WRECKHOUSE WINDS BE GONE.
TRAVEL DAY
From: Grand Codroy RV/Tent Camping, Doyle’s, NL.
To:Barachois Pond Provincial Park, Stephenville Crossing, NL.
Day 32 – We were wondering why this valley area is as populated as it is. One of the campground owners said they have their own micro-climate here. The same thing that brings in the high winds here and not so high winds elsewhere, causes the temperatures here to be milder than anywhere else on the Island.
When we got up this morning, there were high wind warnings on the phone for later today. The wind was already gusting enough to shake the RV a little. Time to pack up and leave. It was 59 degrees at 7 a.m. this morning and cloudy.
We departed Grand Codroy at 9:45 a.m. It was 61 degrees, cloudy and very windy, a sign of things to come. The drive was short and there was very little traffic, which was good because initially, until we left the valley region, the wind was already strong enough to move the RV around a bit on the highway. The girls didn’t like it, hollering a little, but they quieted down soon. The scenery was very nice even though it was cloudy.
We saw movement up ahead by the road (Trans Canada Highway 1). It was fairly far away. Too big to be a raccoon, even a horse or cow, we figured it might be a Moose. As we got closer and slowed down, we saw it was indeed a male Moose, not full-grown but large. He saw us, looked at us coming, and slowly just meandered across the Highway. Luckily we were the only ones around. After he crossed in front of us and we’d come to almost a stop, he climbed the grassy hill beside the road and went off into the woods. As we were driving away, Rob looked in the rear-view mirror and saw another Moose crossing the road behind us. Our first two Newfoundland Moose this trip. Farther along the Highway, a beautiful Red Fox ran across the road, but it was too quick for us to get a picture.
It was still windy, but not that bad when we arrived at our destination, Barachois Pond Provincial Park, at 11:15 a.m. We were quite early – check in time at most Newfoundland Provincial Parks is 3 p.m. But we had a good excuse, we had to avoid the winds coming in the afternoon at Codroy. The Ranger checked our site and it was empty, so he let us come in and set up early. Yes! It was 58 degrees, cloudy and light winds. We had made reservations for site #150, the last campsite at the end of the Park. The campground is located on the large Barachois Pond, which is really a very large lake. Pond? I don’t think so! When we drove in, the campground road wasn’t in very good condition and needed some work. We drove by many campsites on the lake. Most of those sites were taken – waterside campsites are at a premium. Our site was private and completely in the woods. We were very happy with it. We couldn’t see anyone around us at all, and since we were the last campsite, people driving by would be minimal. The girls settled in immediately. We had no hook-ups which is standard at Newfoundland Provincial Parks, for us anyway. If any hook-ups are offered, those sites are already reserved well in advance. The same goes for campsites by the water. We will be at this Park for 3 nights; the hook-ups aren’t really necessary.
We unpacked and made lunch. After lunch we got online, or tried to. It appears there is no signal here. This means that I can continue to write up the blog in real time, but Rob cannot download any pictures, nor can we send out the blog. And Gail, no daily Wordle game results from us. No texting and no e-mails. We know this will happen again while we’re here. How did we all survive? Grin. Sometimes if we go out for a drive, we can get a signal where we’re going. In that case, we’ll get the blogs, and other things, out. As for our future timetable, we’ll leave here for a different campground at a different location on Wednesday. The high today was 64 degrees. The wind died down by 7 p.m. when it began to rain.