Newfoundland - ride report (photos)

[Dirt_Dad]

Note: I had people on three different forums assist me with the planning and execution of this trip. So if you happen to be a member of all three of those forums (yamahasupertenere, ridetherock, stromtroper), this is an identical repeat of the trip report.

In early May a ride to Newfoundland was not something I had ever considered. But in Mid-May while attending the Romeny Cycle Adventure Ride I mentioned to DCStrom (Trevor) my plan to return to Nova Scotia again this year. My wife and I had prematurely been chased out of Nova Scotia last year by Hurricane Irene, which is a different story all together. Trevor recommended going to Newfoundland. This suggestion started my investigation into the possibility.

I contacted Blacklab (Barry), certainly as a resident of Maine and a fan of riding in Canada he must have been there. He spoke very highly of Newfoundland, but had never been there. He did suggest the Newfoundland based forum, ridetherock.com.

The task of planning a ride to a place I knew nothing about seemed a bit overwhelming and I found my head spinning from all the info. Then I was contact by Sean, a member of a couple of forums that I was using to do my research. He's one of the two Super Tenere owners on "The Rock" and he really helped me focus in on what was important and what wasn't.

Research complete, two weeks taken off from work and we're ready to go. This is a very different kind of trip for us. Normally we have a general idea of where we're going, but no firm plans, reservations or expectations on where we will be on any given day. This trip requires us to have pre-booked ferry tickets to Newfoundland. I had contacted the ferry company and they said sometimes during the summer it could take them a week to accommodate a person that just shows up without a ticket. I can't take the chance so tickets are purchased. With that, I know were we're going to be on certain dates, so accommodations are also arranged for 4 of the 6 nights. I had also contacted the Tourism people up there and they said it could be difficult to find a hotel at the last minute since we were arriving at peak season. We have never launched on a trip with so many places we had pre-booked. This is bugging me, but it had to be done to make the trip work during our allotted time.

Day 1:
Up at 3:50am, drove an hour to work to put in a 5 hr half day. Back home and on the bikes by 1:00pm. Temp for ride ranged from 97 to 111 F. Mostly we only saw 111 degrees while sitting for an hour moving just 3 miles due to road construction. Here's a picture of I-81 where we spend a lot of quality time. As you can see from my little OAT gauge the photo was taken at a cool spot of only 106.8 degrees. It was miserable.

Weather wise this would turn out to be the low point of the trip. Still managed to ride over 300 miles that day, and spend the evening visiting with family in Johnson City, NY. We were completely shot. Back at the hotel my daughter calls to say a massive storm has knocked out power and brought down a tree blocking out road and her boyfriend's way home. She said it was a very scary storm. For the next week I would hear about the storm on the news wherever we were, it was ugly.

Glad I changed my mind at the last minute and went with mesh. I had planned on bringing a mid-weight jacket for the cooler temps in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland...it would have killed me.


Day 2:
Nothing worthwhile happened today. The commitment to make it to the ferry in northern Nova Scotia means we need to slog through the miles. We end the day somewhere in New Hampshire. It was much hotter than expected and we end the day tired and cranky.

Day 3:
Slog, slog, slog...I'm really starting to hate knowing we have to be somewhere, on some date. This is not my kind of riding. Barry tries to give me some perspective and tells me to think of this first and last part of the trip and just what you have to do to get to Newfoundland. True, we'll try. The day ends just outside of Bar Harbor, ME. Where we meet up with Barry and Tom, long time friends from stromtrooper. Tom had recommended a hotel he frequently uses when in town. Nice place, right by the water.

It's a great night catching up with Barry, and finally meeting Tom for the first time in person. I've been talking to Tom for years, seems long overdue. Barry generously provides pizza and beer and we enjoy hangar flying and map pointing into the evening.

Day 4:
Acadia National Park, near Bar Harbor. The sun is up early here, which wakes both Sherri and I much earlier than anticipated. I think we were on the bikes before 6:30am today. We have almost 3 ride days before needing to be at the ferry. Let's enjoy being here.

I do love this place. One of the prettiest parks in this system

We head back to the motel to pack up. Tom meets us and says we left just 5 minutes before him and he'd been trying to track us down all morning. We say goodbye as Tom leaves for the long ride back to Boston.

