ANOTHER DRIVE, MORE ICE & STUFF.
Day 47 – At 7 a.m. it was 37 degrees out and our view was limited by the low clouds. It rained a little, then stopped. We left for a trip to the city of Springdale and then a drive to the end of the peninsulas on Routes 381 & 382.
We had run out of propane in the smaller, portable tanks and had been running off the RV propane tank. We needed to refill the two smaller tanks for use when we were out in the boonies again. We’d found a place in Springdale and drove there first to get our tanks filled.
We got gas in the Honda and then headed to the Trans Canada Highway (TCH) 1, getting off at the South Brook exit, taking Route 380 to Route 382 towards Robert’s Arm. In 2019, we’d camped at Robert’s Arm and drove part, but not all, of these roads. This time of year it’s quite different than it was when we saw it previously. Barely recognizable with all the ice in the Bays, the towns seemed even more isolated. We visited Robert’s Arm, then took a side road to Card’s Harbour, Jim’s Cove, the popular town of Triton, and Brighton at the end of the side road. We saw colorful cottages and fishing shacks on ice-filled bays, Rob hiked a trail with steeper steps than yesterday’s trail at Rattling Brook Falls, and there were distant icebergs out in the open Ocean beyond the ice pack.
We turned around at the end of the road and drove back to Triton for lunch. We ate at a restaurant called Fudge’s; we had dinner at at this popular restaurant in 2019. Then, we thought the food was very good, but we waited 20 to 30 minutes to pay our check – you pay at the register rather than at the table and there was a very large party who were each paying with separate checks. We figured this time shouldn’t be a problem with a long wait, and we knew the food (and the view) was good. Wrong! There were only 3 small parties, not including us, in the restaurant since it was after the lunch rush had departed. We waited 30 minutes for our food after we ordered and not at all to pay our check. Who knows why, but the food was very good. We both had a Fish Sandwich. Rob kept himself occupied while waiting for the food to come by taking pictures of the marine service facility next door, where they were hauling a large commercial fishing boat out of the water. What a process!
We left Triton and returned to Pilley’s Island and Route 382 where we’d left off to take the side road. At Pilley’s Island there were more colorful cottages & houses. Beyond Pilley’s Island, the drive was beautiful with bays on either side of the road and groups of small islands in the bays. One side of the road had no ice in the bay; the other side of the road had the pack ice; and the side without the ice had lots of oyster farms. We reached the end of the road at a small ferry terminal. There were several icebergs. The ferry took cars and passengers to Long Island, a five-minute ride, to the three villages of Lushes Bight, Beaumont, and Beaumont North. The ferry wasn’t there and was not scheduled to go out soon. Fog had rolled in over the islands. Cut wood was piled up beside the road, already getting ready for next winter. We turned around and drove back to another side road that took us to two more little villages: Port Anson and Miles Cove. More bays with ice chunks, lovely tiny towns, and colorful little cottages. Throughout the drives today, we saw that the White Birches had noticeably more pretty green spring growth, and mixed in with the darker green Spruces, it was lovely.
We got back to the RV at around 4 p.m. We were surprised to find the campground was much more occupied; all the waterview sites were now taken and 4 of the other sites were filled. People must like ice and cold weather, LOL, like us. It rained a little on & off all day and it was very cloudy. What does the sun look like; we’ve forgotten! Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain hard all day. Sound like a good time to catch up on the laundry. On our drive today, the temperatures ranged from 39 degrees to 48 degrees.