Our last couple of hours on the Island of St. Pierre were wet ones. We didn't mind, we just relaxed and let the experience settle and soak in. In addition, I always appreciate visiting a place with their typical weather. It's part of getting beneath the tourist veneer and feeling what it's really like to live there.
Crossing back over to the mainland was a mild north Atlantic experience. A little Gravol did the trick for the first half of the voyage, then the protection of the mainland smoothed out the rest.
When we arrived back at Fortune, on the southern tip of the Burin Peninsula, the rain and winds continued. Rather than camping in the rain, we motored on with Penny following behind. I had expected the topography to be more rugged given the Peninsula sticking 200 kms out into the Sea, but in fact, much of the barren land was quite low with open sweeping vistas down to the water. I expect it's a cold and windy place in the winter. In hindsight, I realize we could have captured it nicely on a video, but that's just hindsight.
Though not part of the trip plan, we drove on to better weather and the isthmus that connects the Avalon Peninsula to the rest of Newfoundland. There was a nice campground at a place called Bellevue Beach. The French name tells all, and here's a video that better makes the point ...
The next leg took us north to the Bonavista Peninsula, and well known places such as Come By Chance, Trinity, and Cape Bonavista. Take a look ...
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There are lots of stories about ships wrecked
and lives lost on this rugged coastline.
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On one hand there's beauty, but on the
other,
it shows the fishing infrastructure
left for nature to reclaim.
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A glimmer of hope in Trinity East that there
will be a fishing industry in the future. |
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| On the Bonavista, there were islands with hundreds of Pufins. |
While lost on the back roads before leaving the Peninsula, we came across a moose that led us slowly down the road for many meters before he headed off into the heavy underbrush. He was just one of four moose we saw on our trip. One other was standing in the ditch along the Trans Canada highway, and two were dead alongside the road.
On our nine day trip, we saw beauty in the rugged scenery, the people we met, and the stories they told. But, we also recognized the beasts, the oil refinery at Come By Change, and the derelict fishing infrastructure representing lives of the people that lived in the many outports long before we arrived.
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| The Oil Refinery at Come By Change. |
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| A simpler life; this lone house overlooks the sea. |
Along the coastlines, we saw new growth in the many budding tourist businesses trying to supplement the struggling fishing industry. We also saw the beauty in our moose encounter, but also the wrecks of 2 trucks that may have been the result of their moose encounters.
We love Newfoundland with all its beauty, and its beasts.
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