CONCHE & THE CROUSES.
Day 126 – The low temperature last night was 50 degrees, getting colder already. It was cloudy this morning and it may rain this afternoon, so we went out to visit the last of the remote villages in this area: Conche, Northeast and Southwest Crouse.
But first, while I was getting dressed, Rob went out with his camera, looking for birds. There really are lots of colorful birds in these bushes and trees at the campground.
We stopped briefly at a pullout in Roddickton for a view of the area, and we also stopped to get a picture of a vintage Snowmobile on display in someone’s yard. Route 434 was north of Roddickton and the campground. The three old fishing villages were clustered near the end of that road. We were prepared for a rough drive on a gravel and dirt road, but it was wonderfully paved, quite different than when we were here in 2019. Will wonders never cease!
The route was very beautiful with tall tree-covered hills on both sides of the road which was a little winding and offering gorgeous views from the tops of the hills. As we went further along, we saw that dense fog was closing in from the Ocean, and in places the headlands were peeking out above the fog. We stopped at the French Shore Lookout, a scenic observation point at the top of a hill to get pictures. Several Loons were calling out in the distance.
We continued on Route 434, then reached Southwest Crouse. It was a small quiet village that sat on a bay off the Atlantic Ocean. We turned off on a side road by an inlet and walked around. There was a fishing boat just leaving the small harbor; we watched it disappear into the fog. Across the bay, not far away, the tiny outport village of Northeast Crouse was completely enveloped in the fog. We saw it last time we were on this route. Charming, with no roads and no vehicular access, the last year-round fishing families moved out in the 1970’s. But a few families keep up their homes for periodic visits.
Leaving Southwest Crouse, we drove further to Conche, one of our favorite places to visit in this area. The road ends at Conche; it’s a very beautiful place. The village is larger than the Crouses, but not large by any means. Some of the buildings are quite old and Conche fairly wreaks of the history of the old days at fishing villages along the French Shore, After driving around and stopping for pictures at several beautiful spots, we went to what we consider to be one of the best historical museums on the Northern Peninsula, the French Shore Interpretation Centre. The Centre is housed in one of the older buildings in the village and encompasses several floors full of relics from the past and many very old handmade items, from tools to shoes to quilts to fishing gear. One floor has an intricate and colorful French Tapestry on its walls that shows the history of the French Shore from the very first sign of life to the current day. The tapestry is 222 feet long. The man who designed the tapestry and made the drawings was Jean Claude Roy. Twelve local women embroidered this tapestry around a sewing circle, based on his drawings. This project was started in 2006 and took 20,000 hours spread over four years to complete. We spent hours in 2019 taking pictures of many parts of this tapestry, therefore we didn’t take pictures of it again this year, but we went through and viewed it all again. It is truly amazing!
We drove back to the RV and had a late lunch. It was clouding up, so we didn’t go back out, and we’ll save the Englee hooked rug and glass art museum until tomorrow morning. Instead, we went back out to the screened tent to read our books and nap. Around 3 p.m. it began to rain and it got noticeably colder. Later we had our wine and beer, played a few rounds of Sequence, and toasted to the fascinating history of Newfoundland. The Loons were calling to each other while the Sea Gulls & Terns went nuts going after the fish in the Bay down the hill from us.