NEWFOUNDLAND – AN ATTEMPT AT SIGHTSEEING.
Day 153 – It rained as usual last night, but this morning the rain had stopped & it was just very cloudy & humid, 48 degrees when we got up. The weather forecast said no rain. We thought we’d venture outside to do some exploring.
First we drove to Stephenville, a decent-sized town that actually had a Dominion grocery store, so now we know we’ll be able to get what we need without driving for hours – Stephenville was only about 15 minutes from the campground. We mailed off our taxes at the Post Office & tried to locate a laundromat. We found one that appeared to be located in a bar. Hmmm, I guess doing lots of laundry would be less painful that way? Interesting, but we’ll probably wait until the next campground to do our laundry. Ho ho.
We drove west from Stephenville to the end of the peninsula at the end of Route 460, going thru many tiny towns that lined the highway on both sides, followed by the next town, and so on, each almost indistinguishable from the other. Some of the towns were named Romaines, Berry Head, Port au Port, Jerry’s Nose, Grand Jardin, and Cape St. George, just to name a few. There was a definite French influence in many of these towns. Port au Port had a large, old church that we did get a picture of. Cape St. George had a wonderful Park, Parc Boutte du Cap, at the end of the peninsula. We couldn’t see far, but the cliffs up close were awesome, and signs said that Northern Gannets nest there. There were several campsites, too, no hook-ups but the views would be awesome, weather permitting. The entire drive, after leaving Stephenville, we were looking for a place to get a small lunch and a gas station. We found one place for each, got gas, and had a small pizza at a small diner.
Our Lady of Mercy RC Church, Port au Port, NF
Our Lady of Mercy RC Church, Port au Port, NF
Our Lady of Mercy RC Church, Port au Port, NF
During the drive, the terrain varied from level farm land with sheep, goats, cows, and horses to rocky hills & lots of trees. As we went further along we started to climb into the cliffs. These towns were overlooking the water of St. George’s Bay. It wouldn’ve been very pretty, we think, but it began raining again about the time we left Stephenville. We kept driving because every now & then we could see some clearing in the distance. We thought maybe it would clear up, and it did as far as the rain, but the fog came in so thick we finally knew it was useless to try to get pictures. We couldn’t see the side of the road, let alone the edge of cliffs and the scenery. We turned around & went back to the campground. Once out of the fog, it was raining. Oh well. The high today was 60 degrees.
I love the idea of a laundromat in a bar! LOL!
Yeah, I might even like to do laundry then!
Vicki