Finally having breakfast around 10:30 that morning. Our daughter calls to tell us she was just in a car accident. Someone had rear-ended her and her boyfriend as they were slowing for a red light. Not a small accident, the car that hit them flipped upside down, they ended up off the road and a third car hit the car that hit her. A big accident. She assured us she and her boyfriend were fine. They were shaken, but felt pretty good and her boyfriend's parents were on the way. Sherri gives me the look of, "we're never going away again." I know that look, she gave it to me last year when riding through Nova Scotia when our daughter was evacuated from her college due to the hurricane and she tapped someone at a stop sign when she thought they had already pulled away. So what should we do, go home, or cross the border into Canada...?

I gave her a call again after leaving the restaurant. She convinces me she's fine, in control and will stay at the boyfriend's parents house for at least one night. That worked out well during the hurricane last year, so we stay on track and stop in St John, NB for the night.

Next up, Day 5. Yes, it's going to take me several days to finish this report...and much longer for the video.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Day 5:
Begins again as a quest to burn through the miles. It's a highway ride. We stop for a late lunch some place in Nova Scotia. This is when my wife makes certain I understand...this ride sucks! I have no come-back, I agree. Day after day of droning on and on with only the goal of getting as far as we can is not my idea of an enjoyable ride. We're back road kinda people.

I pull out the iPhone open my Trip Adviser app and start looking for a place somewhere on Cape Breton. The first two highly rated places are all booked for the night. Next I call a place called The Highland Heights Inn (http://www.highlandheightsinn.ca/), they have a king room available. The rate was very low, but the reviews were good, so we'll take it, just 2 more hours and we'll be done for the day. We'll be staying less than an hour from the ferry, but more importantly we'll be able to make a run around The Cabot Trail tomorrow before going to the ferry at 4:30pm.

Pulling into The Highland Heights Inn was a surreal moment. We've been mostly staying in run of the mill chain hotels for too much money, and we're staying here for less than $100? How is that possible? The view was stunning, the room was first class, and the owners were great people. This started a string of good luck with accommodations, both in view and price.

The Highland Heights Inn

There were only a few of us there that Tuesday night. Apparently they are much busier on the weekends. If you're going to The Cabot Trail do yourself a favor and stay at The Highland Heights Inn on Cape Breton. It's awesome.

Day 6:
During a nice breakfast at the Inn we quiz the owners about our route and plans for the day. They passed along their inside info on what to avoid. We head off for The Cabot Trail. This time we're going to go clockwise around it. As most of you already know, there is no bad direction on the Trail.

The Chowder House at Neil's Harbor is a great lunch spot.

I had to turn around to get a picture of this place. Just made me laugh.

After the Trail we made our way to the ferry. As directed we arrived 2 hours early, then sat around for the next 50 minutes waiting to make our next move. If you're used to having your bike first on, first off a ferry, it definitely does not work that way here.

The guy in the picture above standing behind my bike was tying down his SV 650. This young guy from the Toronto area had only learned to ride last year. Except for the Cramp Buster his bike was stock. This was his first big trip and he way figuring out things as he went along. Had a great time taking to him and pointing out things on the S10 that make long distances a bit easier. Loved his spirit of adventure.

We really enjoyed the ferry ride. We had booked a 4 birth cabin. We were able to shower, have a meal, relax in the lounge and have a good night's rest.

A lot of people speak ill of the ferry. I've heard some unpleasant stories, but our experience was positive.

Next up, arrive in Newfoundland. I had no idea what a spectacular place we were about to discover.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Day 7:

Straight off the boat in Argentia, Newfoundland we take the required photo with the welcome sign. After that I think we were on pavement for less than 15 minute when we found ourselves on a wide and very well maintained dirt road as we made our way to the Irish Loop. Except for a fast moving dump truck heading our way there was no other traffic on this road. It was a treat for probably 20 miles. Near the end we were rewarded with a bridge over a developed boardwalk around several waterfalls.

This was a great introduction to The Rock.

Sean had warned us that if the Irish Loop was foggy it was not probably not worthwhile. Up until this point there really had not been any fog. However as we began to ride the loop we found every water section to be completely fogged in. After stopping for lunch we were told to look for whales around the causeway at Saint Vincent's. Unfortunately the fog made it nearly impossible to even see the water, forget seeing whales.

Time and time again as we got away from the water the fog would disappear. But we could look ahead, see the fog in the distance and realize we would be near the water again. In between those sections there we could see a landscape that was completely foreign to us. Including a vast prairie where the sign said the southern most caribou heard roams. Much like the moose signs, we had to take the caribou signs on faith that the animals really exist.

By the time we reached Ferryland the fog had disappeared revealing a beautiful shore line.

