Quidi Vidi Village. (2019)

"Hiscock says there are stories from Italian and Portuguese that claim Quidi Vidi got its name for meaning 'what a beautiful sight' or 'here is the divide for the land.' (Ted DIllon/CBC)" - C.B.C. 

Signal Hill (2019)

Newfoundland-"The place where land, water and sky embrace like old friends."

Frozen Conception Bay

We had heard that there was pack ice in Conception Bay, so we drove down there again on a sunny but cold day. Minus twelve plus wind-chill. We had been up there in the summer, if you remember my “Pirates” letter.

At Brigus, the tunnel was deep in snow, with ice underneath, first Mr. T. slipped and fell and then I, but we didn’t get hurt.

Icicles hung from the roof; unfortunately one can’t see them on the photos.

At Port de Grave, the boats were beautiful. It was so colorful, the fishermen paint their boats in winter, so they all looked brand new, and the colors were fantastic. Apparently they are crab-fishing boats, big money. New and big houses are still being built there. The bay was frozen solid for miles; there is snow on the ice. The boats look as if they are in snow. I sat on a boat, with one foot on the ice, a funny feeling, as the boat doesn’t move.

The wreck (sunken whaler) as well as the stranded S.S Kyle also stands on ice and snow. At Harbour Grace, we saw a clearing on the ice/snow for skating, Teenagers walked on the ice, I walked on the edge.

Taking photos is cold. Some people have trouble with the camera batteries freezing, but fortunately we don’t. A friend wraps her camera with a heated pad. One can buy small chemical heated pads, which are activated when you open and shake them. Fortunately we were dressed warmly, but our face and hands get cold when taking photos.

Butter pot Park

We had sunshine last Sunday and went snowshoeing at Butter pot Park. It is popular for cross-country skiing. There were people pulling sleds with kettles and stuff to have a “boil up”, using snow. Something, which we still want to try. Once Mr. T. went hunting in Calgary and they had tea made with snow melted in a tin can. When we got the kids were playing in the snow, trying to build an igloo.

“One of the most popular customs of people who love the outdoors is a day out in the woods or at stream side where there is opportunity to relax, build a small fire, and boil a small bit of water to make a cup of tea and enjoy a small lunch. The 'boil up", as it is called, is an integral part of any outdoor excursion and to some people more important than shooting game or catching fish.”

Wild Strawberries

We went to Bell Island again by ferry on another lovely day. It is the best value for money that you can get. We go over the “Tickle”, by boat, with our car and K9, all for under $10. There are two ferries in service, MV Flanders and MV Hamel. It is very relaxing to ride on the Flanders as it has a top deck as well. We saw some Whale spouts on the horizon.

“In Newfoundland a tickle refers to a narrow passage of water separating two lands forms.”

The most surprising part of the day was that we saw wild Blue Bells and came upon Wild Strawberries. It is the first time in my life, that I have picked wild Strawberries. We also came upon some wild Roses again. I had to keep the K9 away from the cliffs while my better half was taking pictures. I tried to run through the meadows singing; “The Hills are alive with the sound of music” but had to give it up, the ground wasn’t smooth enough, I would fall into a hole or trip over a snarled grass. I wonder if they had mowed a path for Julie Andrews in “The sound of music”

The cliffs of B.I are red from the Iron Oxide in the earth.

“Bell Island has it’s own geological designation –the Bell Island Group. Geology made this island important with its massive deposits of iron ore.”

We went to Bell Rock on the west side of the island, a sea stack which we had not found the first time we visited, you follow a horse-shoe turn and then a worn cart path. It was a good thing we came with the Jeep, as we had had rain and the gravel road was muddy and full of potholes.

Bell island is becoming a ghost-town, unless they start catering for tourists, as there is no more work, many people retire or are snowbirds (People who live in warmer climates in the winter.)

It is strange to think when you look across Tickle, that German U boats sunk ore carriers during world war 2 and that there are wrecks in the harbor. Apperently once the Bell Island cannons hit Portugal Cove. Dats how we does it in Newfounland.

Beaches Path

The purpose of hiking Beaches Path was to get closer to the Iceberg near Mobile, but the hike itself is beautiful. Also part of the East Coast Trail, we set out from Witless Bay on a beautiful sunny day, of 15 degrees.

