A NEW PENINSULA.
TRAVEL DAY
From: Notre Dame Provincial Park, Lewisporte, NL.
To:Deadman’s Cove Town Park, Harbour Breton, NL.
Day 103 – It was 55 degrees and cloudy at 7:30 a.m. It rained on & off most of the night. Pixie has enjoyed bird watching here at this Park, like a “pointer” dog, pointing out birds to us from her perch by the bedroom window. She helped us discover the Junco, the Boreal Chickadee, and the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet in the trees and on the ground just outside the RV.
After dumping, we departed Notre Dame Provincial Park at 10:10 a.m. It was 58 degrees and less cloudy. We drove west on the TCH-1, and after getting gas in the RV in Bishop’s Falls, we drove south on Route 360. This was a long two-lane highway with no towns at all between the TCH and the first set of villages for 140 km. The road was in pretty rough shape, and we were stopped for road construction delays on several occasions. The first one was the worst with several miles of washboard road that jostled the RV so much that the coat rack fell off the wall at the entry; jackets, hats, flyswatter, and all. Imagine what the rough road was doing to various parts in the RV and the Honda tow car! Arrrgh.
Further on the 360, we saw a female Moose and calf by the side of the road. AW!!! We’d eventually gotten to the first set of villages about two thirds of the way to our destination – a very isolated, remote highway. The Routes 361 & 365 headed west and include a Mi’kmaq First Nation reservation and campground that we’d visited in the past, the Conne River and communities surrounding it, and annually there are First Nation celebrations with Drum Ceremonies and Dancing. We stopped for a lunch break in the RV at a turn-off.
We continued on Route 360 south towards Harbour Breton. There were two other routes off the 360 that we passed on the way to our destination, the 364 and the 362. Both roads lead to remote villages which we’ll visit during our stay at Harbour Breton. The scenery was quite nice on our drive today, particularly when the sun came out from behind the clouds. The road was very hilly and there were times when we reached the top of a long hill and saw far into the distance – the Ocean – and often lakes and ponds were near the side of the road, and nothing else but forest.
We finally reached Harbour Breton, the town at the end of Route 360, and drove on a rough dirt road to our campground, Deadman’s Cove Town Park, a small campground with 9 RV and 10 tent campsites. There was only one other vehicle camping here, and it was a couple who were camping at Grand Codroy in mid-May the same time as we were there. We’re not the only ones who spend months traveling around Newfoundland!
We’ll be at this campground in Harbour Breton for five nights. We arrived at 2:35 p.m. and it was 69 degrees, breezy with some clouds and some sun. Beautiful out. We checked in; our campsite was #12 with electrical & water hook-ups. We do have to boil the water. We have an internet connection. We set up camp and Rob put up the screened tent. He also hung the coat rack back up by drilling new holes. When we let the girls out, they were puzzled as to why all the jackets and hats were lying all over the floor. Darn rough roads!
We had Lobster for dinner and it was really good. It’s a tough life we lead! Grin. The high today was 72 degrees.
