NEWFOUNDLAND – TERRA NOVA NATIONAL PARK TO ST. BRIDE’S.
Day 44 – It was 41 degrees with rain & light wind at 7 a.m. this morning. The weather forecast was for sustained winds of 19 MPH around Terra Nova, and that’s not counting how high the gusts could be. With trepidation on my part, we headed out hoping to get beyond the windy area before it got too bad. We departed Newman Sound Campground at 10:20 after dumping tanks; it was 45 degrees, not much wind & some rain.
163 miles, (3:40), 40057-40220
We headed south on the TCH. Another dreary day. But luckily the wind never did get high & the rain was light throughout the drive. It was very overcast, but at times the sun would peak out briefly, and with the dark clouds it was pretty. We continued south, eventually leaving the TCH as it turned east, winding on to St. John’s. Our destination was at the southwestern tip of the Avalon Peninsula, a very different environment from the Northern Peninsula where we’d been for the past three weeks.
There was no evidence of snow and the trees were not as dense. There were farming fields and open fields without foliage. It wasn’t as rocky with granite; now the rock cliffs were reddish in color and the soil appeared to be much more sandy. The tops of some hills were bald or the terrain was tundra-like. Obviously, fishing is the big deal here, also, since every town we went through was a small fishing village. The largest city even had a grocery store, a gas station, and a post office. The city, Placentia, was built on a hill with the narrow road winding around, up, and down the cliffs. At the bottom of the hill the city continued to a port and a big drawbridge, then back up the next hill. In all these towns, old houses dotted the cliffs and large waves broke below on the shore. It was remote and very pretty, just different than where we’d been.
Route 100 was the road we took south from the TCH. It was very curvy with many potholes; in some places it was in very bad condition. And it was debatable as to whether the two lanes were really wide enough for two vehicles in some places. The road climbed sharply up the hills and back down again many times and sometimes it hugged the side of cliffs (like the road in Big Sur, CA) or when we were at sea level, the road ran right beside the water at times. Scenic, sure, but also harrowing when driving a 30-foot-plus RV towing a Honda CRV. We wanted to stop for our lunch break but there was no place to turn out or pull over. By the time we got to St. Bride’s, I no longer wanted lunch or dinner; I just wanted to drink, LOL.
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
We arrived at Bird Island Resort in St. Bride’s at 2 p.m. It was 45 degrees and mostly cloudy. There are no campgrounds within an hour and a half of this area. We weren’t sure where the Resort was; we just followed the signs. It turned out to be several buildings on one of the bluffs overlooking the Bay. Since it was off-season still (we just found out school doesn’t get out until the end of June here and the “season” doesn’t begin until then), the owners were so kind to offer us the parking lot behind one of the buildings which housed rooms overlooking the water. They said we could use the decks in front of the rooms and the entire park-like property, including the observation deck with a bench over the cliff. There is a miniature golf course and picnic tables and a swingset for the girls, ho ho. They supplied us with a 20 AMP electric hook-up, a water hook-up, and a dump station. We’d been unaware there would be a place to dump, too! The entire property includes several homes by the road where various family members live, a convenience store with canned goods and some basic supplies, and even a gas pump. Behind these buildings, closer to the cliff’s edge, are the “resort” rooms, 12 rooms housed in two buildings, and we’re parked behind one of those buildings. They even offered us a washer & dryer if we needed to do laundry! They were very nice, the owners. He spoke with an Irish accent, talking very rapidly, and was a little hard to understand and keep up with. He showed us where to park and helped us set up, said we could stay the whole summer if we wanted to, for $20 nightly Canadian currency (which is $15 American). Wow. Oh, and there’s Wi-Fi. At first we thought we’d have no signal and would get way behind with the blog again.
We had our lunch, then went to check out the area. We’d been told that there was only one restaurant in St. Bride’s and only one restaurant in Branch, a small village 14 km beyond St. Bride’s and around the end of the peninsula. Supposedly both restaurants had great, fresh Fish & Chips, with fish caught that same day. We drove as far as Branch, checked out the menu at the restaurant for a future trip for dinner, and got gas in the Honda. Branch was a really lovely town, and we both loved it there. It would be a nice place to park an RV for a summer, grin.
Branch, NF
Branch, NF
We turned around and drove back towards St. Bride’s, passing the turn-off for Point Lance. We will take that drive another time when it’s sunny (if it’s sunny – Rob read that it’s foggy here 200 days of the year). The scenery was pretty, there’s not much out here, but we did see a Caribou off in the distance, some sheep, and some very happy-looking cows. I mean who wouldn’t be, if all you had to do every day was stand at the top of a cliff overlooking the Ocean and eat all day.
Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve, St. Bride’s, NF
Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve, St. Bride’s, NF
Near St. Bride’s, NF
The sign for St Mary’s Ecological Reserve is fairly close to St. Bride’s, and then you turn off on a narrow road and drive to the edge of the cliff to a visitor’s center, lighthouse, and a trail that leads to where many thousands of birds can be seen fairly close up. We drove out there, carefully because when a car is coming from the opposite direction on the narrow road, in order for the two of you to go by, both have to pull over as far as possible to the edge of the road. We walked the boardwalk to the visitor’s center but they were closed – oh yeah, it was Sunday. Things don’t stay open around here on a Sunday. We walked around the visitor’s center on the deck overlooking the Ocean and the Bird Rock where there were an unbelievable amount of birds nesting and flying around. In order to see them up close & personal, a long trail must be hiked beyond the visitor’s center. We’ll come back when there’s sun and it’s warmer; I probably won’t be able to go out to the rock but I can watch from the Visitor’s Center and Rob can go take the pictures. Northern Gannets are so beautiful; they look like they’re wearing a colorful mask. Anyway, Rob walked out to the lighthouse while I hobbled back to the car. We did not see any whales, although you supposedly can see them from the cliff. We did, however, see a couple of Icebergs, which was a surprise. One was fairly close and not very big; the other was WAY off on the horizon and huge if we could see it with the naked eye, but not close enough to get a good-enough picture.
It was time for dinner and we drove back to St. Bride’s and went to their only restaurant, Da Birds Eye. We both got Fish & Chips. It was for both of us, the best we’ve ever had. The Cod was caught by the owner of the restaurant that day, and cooked by him, too. It was so tender that it fell apart when you cut into it with a fork. We can’t wait to try the other restaurant in Branch and compare the two. The high today was 48 degrees.