NEWFOUNDLAND – NEWFOUNDLAND TO LABRADOR.
Day 127 – We got up at 5 a.m. this morning – we’re going to a new Canadian Province, Labrador. Actually, even though they have two separate names & they are two separate bodies of land, Newfoundland & Labrador are officially grouped together as one province. (The postal office code is NL.) Newfoundland & Labrador are separated by the Strait of Belle Isle. There is one ferry from NF to Labrador. It departs in St. Barbe on the west coast of the Northern Peninsula in Newfoundland and arrives approximately two hours later in Blanc Sablon, Quebec. Labrador borders Quebec at Labrador’s southeasternmost point.
35 miles, (4:15), 42293-42328
We arrived at St. Barbe’s ferry terminal at 6:55 a.m. and waited in a line of cars, trucks, campers, massive tractor trailers, and a big tour bus. They began loading the ferry a half hour later. We departed Newfoundland at 8:10 a.m. There was light rain & heavy wind; it was 61 degrees. You must exit your vehicle & travel above in the lounge on ferries. We could see (and feel) the impact of large waves as the ferry rolled back & forth.
Click on any picture below to see a slideshow.
We arrived in northwestern Quebec at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. This was weird. Newfoundland & Labrador have their own time zone. Although we left NF at 8:10 we arrived in Quebec at 8:30 after traveling almost two hours. After disembarking the ferry at Blanc Sablon and heading north, in 6 km we crossed into Labrador at 10:15 a.m. It was 59 degrees & the heaviest fog we’d ever seen blocked almost all visibility. There was a large truck which had been on the ferry in front of us. We just followed it; we really couldn’t see any scenery nor much else.
Mild fog on entering Labrador!
A little Labrador fog!
Most of the trip to our campground was on a gravel road. The Pea Soup Fog continued with us most of the way. The gravel road was due to road construction being done on Route 510, the main road that travels from the southeastern Labrador border north. Parts of this highway were only paved this year. It is possible to travel from western Labrador and Labrador City via the Trans-Canada Highway to the eastern coast of Labrador, but a good portion of this trip is still on dirt & gravel roads. While we’d love to make this trip, taking the RV beyond the paved road onto dirt & gravel roads that have never been paved is not (now) an option. We will only be able to travel in Labrador as far as Route 510 goes north until the pavement ends.
We arrived at Pinware River Provincial Park at 11:10 a.m. This is the only Provincial Park in Labrador. The fog was still dense but not as bad as it had been earlier. As we approached the Park, we came down a hill to the small town of Pinware. The campground was located at the end of the town which may have had twenty houses in it plus a combo gas station/convenience store/lounge. The town is on a beautiful cove with a gorgeous beach; hills, meadows, trees, and the deep blue water with waves crashing. We chose campsite #19 with a wonderful water view and a little trail leading to the beach. This site was perfect except for two things: it was only available for three nights, then someone else had reserved it & we’d have to move; and the Biting Black Flies of Labrador that we’d been warned about were out in abundance in spite of the high winds. It was 61 degrees, foggy and windy. Rob put on bug spray after we had lunch and bravely set up the screened tent. If we wanted to spend time outdoors, this would be a necessity. Once again, we had NO internet signal & no phone signal.
We did make an attempt to brave the Bastard Black Flies, as we liked to call them, and go to the screened tent. But we found that every trip outside and back into the RV brought the bugs back inside with us. We had heard that supposedly the Aurora Borealis would be visible to the northern US States & Canada tonight, but since we had no signal we couldn’t get an update on that. We also couldn’t get an update on the high winds which were supposed to continue for a couple of days. What we did get, though, was a wonderful view from the RV of Northern Gannets diving into the water over & over again after a school of fish. This went on for hours. As we fought to get the flies in the RV under control, we watched the birds dive straight down from high up. They are amazing. It was still very cloudy when it got dark, so we figured we wouldn’t be able to see the Northern Lights. But we kept getting up and looking in the middle of the night. Nothing. Tomorrow night it may be possible, we hope.
