The Road Goes On…

Category: 2012 Trans Labrador Hwy

  • Ingonish to Cheticamp

    Today we started the day updating the blog and making rough plans for where we’d like to be for the remaining days of the trip.

    The driving today was relatively short with only about 100kms, but several stops at scenic lookouts along the way. Lunch was in Neil’s Harbour at the Chowder House for fish and chips and lobster club sandwich and seafood chowder. While having lunch we watched gannets diving into the water. What a sight!

    We resisted fudge and ice cream at the lighthouse shop and then continued on the Cabot Trail. On the way back to our car we saw a dog driving an RV.

    The road climbs and then descends the mountains (to about 500 meters) with lots of curves.  Amazing sights of mountains and oceans!

     

    There is a valley where a fault line runs and the shifts are clearly visible.

    There are more studios and galleries along this route and we stopped at Arts North which has beautiful unique cutting boards by Larch Wood, colorful silk scarves and hats, pottery, jewelry and other crafts by Cape Breton artists. This is definitely a great place to stop.

    Further down the coast we found another great lookout with a Parks Canada staff member talking about whales.

    We stopped at the Cheticamp campground for the night. This is a fairly large campground and has serviced and unserviced sites.

  • Channel-Port-aux-Basques to Ingonish

    At 5AM the ship’s PA system announced the cafe was open for breakfast and we had one more hour of sailing to go. We spent some time outside watching the sun rise and Nova Scotia shoreline getting closer and closer. Once the ferry docked we were off pretty quickly and headed for the Cabot Trail where we had one more unexpected ferry ride of about 100 meters at Englishtown.

     

    The Cabot Trail has a number of studios and galleries along the way but they weren’t open at 8AM so we stopped for breakfast at Little River Harbour where lobster fishermen had finished their season and were painting their boats and chatting with each other.

     

    After breakfast we backtracked to the studios and galleries – glass, woodworking, pottery and leather. The leather studio was particularly interesting and Martin got a leather bowl for storing coins on the dresser.

    We continued on the extremely scenic Cabot Trail to Cape Smokey where we had lunch and enjoyed the spectacular view of the ocean.

    We continued on to Ingonish Beach where we finally found an automotive propane dealer and filled the tank. We settled into a wonderful campground, walked the beach, had a quick swim and then did a one and a half hour ghost story telling hike with a Parks Canada guide. The stories gave a great insight into the lives of the people, both native and settlers who lived here.

  • Norris Point to Channel-Port-aux-Basques

    Emptied and filled tanks, showered and off we go towards Channel-Port-aux-Basques.

    We stopped briefly in Deer Lake where some fishermen were fishing in the river.

    Our next stop was in Corner Brook for some groceries and to search for a place that could refill our propane tank.  The tank is built into the Roadtrek and therefore needs a place licensed for automotive propane. We found the grocery prices surprisingly high, especially considering that Churchill Falls and Happy Valley-Goose Bay had been so reasonable. Lunch was at the Mamateek Restaurant and Pub. Fantastic view over the city and ocean.

    At the Channel-Port-aux-Basques we stopped to get a local area map along with a Nova Scotia guide and map. We then stopped at the museum that houses an astrolabe from the 1600s. Unfortunately our tour guide was clueless about most of the artifacts at the museum and other than telling us a little bit about the trains there we didn’t get much out of that visit. Newfoundland no longer has any trains since the 1980s with trucks having taken over.

    Since we still had about 5 hours before the ferry left, we headed out to the Rose Blanche lighthouse. This was an amazing drive in the fog ending at the lighthouse which was built from local granite in 1871 and which was in operation until the 1940s. A fog horn added an eerie sense to the place.

     

    We returned to Channel-Port-aux-Basques at 8:30PM and the ferry loading began at 9:30PM for the 11:30PM crossing.  The amount of cars, campers, motorcycles and trucks that fit in this ferry’s four vehicle decks is amazing.

     

    We were on a cabin wait list but didn’t get one so we spent the 6 hours sleeping in the reclining seats on the 7th deck.

     

     

  • Arches Provincial Park and Norris Point

    Woke up and picked some wild strawberries.  Yummy.  We checked the weather report and it said that the weather would be rainy and windy so we decided to drive south to Corner Brook but made a lunch stop at Arches Provincial Park (pictured above).  By then the weather had improved so we thought it might be nice to stay for a day in Gros Morne after all.  We checked into the Norris Point KOA, did laundry and checked into sea kayaking options.  Alas, nothing left for that day and tomorrow looks windy and rainy again.

    There was an organic vegetable farm across the street which had 2-3 cucumbers and some wilted lettuce and two munching rabbits out front. Decided not to purchase anything.

    A couple we’d met at Battle Harbour was also at the campground.

  • Battle Harbour to Newfoundland

    Breakfast was at 8am and Pepsi made a lot of new friends with at least 5 of the children that were staying overnight simultaneously giving her belly rubs!

    The ferry left the island at 9am and we were back in Mary’s Harbour at 10am and headed off on the last 87 kms of the Trans Labrador Highway. The highway was better than we expected with only some rough spots.

    Once we reached Red Bay we stopped at the Whaler’s Inn for lunch. We decided to head to Blanc Sablon to catch the ferry to Newfoundland and stopped at Dot’s Bakery along the way for some bread, croissants and cinnamon buns.

    We took the 6pm ferry and found a nice lookout by the coast to overnight.

    The sunset was terrific.

     

  • Mary’s Harbour to Battle Harbour

    We left Pepsi and the Roadtrek at the school parking lot and started walking to the Battle Harbour ferry dock and one of the locals stopped and offered us a ride.  At the ferry dock we were told that dogs were permitted on the ferry and Battle Harbour premises and could even spend the night in two of the houses there.  I walked back to the RV and picked Pepsi up, along with some food for her and then walked back to the ferry dock.  The ferry ride was about an hour and Battle Harbour was beautiful.

