Sunday, June 26, 2022

Gros Morne to Twillingate!

So, I got pulled over by the Facebook police the other day. They let me go with a warning but if my behavior continued my account would be suspended. Apparently, the word "kidnap" is not allowed in the Facebook world and just using it will trigger all sorts of mayhem. I was commenting to someone that they better be careful or we would kidnap them and all hell broke loose. Messages, deletions, warnings, followed by a list of rules. And this did not just happen for that one day, the warnings continued multiple times over the next few days. So be warned, if we are thinking of kidnapping you, we will not post it on Facebook first!

You know how I said the other day that the sound of rain on the roof of the camper was so peaceful and relaxing? Well, after 36 hours of it I think Barb was getting ready to go all Glenn Close on me. It's a good thing we did not have a pet rabbit in the camper or we might have had hasenpfeffer for supper!

As such, we did not get out on any long hikes during this rainy period. We did drive around a lot and got in some smaller hikes when the rain stopped or just slowed down to a drizzle. Barb had read that there was a shipwreck on the shore about 30 minutes north of Berry Hill Campground so we headed up there to check it out. The S.S. Ethie (click that link for a very interesting story about the ship) ran aground on December 11th, 1919. The steamship was powered by both steam and sail when she got caught up in a storm risking the lives of all aboard. It is hard to believe that over 100 years later the saltwater has not eaten all that remains of her. 

The shoreline is littered with the wreckage for several hundred yards in each direction. The rains really brought out the colors and variations in the rocks and made for some beautiful pictures.


On the way back, there was a lull in the rain so we decided to take the dogs for a 4k walk around a pond. The trail was a combination of paths and boardwalks. At one point Zoey jumped off the boardwalk into a water puddle that ended up being more of a mud hole. She was a mess but happy!
Later on the trail we came across a woman taking pictures of a plant. We stopped and talked to her and she said that the plant was a Pitcher Plant, the Provincial Flower of Newfoundland. She went on to say that it was actually a carnivorous plant, insects would crawl into the "pitcher" (on the bottom of the plant) and are trapped, and would be consumed by the plant. Who knew?!?!

Then it was off to Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse. It was raining again so we left the dogs in the truck and walked around the area ourselves. 
This is where William Young and his wife, Esther, lived from 1902 to 1941. They had  eight children, six of which were born right here on this living room floor! One of the kids born in that living room manned the lighthouse from 1941 to 1970.
We love touring lighthouses. This one was unique but not our favorite. It is situated in such a way that is it is really hard to get good pictures of it. 
One of the trails had some stairs going down to the shoreline so we went down to explore and look for sea glass. No glass, but it was still interesting.

We also explored nearby Rocky Harbor, cool little town with a lot of touristy shops. After all that, it was still raining so we headed back to the camper to listen to the rain on the roof some more. We woke up the next morning to, you guessed it, rain on the roof, Since we had explored about everything we were interested in (that was inside) in the area, we decided to leave a day early and head to an area on the map that was somewhat on our route and was calling my name. So we packed up, filled the water tanks, dumped the gray and black tank and hit the road to Fleur De Lys. Along the way we saw several  signs telling us to watch out for caribou but we did not see any. The good news was that even though it was supposed to rain all day, it cleared up and we had a beautiful day!
Barb read up on the town that we were driving to and said it had an overlook that allowed overnight camping as well as possible whale and iceberg sightings, 2 of the 3 things were most looking forward to seeing in Newfoundland. When we got to town we drove to the far end where the overnight camping spot was said to be. Well, it was little more than a turnaround amongst some houses so we quickly decided to pass on that spot. But we did take the .8 hike up the Ocean View Trail to see if we could spot some whales or icebergs. It was a nice trail with a beautiful overlook but sadly, no whale or iceberg sightings. 

We then drove to Coachman's Cove and set up for the night at a trailhead right on the water.  
A little while later the winds picked up, the temperature dropped and some low hanging clouds crept over the mountains like a lion sneaking up on its prey. 
Same view 20 minutes apart!
Soon we were enveloped in the fog.  When we woke up it was a chilly 45 in the camper. Barb and I had to Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who was going to crawl out and turn on the heater and take the dogs out.  Like all things competitive in our marriage I lost and took the walk of shame with the dogs.

The fog hung with us making visibility about two hundred yards as we drive to King's Point where Barb wanted to visit the pottery shop looking for something handcrafted to bring home.  She came out 20 minutes later with a sand dollar with a puffin painted on it.  The ever elusive puffin, the 3rd thing we are hoping to see on this trip!