Not much later we arrived at the Whale Watching B&B for the night. The view from this B&B was truly astonishing. It seemed too good to be true.

The view was so good we decided to skip the restaurant that evening and instead decided to eat out on the deck. I was sent out to find dinner. That usually doesn't go well and our meal that night was not exactly gourmet, but the atmosphere was unbeatable.

We sat on the back porch watching thousands of puffins floating on the water and nesting up on the island. We watched the sheep on the other island and saw whales surface many times, many times. All this while listening to the soundtrack provided by the sea birds all around. It was really an incredible place to be.

 

[Bullett]

PUFFINS!!!??? OK, now I am really jealous. ;D

 

[Dirt_Dad]

PUFFINS!!!??? OK, now I am really jealous. ;D

If you look at the water you'll see little black spots. Those are the puffins. They were everywhere.

 

[sfc67]

Great pics ::017::

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Day 8: Fright Night!

As predicted by the B&B owner, Friday morning dawns with thick fog. Much too thick to consider doing a whale watching boat ride. Bummer, really wanted to get an up close look at those things.

No time to sit and wait for the fog to lift, we need to start heading west. But first take in the sites around St. John's...or attempt to find the sights around St. John's.

You can almost make out the light house at Cape Spear.

Signal Hill was a little better.

Oh well, that's a bust. Time to head out to find the southern most iceberg showing on icebergfinder.com. A few hours later we approach the tiny town of Clifton. We find the iceberg, it appears to have broken up right where the road is going over a small mountain. We can see from a long distance from either side, but there is no road getting anywhere close to it.

Not ideal but, check, we have an iceberg. Moving on.

This is our first night without booked accommodations. It looks like Gander will be a good place to find a place to stay, so I whip out my Newfoundland Traveler's Guide. Which is a very well designed guide showing all accommodations by region. I turn to the Gander page and start making phone calls. I make arrangements for some nice sounding cabins.

Upon reaching Gander we stop so I can punch in the address to the GPS. But there is no such address for the cabins I've booked. After some head scratching I look at the book again and notice I mistakenly called to the town of Glenwood, a town about 10 miles farther down the road. Damn! We're tired, but push on to Glenwood.

Upon arriving at the cabins it's fair to say we were pretty disappointed with the look of the place. As soon as I got off the bike a woman walked up to me and said, "Are you Jon?"
Me: "Yes"
Her: "Do you want to go to the house?"
Me: blank stare of confusion?
Her: "Trust me, you want to go to the house."
Me: "Okay...?"

She takes me into a cabin where I pay for the night, they she instructs us to follow her to the "house." I try to explain what is happening to my wife over the bluetooth, but I don't have a clue myself. Just part of the adventure.

We follow her over a mix of under construction dirt roads and pavement to a house in the middle of some neighborhood. There is some trash spread out in the front yard. She says something about the rotten crows, takes me inside and hands me the keys. It's a nice house, large TV and apparently well taken care of. I find it odd when I look on the deck and the entire thing is covered in chicken wire. At the time I had no idea what to make of that. No AC, but by keeping all the windows open that really wasn't a problem.

I'm a little uneasy not having a clue of why I'm in the neighborhood, but the house is fine, and I'm tired and uninterested in making any changes. We watch a movie until about 11pm and head off to bed, where I immediately pass out.

At some point in the next hour I am jolted awake by the wife's loud voice saying, "why are you in here?" I look over at her and she's sitting up, staring at the open bedroom door. I look and see no one. Confused I ask her, are you dreaming? "NO!" I listen, I hear no one moving. After a few moments to gather my thoughts I grab my phone, turn on the flashlight app and go search the house. Every room, every closet, every locked door...nothing.

I return, she tells me she thought she had heard someone beeping a bike horn, so she had looked out the window to see our bikes which were in a shadow and hard to see if anyone was around them. Then she heard noises downstairs, she was thinking one of our helmets had fallen off chair. Then later saw a kid standing in our room. Keep in mind, we've been together for over 26 years, she does not yell things out in the middle of the night.

With nothing to find she has me close the door and I'm fast asleep again.


Day 9:
I'm happy to wake up alive this morning. I asked what happened? She told me it must have been a dream, but she was spooked from hearing noises. Could have been the rain storm, noises from outside due to the open windows, but whatever it was, it was very out of character.

The rain had stopped and we ride back to Gander for breakfast, then a visit to the Arrow Air crash.

