St. John's to Gros Morne

Wed. June 13:  St. John’s
                          

The morning’s agenda was a trek up Signal Hill, walking distance from the B and B.  There is so much history associated with this Hill.  Numerous battles were waged between the English and French and the final North American battle of the Seven Years' War was fought here in 1762.   From the Queen’s Battery we had a good view of the Harbour and the Narrows. At the top stands Cabot Tower, constructed in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee and the 400’s anniversary of John Cabot’s “Voyage of Discovery.”  It was finished in time for Marconi’s historic trans-Atlantic wireless reception in Dec. 1901.  We followed the 1.7 km coast-clinging North Head Trail down past the Narrows and through the former fishermen’s houses, now marine or craft shops, in Outer Battery, houses clinging to the cliffs inches from the road.  The Roses B and B, a "jelly house"

Following a siesta of several hours we headed downtown on Duckworth and Water Streets, and up to the pub area on George St. before settling on Nautical Nellie’s for pub fare.  We shared a bucket of mussels in a tangy sauce and an order of halibut with fruit garnish and parmesan-crusted fries…too much food.  This unpretentious English-style pub is frequented by more locals than tourists; the courthouse crowd stood around the bar enjoying a pint or two.  Today we were greeted by many friendly locals who were all obviously pleased with today’s change of weather (sun and high of 22.)  “It’s loovely wedder, isn’t it?”  We had to agree, coming from rainy, cool Vancouver!

Fri. June 15:  Gros Morne

Yesterday was a long drive across the province, about 700 kms, broken with stops for lunch and shopping for food as we're staying in a cabin. We found the cabin easily and made a simple dinner after quickly checking out the town, spread out along the rocky beach. 

Today we drove to the Park’s Discovery Centre, 74 km away on the South Arm section of the park.  From here we drove another 16 km to Trout River, a still-active fishing village with stacks of lobster traps amid the fishing boats.  Trout River is one of the Tidy Towns, as are Rocky Harbour and Norris Point.  We hiked the 4 km trail at Tablelands, whose 470 million year old orange moonscape rocks were brought to the surface from the ocean when two continents collided.  This unusual example of plate tectonics is the reason Gros Morne was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Tonight we went for a pub dinner.  By the time we left at 8:00, the place was full of locals (mostly our generation) out to support a young local band at $25/head.  We drove to nearby Lobster Cove Head lighthouse, then backtracked to Norris Point, yet another of the Tidy Towns.Trout River  Tablelands

Lobster Cove  Head 

Sat. June 16:  Western Brook Pond cruise and dog rescue

We followed the 3 km. path through the delicate coastal plane to the “pond” which is a glacially-carved fjord from the last ice age.  Once aboard we pulled away and were soon surrounded by vertical cliffs of billion-year-old rock rising 700 m. high.  The pond itself is 16 km long and 165 m deep, with few fish as there's little for them to eat.  Technically it’s no longer a fjord as it’s fresh water.  The small boat was packed.  There was good bi-lingual commentary and a taste of local music recorded by Anchors Aweigh, the local band who performed at the Ocean View last night.  Coming back we took a loop to the river, where we saw a black and white wolf-cross dog who forded the river which was maybe half a metre deep.  When we got back to the parking lot, the dog was there, lost and looking for its owners.   We didn’t want to leave it free (there were no Parks employees present) as it was running down the highway, seemed to be looking for its owners.  So another couple from BC tied him to a car from Nunavut (the dog’s tag was from Iqualiut) and left him water and a blanket, which calmed him down.  We informed a student at the lighthouse who was to pass it to parks warden.   We hope the story ended with a happy reunion.  We're out of here tomorrow morning, on the Viking Trail to L'Anse aux Meadows.  We've seen three moose, only one on the road.