Last night we were in Labrador and stayed at a nice little B&B, but it didn't have internet, so sit down, grab a cup of coffee or whatever you want and sit down for a long post for two days.
Last I left you, we had pulled into a motel after riding for at least 3 hours in a solid rain. Most everything dried completely overnight. Everything that was critical that is, e.g., the clothes I needed to wear, did dry.
Mike and I had looked at how long we thought it would take to get from Grand Falls-Windsor to the ferry in St. Barbe. It seems like we came to a 7 hour concencus. So, we took the ferry departure time, subtracted the 7 hours and left another hour or so for food, breaks and gas stops. We got up early and got on the road about 20 minutes prior to the 7 AM time we had set. Then, when I looked at the GPS, it showed we had only one hour of breathing room to get to the ferry. So, we hit the road hard. As we got closer and closer, the number of kilometers left to ride just didn't jive with the estimated arrival time of the GPS. At one point, I decided just to reset the destination point and realized the last destination point I had set was at the end of the paved road in Labrador. Then all of a sudden, we had 3 hours extra time.
Even if I hadn't planned to go to Labrador, traveling up the west coast of Newfoundland would have been totally worth the ride. It was a different look than the eastern side. There weren't nearly the number of pine trees and lots more streams and rivers running to the ocean. Plus, there were lots of tidal marshes on the non-ocean side of the road. We would randomly find cars parked on the side of the road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere and we wondered if the occupants were just out hiking. Later, we saw somebody next to the road and we think they were foraging for berries. They have parsons berries here which are tart and sweet, like blueberries mixed with rhubarb. They also have bakeapple berries. I would see signs for bakeapples and wondered if they were just baked apples.
So, we started looking for real food. The plan had been a quick fast food breakfast, but in Western Newfoundland you don't find too many bigger cities to support fast food restaurants. We found a town with a motel restaurant combination and went in. It was about 11 AM at this point, but we had a choice of breakfast or lunch. We decided on breakfast. I got a scrambled egg platter with bacon, sausage, onions and peppers and thought it was the best breakfast I have had on this trip. Mike and Johnny's contention was that I was just hungry. Before I ordered, I asked the waitress if they had any food the Newfoundlanders eat and she said no, they couldn't serve moose and rabbit. We heard that previous to the 1920's there were no moose in Newfoundland. Then they introduced 8 moose and now they estimate there are over 150,000. Still, to hunt moose here, you have to apply for a permit. Even then, you may only be permitted to take a female and you might not fill the freezer. The waitress said sometimes she gets sick of moose meat.
We had plenty of time at the ferry terminal and finally made our way to the ferry. It was much larger than the PEI ferry, but not surprisingly, not nearly as HUGE as the Marine Atlantic boat. It was a small terminal and we got in line and purchase our tickets. I asked about buying a round trip, and the agent said they only sold one way tickets. For the time, it was the best value yet, only $11.50 CA to cross. Pretty quickly after we got on the water, a heavy fog set in and was with us the entire way. So, no iceberg or whale siteings were to be had. It was still foggy when we set port in Quebec. We took a few obligatory pictures and hit the road for the Labrador border. It was so foggy that everytime we saw a large sign, I had to slow down to see if it was the one we wanted. I really wanted for the 3 of us to be in this picture as to me it represented one of the large goals of the trip. Since nobody was there, I put my camera on a mini tripod I carry and took the picture. If you wonder why we had a white backdrop, now you know it is fog. Luckily, the fog cleared soon as made our way down the road.
We stopped at Barney's Bed and Breakfast. We had seen a sign at the ferry terminal and there was a tri-fold pamphlet on the ferry. The prices listed made it a better value to stay in two rooms than try to find a larger room elsewhere. Plus, it came with a home cooked breakfast. So, we stopped to let Mary, the proprietor, we were here and then took off to find the end of the pavement.
Labrador started off as a wind swept rocky land with low vegetation and a few scrub trees. As we got closer to Red Bay, where the gravel road begins, the landscape turned more hilly with some pine trees. Still, all very gorgeous. Plus, we also saw some wicked low clouds and fog combinations ahead. About 15km outside of Red Bay, we hit even heavier fog. During that time, the temperature dropped 11 degrees. We slowed down a bit and found the end of the road. I had pictured in my mind the pavement just ending and the gravel beginning, but in reality, there was a fork to a large gravel road and the pavement went into town. Sadly, no big signs denoting the Trans Canadian Labrador Highway, so I took a picture of my bike on the gravel and we went to town to look for souveniers.
This was literally as far as we were gonna travel on this vacation. I had traveled 6,366.5km or 3,955 miles to get her. Everything from that point forward was heading back home.
Mary was quite charming and served us pancakes with bacon, juice and coffee for breakfast. With the pancakes, she had parson berry, bakeapple and squash berry jams. Very good!
With our easy experience of getting on the ferry from the day before, we left Barney's to board the ferry back to Newfoundland. When we got to the terminal, there was a line of cars. Not to worry, they can always fit a motorcycle on. We got inside and saw a line. You had to get a number. I got 29, Mike got 30 and then there were no numbers left for Johnny. This was a bad omen. When we asked about more numbers, we were told that we probably weren't getting on the terminal anyway since we didn't have a reservation. This is where I start asking myself why the agent from the day before didn't take at least a reservation. But, that is now in the past and I am trying to get over it. So, we stood in line waiting patiently to see what the outcome would be after they loaded the ferry.
Sadly, we didn't make the 10:30 ferry. Luckily, we were sold tickets for the 3:30 ferry. But now, what to do with the bonus time? It has been 9 days since we left and my dirty clothes bag was pretty full and my pile of clean clothes was sparse. I asked the agent if there was a laundry facility in town. She said that a hotel down the road a such a facility. Sadly, they had only one washer and one dryer, but with judicious loading and unloading, we had just enough time to wash and dry 3 large loads before we got back one hour early for the 3:30 ferry.
We also realized that our plans for making the ferry back to Nova Scotia via Port aux Basques were compromised. We went online and now have tickets for the 8:30 ferry. We were going to try to make it to Deer Lake tonight, but that would have had us riding after dark and in this part of the country, moose are a definite danger. We started stopping at motels and found a small hotel and we are north of Gros Morne National Park. This is a good thing because I didn't want my last look to be in the dark!
In theory, tomorrow should be an easy day to get to the ferry to get to Nova Scotia. After that, I can't say, but that will be another post :)
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