A sad event that we noticed happened the same month my wife and I started dating. We have no memory of the event even though we were both in the US Army when it happened to our fellow soldiers. The only reason I had some knowledge of the accident was related to my pilot training years later when it was given as an example of the dangers of icing.

We decide to head to Twillingate to give another attempt at whale watching. This short ride day was a welcomed break.

We saw no whales and it rained from the time we left the dock. This was the first time we put on our rain gear during the trip. But we enjoyed sitting up top listening to the captain as he told us stories, showed us the coast line and educated us on Newfoundland.

After two hours of floating in the rain we decided to stay in and I was once again put in charge of dinner.

 

[motocephalic]

thanks for the ride report, we had a good time in Bar harbor 2 years ago, but Barry was someplace else at the time. I will eventually make it to Newfoundland, but it will have to wait. A revisit to Nova Scotia is in order though. Put all riding off for 2012 due to putting all my effort into my Maine cottage. Hope to meet up again someday.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Thanks for checking in, Clem. I've been wondering what happened to you. Glad to know you're still out there and safe.

 

[twodogs]

Really enjoyed the report. Welcome back to the Northern Virginia heat......

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Day 10:
Rain stopped by morning. We have been so lucky on this trip. Today we need to make it to our reserved accommodations in the middle of Gros Morne National Park.

The plan has always been to ride the T'Railway. That's the dirt track that has replaced the former rail line stretching across Newfoundland. I'm told some places it's very good, others pretty rough. The guys on ridetherock.com helped me figure out a nice 70 kilometer section that should be pretty easy for us even on fully loaded bikes.

As planned we exited the highway at Badger and headed down Rt370 in search of Rt371, a dirt road that would take us to Millertown Junction. I think we found 371, but it was farther down that it looked on the map, and it wasn't marked with any route marker. Just a dirt road off to the right. This is probably it. It was a nice dirt road, except for the tire eating, split steel corrugated pipe that was exposed inside a hole in the road. I barely managed to miss it, and told my wife to say away as I was watching her follow my line right to it. She somehow also missed it.

The road was definitely showing the signs of the rain over the last 48 hours. This was bugging me, I really don't think I want to put my wife on 40 miles of trail that has been rained on for the last two days. I'll be fine with my K60's, but her Anakees, and big bike for her just don't feel right. So we turned around and decided to go back out to the highway. No T'Railway this time. Maybe someday.

After lunch we experienced our first rain riding. It was a light to moderate rain and since we saw it during our lunch break we were totally geared up for it. Probably rained on and off for about 2 hours. Amazing it took until day 10 to finally need our rain gear. Hard to complain about that.

Entering Gros Morne is is just one beautiful landscape after another.

We arrive at our cottage and there's a lot to see. Rocky Harbor is a very cool little town. Even the clouds had me staring in wonder.

The cottage was pretty close to the water and the town had everything we could need. Including our first moose burger.

Yes, it's very tasty. No it does not taste like beef or chicken. And I have not idea how to describe the difference between moose and beef. But you should have one, they are good. As soon as we finished eating on the patio the waitress came up, asked if we were finished then immediately whisked away the plates. She told us to stay as long as we wanted, but the plates had to be removed or they would be attacked by the birds. That was my a-ha moment about the chicken wire at the haunted house.

Back to our cottage where we sat outside the laundry building. My wife getting things clean again, me snapping away the camera.

Day 11:
The next morning was the boat ride on Western Brook Pond.

I'm pretty sure I uttered a profanity over the bluetooth when I pulled into the park lot. It started with Holy *#&@. My wife said that's probably a good reaction. Even from a distance this place is impressive. Think the fjords of Norway.

There is a 3 km walk down to the water. Even that is very impressive.

But the boat ride is very impressive. Photos and words don't really capture it.

It rained on and off during the boat ride. Fortunately the clouds stayed high enough not to block the view. If you go to Newfoundland you will be missing something if you don't take this 2 hour ride.

After the boat we headed north to Cow's Head. Wow, there is a strong wind blowing off the ocean. Had us riding leaned over a fair amount. Haven't felt wind like that since riding in Hurricane Irene in Vermont last year.

The windy ride has my wife really fighting it. Every time the wind gets us sideways I get a case of the chuckles and repeatedly break out laughing. I couldn't help it, and it did seem to get my wife to relax a little. The wind and cool temps take a toll on my wife and when we get back to the cottage she's done for the day.

Not me, I'm itching to explore this place. As she relaxes at the cottage I hit the road with cameras in hand and on helmet.

