Voni and Paul Glaves
Summer - 2009
                        (page 4)


As soon as we left the north end of Cape Breton Island we headed directly to North Sydney to board the ferry to sail to Newfoundland.  Voni had been to Newfoundland once before, without Paul, and she was bound and determined that he was going to see and tour Newfoundland too. 



Front of the line for the ferry - it was 8 hours late
Not your usual ferry seating though

We hadn't been on the island of Newfoundland very long before Paul told Voni "I think I have Newfoundland figured out.  If you can see the seashore it looks like a place where fishermen live in little white houses and go fishing in little white boats.  If you can't see the seashore it looks like a place where moose live.
Where fishermen live
 Where moose live

We rode north along the east coast of Newfoundland to St. Anthony.  We splurged for fine dining at the Old Lighthouse Keeper's Restaurant and caught a glimpse of a passing iceberg.  We planned to ride north to the reconstructed Viking village at L'Anse aux Meadows but the road was torn up and under construction.  Instead we backtracked a little west and went north to Cape Onion at the westerly edge of where the Vikings roamed.

The rocks offshore at Cape Onion were spectacular.  Cape Onion is among the very most favorite places we visited.

Leaving Cape Onion we toured south to catch the ferry to Labrador.  The ferry actually lands in Quebec about one mile west of Labrador.  There is only 60 or so miles of paved road, up to Red Bay, in this part of Labrador.  From there north there is a rough rock road a few hundred miles to then take a ferry to somewhere in the vicinity of  Goose Bay.  From Goose Bay westward is another 500 miles or so of rough unpaved road.  We didn't want to go to Goose Bay that badly - on our street bikes - so camped one night surrounded by hordes of Black Flies, and turned around at Red Bay the next day. 




We caught the ferry
 We saw some whales
 And found the road to Labrador



We stopped to get tourist information
 It rained after we set up camp but
this rainbow made it worth it.



Red Bay - at the end of the road
 On the way back Paul made a new friend we
met just purposefully walking down the road.

We boarded the ferry and sailed back to Newfoundland.  We called to make ferry reservations to return to Nova Scotia, only to find the ferry from Port aux Basque fully booked for the next week.  We could catch one from the opposite end of Newfoundland at Argentia so decided to ride there, 300 or so miles to the east, instead.

Along the way we stopped to see The Arches.  Here, the waves have eroded grand arches into the rocks along the shore.  We happened to strike up a conversation with a man who came over to look at our motorcycles.  He was headed home (to his little white house) to go back to work (in his little white boat).  He was a fisherman, on holiday, and for recreation he didn't go fishing.

We camped at the Country Inn RV Park and Motel at Gander, a strategic choice for the only truly rainy day we encountered in the Maritimes.  Since the schedule to catch the ferry back to Nova Scotia was not tight, we spent the extra rainy day at Gander, sitting on the porch, or in the lounge catching up on the Internet and computer stuff.  We saw no sense in riding in the rain all day if we didn't need to. 
Voni bought some wine, and some Screech, a traditional Newfoundland drink (which is a lot like moonshine) for Paul.  All-in-all, it was a very pleasant rainy day on a motorcycle trip.


From Gander we rode east and south towards the ferry at Argentia.  We found a nice campground called Tucker's Resort on the shores of Thorburn Lake.  We arrived early enough to do some hiking along the lake shore.


When we left Thorburn Lake we rode to the ferry terminal at Argentia, boarded the ferry, and took the longer more expensive ferry ride from the east end of Newfoundland back to North Sydney in Nova Scotia.  We learned later that the ferry bookings and schedules were unusual because the ferry system had just bought a used boat from somewhere in Scandinavia and an engine failed on its first Canadian voyage.
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