norstead, a reconstruction of a Viking village and port of trade based on data from Scandinavia rather than Newfoundland. I guess it's cashing in on it's location next to the L'Anse aux Meadows Historic Site, but it's a not-for-profit organisation and gives some summer employment to the locals. It's a self guided tour, with costumed 'interpreters' in the various buildings. It filled some time, and I had a bit of laugh with the locals playing the part of the Vikings.

There is much evidence of the French heritage in the Northern Peninsula in the place names. L'Anse aux Meadows is thought to be a corruption of the French L'Anse aux Meduses - Cove of the Jellyfish.

From Norstead I went to The Norseman restaurant as I had signed up for the evening dinner theatre, even though it was still quite early, I sat and had a pot of tea to warm up and sit out of the wind. I used their restroom to get changed and have a shave before the dinner theatre began. It was an interesting evening; there were skits about the various inhabitants over the years, the Indians, the Vikings, etc. and talks on various aspects of Newfoundland culture. There was even an old fisheries minister in the audience, who being a politician, stood up and gave an impromptu speech. The music was a little disappointing, only some of it was traditional Newfoundland songs (sing-a-long!) at the end there were a couple of naff Country and Western songs that even I recognised (You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille...!) The Traditional Newfie food was Pea Soup, followed by pan-fried cod with salt-cod brewis (pron. brews) and wildberry tart. Overall a good entertaining evening.

It was pretty dark by the time the dinner was finished and I had to cycle a kilometre or so up the road to the Muddy Cove picnic site. There was the light of a quarter moon in the sky as I pitched the tent and crawled in for the night...

Distance: 40.4 km
Cycling time: 2:53
Total distance: 5028.9 km