Day 12:
Up early, packed up and ready to leave Rocky Harbor, but not yet ready to leave Gros Morne. We've been told we must see Tableland.

Yep, it's a must see. Tableland is a place that is hard to comprehend. The left side of the road looks like you are riding in the Arizona/Utah desert. The right side had a nice green mountain full of vegetation. It's bizarre and oh so cool to see.

We reluctantly leave Gros Morne. It's a truly spectacular place that is an absolute must if you visit Newfoundland.

We move on to Deer Lake where we meet up with Sean, our local contact that has helped me plan this entire tour of his land. Sean is one of the two S10 owners on the island. Which means our meeting gives us the 75% of the island's S10s all in one place.

Sean takes us to lunch and then joins us for a windy ride down to another beautiful spot in Corner Brook.

We say goodbye to our tour consultant and head to the port for our 3:45am port call tomorrow morning.

Even in this very last section for us there is still great views.

 

[spklbuk]

Ok, this is the last post for this keyboard, filled the keys salivating!

More please sir!

 

[Dirt_Dad]

I think I can wrap up the written part tomorrow. The video will take a week or two. Much more good stuff there.

Thanks.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Day 13:
Up at 3:00am so we can be to the ferry at 3:45. I have no idea why they want you there so early, since no one is allowed to load for nearly another hour. Once on board we tie down and are surrounded on all sides by big trucks.

The genius driving the car carrier wants to make sure no opportunity for damage is passed up in the event of a close call.

We head up stairs in our little boat, pictured here from last week.

Funny how this ship seems little now. But everything is a tiny bit smaller on this boat. This time we have a window birth which is immediately covered so we can get as much sleep as possible before slogging it out when getting back to NS.

Up around 9:30 am I keep referring to last night when we got on the boat, my wife keeps correcting me, "you mean this morning?" It's strange to start the same day twice. Down to the bikes at 10:30.

We hear trucks running all around us, but spiked wheel genius seems to be asleep. The trailer in front of us does not have a truck attached. Everyone exits the boat, except for the 3 trucks blocking us in. There is no driver to be found for the car carrier. So after moving the truck behind him the Goldwing backs up on the slippery wet metal floor, then I push my wife back, and finally I do a K-turn out and we're free at 11:00am.

The sprint home begins. We end the day in Fredericton, NB. My wife really wanted to make the US, but I was dehydrated, confused and thinking slowly. Just can't do it.

Day 14:
Cross into the US and reset the GPS and speedo to US standards once again. Good guys at the border. The warn about moose. I can't help but roll my eyes and smirk a little. I told him we were warned endlessly about the highest moose population in the world in Newfoundland and nothing ever seen during our day rides. I asked him if he had "day moose." He told me, "yes, the bugs annoy them out of the woods and they are out during the day." Alright, we'll look.

It actually takes me a while to realize the 50 MPH sign is not a 50 KPH sign, and I'm not really doing 30 MPH. Never been out of the country for this long before.

We end the day in Jay, VT at the same little Inn that had given us shelter when we were caught in Hurricane Irene last year. Nice place, definitely noticed the lack of AC on this visit more than the last.

Day 15:
We love the Adirondacks. Never found a bad road through those mountains. We crossed from VT into NY on the ferry.

We'll it turns out there are bad roads in the Adirondacks. And leaving it to the GPS to select your roads is a bad idea. For the first time ever, the Adirondacks were a disappointment. My fault, not theirs.

We ride through our second rain shower on the trip. After 5 minutes, it's done. What great weather we've had. We end the day in Scranton, PA after riding 480 miles. Getting out of the shower that evening I start to fall, but catch myself. The thought goes through my head...can't believe I've ridden over 4K miles, through 3 times zones and I kill myself getting out of a shower at an upscale hotel less than 250 miles from home.

Day 16:
Home on the highway except for a diversion for traffic that the Zumo cooked up. Our daughter wasn't there, but did make us feel welcomed.

I earned this one. Makes all the other stickers seem a little silly.

Specs
The bikes were a little over 4,500 miles. The GPS a little under 4,500.
They were near perfect, but one little issue did arise with my wife's bike not shifting into first. A quick check of the yamahasupertenere.com forum identified the need to lubricate the shifter pivot bolt, and problem solved.

Lessons Learned
As anticipated having accommodations pre-booked puts way too much pressure on the ride. It turns from enjoying the day, to munching enough miles to make the destination. Will avoid doing this whenever possible.

Highway riding is efficient...and sucks! But I already knew that.