Then it was off to Glassy Beach where there is said to be tons of sea glass.  You never know what to expect when you go to places like this.  In my mind, I was picturing a long stretch of beach that has some sea glass scattered amongst it. In reality, this bear was about 50 yards long and was ALL sea glass.  Not sure how it ever came to be but sometime in the past someone was dumping a lot of glass out in the water! 
That's all sea glass!
Lobster traps are everywhere!
Before we left for this adventure Barb had joined Boondockers Welcome (BW).  It is a site that lists homeowners who will allow travelers to stay overnight on their property free of charge.  It is $79 for the annual subscription.  We had anticipated using it quite a bit on our Great Summer Adventure but everywhere we went there was either no host members or they were not accepting reservations.  Boondockers Welcome is owned by Harvest Hosts (HH) which lists businesses who allow travelers to stay overnight in their parking lot.  This service is $99/year.  Our friends Harry and Vicky (yeah that Harry) are currently on their way up to Alaska and are posting about all their fun stops at HH breweries, wineries and farms along the way.  So, since we were not getting anything out of BW, Barb called to see if we could change over our subscription to HH.  No problem they said, we just needed to pay the difference.

This change is what brought us to our next destination - Pilley's Island.  
Our route for the day
Probably the cutest town we have been to so far.  Clean, quiet, scenic and lots of bay, coves, inlets and Bumblebee Bight Brewery who just happens to be a HH member!  We arrived about 3:00 and Barb went in to let them know we were here and find out where to park.  She returned with the owner (I forget her name) and she showed us where we could park.  A raised parking lot overlooking a beautiful cove.

We took the dogs for a walk before hitting the brewery for a few beers and supper.  They offered 8 beers so we got one of each!
We also ordered mussels and wings.  In the past, we have not been huge mussel fans but these garlic and butter ones were delicious.  As were the salt and pepper wings.  It also had some of the best tasting beers we have had in quite a while.  The Spring Fever Hefeweizen was to die for!  Although not required HH asks that you spend a minimum of $20 at the participating business.  Well, we exceeded that by about 6x.  This free camping in going to be expensive!

The next morning we pulled out after saying goodbye to the owners.  Thankfully, the weather forecast had changed and we were in for a couple sunny days.  Finally!  We had a couple of destinations for the day.  The first was Grand Falls/Winsor where we needed to resupply the cupboards.  The first stop was Dominion.  Barb came out 20 minutes later with a load of groceries and said we needed to stop by Walmart and get some Mountain Dew as Dominion did not have any.  Luckily, they were in the same parking lot.  She came out empty handed and said, let's try Sobey's......nope.  Not a Mountain Dew to be had anywhere, not a single can, two liter or case!

Moutain Dew-less, we headed to the Salmon Interpretive Center.  It is located at the falls and has a salmon ladder to allow the salmon to get up river.  The guide educated us for about 20 minutes on how they developed the ladder, the salmon lifecycle and spawning.  All very interesting.  If you are ever in this area, we would highly recommend it.  There were a few salmon in the ladder system but nothing like the 200 per day they are expecting at the peak in a few weeks. 
Then we were off to Twillingate where we planned to spend the night at a free campsite called Crows Head up by the lighthouse.  Our first stop in Twillengate was the North Atlantic Wooden Boat Builder's Museum.  It is pretty sparse as far as museums go but was really fascinating in seeing how they built boats back in the day.  They even have a workshop where they are in the process of building a couple of boats.  Wow, the craftsmanship that goes into that is amazing! 

They look for trees with bends in them so the grain goes with the bend
making it much stronger

We got to our campsite a little after 4:00, the views and sunset could not be beat!


Twillingate has lots of cool hiking trails.  We could not decide on which one we wanted to hike so we chose parts of three:  French Beach, Spiller's Cove and Codjack Cove.  Of the 3, we enjoyed Codjack Cove with the incredible views of the rugged coastline.


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Dakota got to go on her first Atlantic ocean swim.  She tried tasting the water but quickly decided it was disgusting.  Zoey waded around enjoying the cool water.  
After taking advantage of the town's free dump station and filling with water, we headed off down to our next destination.  Where will we go?  What will we see?  Will we find another brewery? You will have to stay tuned to find out!

37 comments:

  1. The cliffs of home. Sigh! I miss them!

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  2. Very beautiful scenery! That would have been interesting to see the salmon! I would have enjoyed that. Maybe not finding Mountain Dew was a sign to give it up?? I haven't drunk soda in 11 years; don't miss it :) Let's hope more sunnier weather is in the forecast for the next stage of your adventure

    betty

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    1. You are asking a lot as I don't drink coffee and Dew is my morning pick-me-up!

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  3. We have been following your NFLD and summer trip. Beautiful photos and nice post (as usual) but I think we will have this province now on our bucket list to visit also. Keep those photos coming, we are enjoying your posts.

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    1. If there is anyway to do it, the Twillingate area would be incredible to see from the deck of a trowler!

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  4. Will we find another brewery? That's like asking if the sun will arise in the morning! Just love all this you all are seeing...it is wonderful.

