Epic Journey Phase III. Exploring Eastern Newfoundland

It has been 25 days since lift off from Sopchoppy we are well into Phase III of our trip: When we visited Newfoundland/Labrador in 2008 we stayed strictly on the western coast. It was fabulous and we hope to end this trip there, but this time we wanted to go East first.

  

We finished up Nova Scotia by spending Tuesday (7/ 9) on the coast of Chedabucto Bay. I read about a good sea glass beach at Queensport so we went to check it out. This area of Nova Scotia is very old and some of the villages date from the 1600’s. There is even a little park outside Queensport in honor of Earl Stanley of Orkney who some believe landed nearby in 1360. The Scots feel that his discoveries were ignored by the Roman Church in favor of Spanish and Portuguese sailors who were from more acquiescent countries. An interesting idea.

We drove to North Sydney on Wednesday and parked at Walmart for a few hours before going to the Ferry Terminal about 7 pm. It was cheaper to board the Jeep and the RV on separate tickets so we disconnected. I was in the front of row nine; Butch was in the back of row 10. We hung out in the camper until about 9:15 pm when the first boarding call went out. I was loaded by 9:45; it took Butch until 10:30. As a result of making late reservations, we couldn’t get a cabin so we got reserved seats in the recliner section instead. It wasn’t awful but it wasn’t great either. Bonnie had the best deal as she stayed in her bed in the camper.

We disembarked in Port au Basque NFL just before 7 am on Thursday. I was the second vehicle off the ferry and Butch was not too far behind. We hooked up the Jeep and headed out for Corner Brook.  We pulled into the Visitor’s Center there and slept for about three hours. They have restrooms, a dump station, potable water, and are super nice. They are accustomed to exhausted folks coming off the night ferry.

We drove less than an hour to Deer Lake and spent the night at Gateway to the North Campground. This is a “drive-in movie” type set up but the sites are not crowded and they have 3-way hookups.  We chatted a bit with the owner and learned a lot about the Baie Verte Peninsula, an area of interest to us. He turned out to be somewhat of an amateur geologist, archeologist, and all-around expert on Baie Verte. The next morning we set down with him and our detailed maps to pick his brains about where to go. His advice was priceless. There is nothing like a knowledgeable local to steer you in the right direction.

On Friday we drove from Deer Lake out onto the Baie Verte Peninsula to La Scie on Cape St. John. In 60+ years of camping this spot ranks in the top 10 for sheer spectacular-ness.  Island Cove CG is owned by the municipality of La Scie and is atop a cliff overlooking the harbor, the Manful Bight, and the North Atlantic. The village also maintains a series of hiking trails that traverse the cliffs, the coves and beaches, and the hills above the town. There were two other campers when we arrived but they left the next morning, leaving us all by ourselves.

Baie Verte is mineral rich and is full of old mines and quarries. Copper, asbestos, talc, silica, and gold were mined here in the past and gold is being mined again. On the way out to La Scie we stopped at a Virginite quarry and picked up some beautiful specimens. We also found the serpentine deposits that Jerrod had told us about but we could access them because the ground was so wet.

Saturday we spent the day exploring some of the coves and harbors near La Scie. There are over 700 abandoned towns/villages in NFL and many of them are these little fishing or mining coves. It was a serious off-road adventure and we were so glad to have the Jeep. At Tilt Cove we visited an abandoned copper mine and found lots of sea glass. At Round Harbor we saw a true ghost town. Everywhere we saw absolutely gorgeous scenery and we met kind and lovely people.

This morning we drove back to the TCH (TransCanada Hwy) and continued eastward to Norris Arm where we turned north to go to Twillingate. We are at Dildo Run Provincial Park tonight on New World Island.Tomorrow we have reservations for a sea cruise to see icebergs. 

 All of the photos were made from the walkways around our Campground at La Scie.