       

    We ate a cod lunch and then did a tour of the site, led by a woman who had grown up there and added some personal history to the tour. At the end of the tour Ruth and I decided we would spend the night there and we stayed in the Isaac Smith house. This house has a kitchen with wood burning stove, three bedrooms and can sleep at least 6 people.

    Catherine, the general manager of the site, gave us some pointers of where exactly where the sun would set and we wandered off to take pictures.  At 6:30 we had dinner and then headed out again for some sunset pictures.

    There was a large iceberg in the bay.

    This was truly a highlight of our trip so far.

     

  • Happy Valley-Goose Bay to Mary’s Harbour

    Visited Drumdancer Arts and Crafts and bought Woman of Labrador book, the story of Elizabeth Goudie’s life as a trapper’s wife in the early 1900s. We also sampled toutons with partridgeberry jam. Next was Slippers ‘n Things where Pepsi got a Labrador dog kerchief and then Herb Brown’s Birches Galley to see native art work. Herb has a fine collection of pieces in his home/gallery including some in blue-eyed granite. There was a beautiful 400lb bear there for $35,000 that Herb said he would personally deliver if we bought it.

    We left Happy Valley-Goose Bay at around 1PM for a 480 km gravel highway trip to Mary’s Harbour. Most of the highway wasn’t all that bad although it did get progressively worse once past the Cartwright Junction. Along the way we saw two cars that must have been in accidents and had been stripped of everything of value, leaving only the bare frame.

    Besides lunch and dinner we also stopped to help a pickup truck driver who had had his second flat of the day in the same tire.

    The last 50 kms were so bad that we were only able to move at 30 km/h. We both laughed out loud when we saw the “bump in 100m ahead” sign.  As if it could really get worse.  It did.  The town of Mary’s Harbour has some pretty bad roads and we finally inched into the school parking lot for the night at 11PM.

  • North West River and Happy Valley-Goose Bay

    Today we explored the area around Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Our first stop was North West River which is one of oldest communities in Labrador and is beautifully located at the head of Lake Melville and Grand Lake. Here we visited the Labrador Interpretive Center and the Hudson Bay Company store which is now a museum. The staff at both places were extremely friendly and took their time sharing details and stories of life in Labrador.

     

    Next we drove to the town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay in search of craft stores but unfortunately they were already closed for the day.

    Back at the campsite we cooked a nice meal and finally caught up with our blog.

      

     

  • Churchill Falls to Happy Valley-Goose Bay

    The night was very cold at 7 degrees Celsius so we tried to turn the furnace or heat pump going. There seems to be a loose connection somewhere as it will come on, but then never does again until you cycle power on the unit. Phoned Roadtrek to see what they suggest – wait until you get back to have the dealer look at it.

    Phoned town office at 8PM to try and reserve spots on the 9AM hydro plant tour. Tours are offered at 9AM, 1:30PM and 7PM but unfortunately at the moment there is only one guide so the 9AM tour was cancelled. We signed up for the 1:30PM tour so we had the morning to relax. We visited the library at the town centre and they had some books for sale for $1 each so we bought 3. We also discovered that we have one tank dripping water so that will also need to be looked at when we get back.

    The hydro generating station tour was amazing. The plant is 1000ft feet underground and solid granite. You take an elevator down and then visit the transformer room, power generating floor where the 11 generators are located and the emergency shelter underground.  There is a tunnel with a bus with a key in the ignition for a quick escape if needed.

       

    After the tour ended we drove to Happy Valley-Goose Bay with a stop at the Muskrat Falls which are scheduled to also be developed into a power station.  Work has already begun and brush has been cleared with heavy machinery. The hiking trail was very slick and difficult but all three of us managed to get to the falls and back just before dark. Unfortunately we neglected to take our camera so we were unable to document the falls before they are destroyed during development.

    Upon arrival in Happy Valley-Goose Bay we checked into the Goose River Lodge and RV Park.

  • Labrador City to Churchill Falls

    We started the day with an in-RV shower – works really well. After breakfast we emptied tanks and filled up with fresh water. We had to take the nozzle off the water hose to get it to fit into the water filling hole on the Roadtrek, but that left us with no way to turn the water on or off.  Lots of water and once the tank filled up it sprayed everywhere until we kinked the hose. Shower #2 done. The RV park owner asked whether we wanted to get rid of Pepsi.

    Next was a visit to the mall in Labrador City for some groceries and gas. A quick drive through town showed a functional but uninspired northern industry town.

    Once back on the Trans Labrador Highway we came across a porcupine sniffing the fresh yellow paint from the crew that was painting new lines on the highway. It took quite a bit of coaxing to get him off the road so we could pass.

    The first 165 kms were pristine pavement and we had a wonderful ride.

    Once the gravel returned things got bumpier again.

    We stopped at Churchill Falls for a hike and took some pictures of the massive canyon and the relatively small amount of water now flowing down the falls because of the hydro plant water diversion.

    All of a sudden there was a flapping of wings as a mother partridge and her young took off from the ground.

    The last 30 kms of highway to the town of Churchill Falls was nearly impassable for our RV. There is road construction here and it was raining so we had slick, deep mud and patches of rough gravel.

    The town of Churchill Falls a true example of a company town. Everything except for the gas station, a pub and two convenience stores is owned by Nalcor Energy. Workers at the company receive free electricity and subsidized housing but have to leave Churchill Falls upon retirement. The Town Complex houses the hotel (also owned by the company), a library, school, post office, supermarket, pool, spa, fitness club, etc. The concept was a bit foreign to us. The parking lot here is the only place can stay overnight for RVs, so that’s what we did. They do provide power.