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    1. at 6:57 PM
      I'll make a deal with you. If the sun does rise tomorrow, we will go to a brewery! We saw some more great sights today, crossing off one of our goals in Newfoundland!

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  5. When it comes to Facebook, remember not to STAB your steak in frustration either – because that will get you into trouble as well LOL
    I find seaglass fascinating (not that common here), but a beach like that would flummox me as to what piece I wanted to pick up!
    Am loving your photos. Safe travels :)

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    1. You sound as though you speak from experience. Did you too get the dreaded Facebook warnings?

      There are so many great photo opportunities here it is hard to decide which ones to include in the blog!

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    2. Not myself, but I have friends who have made joking remarks and been taken to task over them. Must be wonderful travelling through all that beauty :)

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  6. Too bad the weather isn’t cooperating. You guys are finding some great scenic spots to overnight! Glad you enjoyed the mussels, it takes a lot of them to make a meal.
    Safe travels!
    Colibaba’s

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    1. The past few days have been much nicer on the east coast. You're right, the mussels make a great appetizer but hardly a meal.

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  7. Tears ... I'm laughing so hard at Zoey. And oh ... oh ... ooohhh!!! I'm guessing someone had to clean up those muddy feet! As to Facebook ... I'm posting KIDNAP today .... you know, just to make sure they are on their toes!!! Absolutely gorgeous pictures of amazingly beautiful country.

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    1. Let us know how that goes for you with Facebook. As for Zoey, we found an access to the lake and had her wade out to get all that mud off!

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  8. Glad you got out of fb jail. The coast is beautiful. Love the cliff side free camping! We’ve never seen a Puffin in the wild yet either. It would be cool to see a Caribou too. We live lighthouses with living quarters that you can tour. Seems things like that msg not be available again since Covid. Rangers are telling us they can’t find people to work for $15. Was That a bruise or tattoo on Barbs ankle?

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    1. They are having the same issues here at the restaurants, no one wants to work.

      Barb has a Panda bear tattoo just above her ankle.

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  9. Nice you have some nice weather mixed in with the rain. Lovely views.

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    1. Finally! We have had our fair share of rain, but then so again, so have you guys!

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  10. What app are you using for the free campsites? I have free campsites.net

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    1. We use freecampsites as well but have found https://www.ioverlander.com/ better up here.

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  11. OMG….Codjack Cove looks like Scotland. That is absolutely beautiful!

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    1. We have never been to Scotland but theses rugged coasts were beautiful. You can walk up as close to the edges as you want to (or fall right off)!

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  12. If I were a serial killer looking to murder some unsuspecting RVer, I would totally sign up as a host with Boondockers Welcome. Starting a whole winery or farm in order to attract victims would be way more work. So, I just think you've made a better choice by going with HH.

    Also, I'm totally with Barb on the sound of rain on the RV roof. It's charming for about an hour. Then it gets real annoying.

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    1. Now, that is funny right there! You know, it is only a matter of time before we read those headlines. "Authorities search for clues as the RV's of 12 missing travelers are found in rural Tennessee barn".

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  13. Another splendid installment of Jim and Barb's RV Adventures. Well done old chap. However I feel that now you have joined HH, I fear the blog is going to turn into Jethro and Bambi's Beer Adventures. I would like to remind you that you can get a case of Busch Light for a fraction of the cost and you get 30 cans to sample in each case. That's what real working people drink. Nice pictures though. Keep them coming.

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    1. Drink bottom shelf Busch Light?!? Next thing you'll tell me is that you work at Harbor Freight or something! Blasphemy!

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  14. Bonavista Pennsuila outside the town of Elliston for puffins! Also the coast north and east of there should have icebergs you can see from shore! I see from your map you arent planning to visit that area. You should, if you can take the extra time! Its a wonderful place, such great people!

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    1. We just went through that area! Posting a new blog tomorrow on what we saw. The Bonavista area was very cool!

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  15. I just got caught up on your blog. It looks like you are having a great, but wet trip. The views along the seashore look amazing.

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    1. You guys would love it! There are so many coves and inlets. Makes us wish we had a boat and a couple of months to explore!

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  16. Newfoundland looks beautiful! We had a Boondockers Welcome membership in addition to our Harvest Host membership. Like you, we found limited opportunities in the areas we visited. Did you get your 3 meals a day wile in FB jail? 😉🐭 Sue

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    1. I wonder if that is common with BW or we just aren't in the right places?

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  17. Great job with the dog photos!!! It's nice that the girls get to go on so many hikes. The video of Zoey was too cute! Spectacular views and beautiful blue water! Glad the rain finally left.

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    1. The trails, beaches and parks here are very dog friendly. A lot don't even require leashes!

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  18. If everyone takes a sample of the sea glass, will there be any left? Is more deposited?

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    1. That's a good question. There is a sign asking people not to take any but there has to be a lot more in the ocean to create a beach like that!

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