THE CODROY VALLEY.
Day 29 – It was 38 degrees this morning, windy and sunny. It was looking like a drive might be good for today. We hung around the RV until about 10:30 a.m. It had warmed up to 43 degrees when we left to head east from the campground.
We traveled all over the Codroy Valley. In the morning we drove about half the roads, making a loop back to the campground where we had lunch at the RV around 1 p.m. Then we drove the remainder of the roads in this area in the afternoon, stopping to take pictures and hike a little throughout both drives. It was sunny and windy today with a high of 48 degrees. As you can see from the pictures below, it’s a beautiful area! After the pictures there’s some history and information about the Codroy Valley.
About this area: “The Codroy Valley is known for its fertile soil; magnificent wetlands area, which is in sharp contrast to the rugged terrain of much of the Southwest Coast; its excellent weather conditions; and also for its rich fishing grounds off this coast. Surrounded by the Anguille Mountains to the northwest, the Long Range Mountains to the southeast, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the southwest, the Codroy Valley is located on the southwest coast of Newfoundland. Running through the Valley and emptying into the Gulf are two main rivers, the Grand Codroy and the Little Codroy. The earliest nomadic settlers in the first half of the 1700’s were Micmac hunters who lived on the banks of the River during the summer months and moved inland in the winter. The first permanent European settlers came from England, Scotland, and Ireland, arriving in the area by the 1790’s. They were followed by the Acadians from Eastern Canada. The Scottish settlers from Cape Breton, unhappy with the Nova Scotia Government and the proposed tax on large land grants, arrive in 1825. Gaelic was spoken by many until the mid 1900’s.” from Codroy Valley Travelers Guide.
“Southwest Newfoundland is an excellent birding location. Not only is it on the flyway of many migrating species, but the area’s beaches, marshes, and estuaries – such as the Codroy Valley International Wetlands – provide excellent refuge and food. This area has some of the island’s best farmland, settled generations ago by Scots who brought with them place names like St. Andrew’s, Highlands, and Lochleven. The Table Mountains just west of the Codroy Valley are famed for their winds.” from Traveller’s Guide 2023, Newfoundland & Labrador
The Wreckhouse Winds: “Winds in excess of 200 km per hour (125 MPH) have been recorded (on rare occasions) in this area. The name Wreckhouse came about because of these high winds and their ability to blow trains off the tracks. A gentleman by the name of Lochie McDougall (1896-1965), the human wind guage, was engaged by the Reid Newfoundland Railway (later renamed the Canadian National Railway in 1949 – the year Newfoundland joined the Confederation) to telephone railway officials about impending dangers due to wind conditions. On one such occasion when his advice was not taken seriously, twenty-two rail cars were completely blown off the tracks. Although not being formally educated, Mr. McDougall, being of quick mind and wit, instantly took advantage of this incident, claiming he could actually sniff the wind. Consequently, gaining the title of Gale Sniffer Extraordinaire to the Newfoundland Railway, Lochie & his wife Emily raised a family of 12 children here and made a living off farming and trapping.” from Codroy Valley Travelers Guide