A DRIVE SOUTH OF THE CAMPGROUND ALONG THE COAST.
Day 33 – It was 42 degrees and cloudy this morning. It rained all night. The wind gusts were gone and there was just a little breeze. And we still don’t have a signal. Yesterday we sat outside some in the afternoon since it was warmer, but eventually the wind, coupled with cooling temperatures, brought us inside again. There were no bugs yet. In Codroy there were some mosquitoes but they weren’t biting yet. The farther north we go and as long as we stay close to the Ocean, the bugs should be manageable, even when it warms up some.
Later after lunch, the sun was out so we headed south to see some villages along the coast between the campground and Codroy. First we drove thru the campground since we’d never been here before. We checked out the campsites to make note of the best sites for future visits. We quickly determined we were already in the best campsite for us. There were 5 loops containing 150 campsites. (Barachois Pond Provincial Park is the largest provincial park in Western Newfoundland.) Many sites were by the lake, otherwise known as a “pond”. All those campsites were either too small or too close to the sites next to them. Lack of privacy. And none of them were situated in a way that we could’ve parked without backing in. Our largest window is in the front, at the dashboard. Our current site, #150, is completely private, we could drive right in frontwards, and we’re surrounded by trees. Speaking of trees, we took a picture of a tree that was growing on top of a big boulder.
We departed the campground and traveled south, turning off Highway 1 onto Route 490. We drove through the small towns of Barachois Brook, Seal Rocks, St. George’s, and the Native American town of Flat Bay on Route 403. The Micmac Museum in Flat Bay was not yet open for the season.
We drove back to Highway 1 and went south a short distance, then got on Routes 404 & 405 to drive through another group of small towns. Scottish immigrants settled here, and are still occupying these towns with names such as Highlands, Maidstone, Heatherton, McKay’s, and Robinsons. Our favorite area on this drive was Highlands, and that’s where we took most of the pictures. There were rolling hills and farmlands set back from the sea, but overlooking the deep blue waters. There have been many shipwrecks in this area. We were wondering why they hadn’t built their houses closer to the Ocean. Then we found out that their first church had gotten blown right off the cliff.
Road work was being done on all of these routes where the road had washed out during the Hurricane. Fiona Strikes Again! There were views from all these villages of a large peninsula north of this area where there was some snow on the mountain. (This peninsula is where we’ll be driving to tomorrow, weather permitting.)
On the way back to the RV, we saw Moose #3! He was a large adult, off away from the highway eating bushes or grass. There are about 110,000 Moose on the island of Newfoundland. Most highways go through Moose habitat.
The high today was 54 degrees. It was sunny in the afternoon with a little wind – not at all as windy as yesterday.