Finding accommodations is much easier than anticipated. Unless there is a specific place you want to stay, finding something during the peak vacation season is still not a problem.

Our friends in Canada a subjected to some pretty high prices on fuel and food. Both are significantly more expensive than in the US. Conversely the accommodation prices for the most wonderful places on the water were all under $100 a night. Much less than expected in the US.

Days are very long this time of year up there. The sky is still not totally dark at 10pm, and the sun is starting back up before 5am. Must be a very dark place in the winter.

Newfoundland is worth the effort.

Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and moose. All take faith to believe they exist. I've seen no hard evidence any of them are real.

Summary
Newfoundland is incredibly beautiful and I'm very happy Trevor suggested it. I might never have thought of it on my own.

I'm glad we traveled from east to west. As Sean pointed out the weather moves the other direction, so bad weather is unlikely to follow you. True, but more importantly I'm glad we did Gros Morne last. That place is beyond spectacular and it was the perfect crescendo to Newfoundland. It might have been difficult to fully appreciate everything else if we had done that first. I think east to west worked perfectly.

Thanks
Several people assisted in making this a successful and memorable trip. You know who you are, and I appreciate all you.

My wife...none of this would have been done without her participation. I would not take 2 weeks off work, say goodbye and leave her behind. I don't know any other woman that would ride a 600+lb bike that is too heavy and tall for her over 4,500 miles in two weeks. Over highways, back roads and dirt roads she was willing to do it all. I'm sure there are some others out there, but I've never met another one. I'm lucky and I know it.

-done-
That's it. I'll post the video here when I get it finished.

 

[bahill]

Excellent report Dirt Dad !!! Thanks for taking the time to post !

::012:: ::26:: ::012:: ::26:: ::012:: ::26:: ::012:: ::26::

 

[motocephalic]

Jon, you said that you did not know of another woman that would ride that many miles, through that kind of terrain. Well, I know you've met my wife at least a couple of times briefly at Ironhorse. She has done those very kind of trips with me riding her own v strom, and I must say I consider myself very lucky as well. Glad you made some great memories with each other. These are the times we will remember long from now. Thanks for posting.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Jon, you said that you did not know of another woman that would ride that many miles, through that kind of terrain. Well, I know you've met my wife at least a couple of times briefly at Ironhorse. She has done those very kind of trips with me riding her own v strom, and I must say I consider myself very lucky as well. Glad you made some great memories with each other. These are the times we will remember long from now. Thanks for posting.

Sounds like we both have it good. Clem, I do hope we get to catch up again in the near future.

Jon

 

[dcstrom]

Excellent write-up Jon. Glad it worked out - otherwise you would have been saying "WTF was Trevor talking about!"

Sixteen days is just a bit tight time-wise from the DC area to Newfoundland and back. I think I mentioned this! But you found out for yourself. A week of travel there and back, plus a week on Newfoundland is not quite enough. I would try to add at least 4 days if doing it again - one more for travel to/from, and 3 more in Newfoundland.

I did a few more miles than you - 4700 - but came back via Quebec and Montreal. Seems that route should have added more than 200 miles, Nova Scotia to Quebec was an 800 mile day (the only one of the trip, thankfully).

You mentioned you had mooseburger... I missed out on that. I did however camp on the beach one night, met these local fishermen who were grilling and drinking and BS'ing, good bunch of guys and invited me to join in. I was munching on a tasty sausage when one of the guys asked me what I thought was in it. Venison was my best guess. Nope - seal. It was really tasty.

Given that I work for an environmental organisation we had to have the discussion about the rights and wrongs of the seal hunt up there. They had some misconceptions (the seal eat all the cod) but they gave me an education in what it's really like to survive and make a living as a fisherman in harsh climate such as Newfoundland (most of the year anyway).

That's the great thing about travel - you learn a lot!

 

[Dirt_Dad]

I guess it's a sore subject up there. The captain of one of the boats was discussing the seal problem they have up there. Very strong opinions about it. It's a topic that has passion behind it.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Today I finally turned on my GPS for the first time since the trip. Here's the track.

...and the video.

Newfoundland 2012

As always happens when we're on a trip we heard certain songs over and over. This was no exception and the two we heard the most are in the video. The Islander, and Drunken Sailor. I really liked The Islander, some how my wife had never heard Drunken Sailor before, so I can't tell you how many times I heard her just burst out into singing "What do you do..." over and over again in the headset. It made her happy, which in turn made me happy. Enjoy.