The Road Goes On…

2012 Trans Labrador Highway

  • 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.

     

  • 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.

  • 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.

     

     

  • 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.

  • 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.