“Witless Bay Ecological reserve:
This province has one of the largest concentrations of seabirds in the world. Every year, millions of seabirds leave the open ocean and come to land to breed. Here, in one of Newfoundland and Labrador's seabird reserves, over 1,000,000 pairs of seabirds gather to breed during the summer months. Located just off the coast from Witless Bay are four islands comprising the reserve. They are Gull, Green, Pee Pee and Great islands. Here is the largest Atlantic Puffin colony in North America and the second largest Leach's Storm Petrel colony in the world”

The trail is very well kept with bridges, boardwalks, many stepping stones, wildflowers and signs. The walk along the beach with shaded parts between the trees and covered with moss; looks as if fairies live there. There is a lovely stone bench on which is written: “If you don’t walk there, you won’t see it’
There were many tour small boats in the sea, but we didn’t see any whales or Puffins. If you look at the horizon with binoculars, it is covered with birds.

The iceberg had started breaking up, but had diagonal blue stripes along it. Our dog enjoys the hikes as well and is dead tired afterwards. We hiked about 4 k’s to Witless point, where we saw the wreck “Apennine” (1919). There are also many wrecks along this hike. From there you can see Mobile. We lay in the sun for a while and then returned.

Cape Spear

We went to Cape Spear again. The weather was lovely, at 11 degrees. We hiked for about 8 k’s, which took us 3 ¾ hours, along The Cape Spear Path, part of the East Coast Trail of which we have maps, there are books and information on the internet as well.

“The oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland is located at the most easterly point of land in North America. It has been restored to its 1839 appearance and shows how a light keeper and his family might have lived in the mid-19th century. The site is surrounded by spectacular scenery and wildlife such as whales, seabirds and icebergs”

We could see the lighthouse Fort Amherst, at St. John’s from there. The hike is along the coastline; past a beautiful cove called Basket Cove. Our dog herded us like sheep, we call her “heen en weer” as she is up and down all the time. There are about 15 sunken ships recorded along this coastline. We hiked to Madam Cove from where we could see Petty Harbor, which is beautiful this time of year.

Parks

It looks as if the winter is gone at last. The lawns are lovely and green, the trees have leaves and there are flowers again. Everywhere you look there are Dandelions, it looks so nice, but you don’t want it on your lawn. Apparently one can cook the leaves like Spinach.

We went to the Botanical Gardens, where no pets are allowed. For a reasonable entrance fee one can see a natural looking garden, It is very educationally orientated, while we were there, there was a nursery school being shown the stacks of wood for hibernating butterflies, the bats houses, vegetable gardens, composting heaps, etc. I thought of how super Meerensee’s paths would have been for such a garden.

We went to Bowring Park one lovely day. It was about 18 degrees. There’s no entrance fee. It is one of the oldest parks in St. John’s, but very well kept. It as well as the hike through the Battery on our Signal Hill hike is part of the Grand Concourse.

“The Grand Concourse Authority is planning, designing, and constructing an integrated system of walkways that will link all present walks, waterways, parks, and scenic attractions into a pedestrian network throughout St. John's, Newfoundland. It currently comprises 40 km (25 miles) of trails and walkways.”

It is a large park on the Waterford river. Many Irish immigrants came from Waterford. It has a Hothouse (conservatory), a pond with ducks and apparently swans, which we didn’t see, beautiful statues, Tulips, flowerbeds, walking trails for cycling and roller-blading too, trees, etc. Although there aren’t braais, it is a lovely place to picnic.

They even have dispensers for poop bags and you can buy duck food as well.
The midges here are bad, people call them Black Flies. It is the rainy season now and a bad time for them. Luckily we still have sunshine every second or third day. We have Robins running around on our lawn-pecking insects.

We have since visited Pippy Park too, where we walked around Long Pond, it is absolutely beautiful there. It is right across MUN, so students go there between classes.

Pirates, ship wrecks and treasures.

Ahoy Matey!

We had planned to go to Brigus and Cupids for the day, but traveled all the way to Freshwater, as every little village seemed lovelier than the one before. The drive is mostly along the coastline; one can see Bell Island far off in Conception bay. This part is called the Baccalieu trail, probably from Spanish or Basque for Codfish

At Holyrood’s Marina, we saw a train carriage one of only three I have seen in Newfoundland so far, if you can call a Caboose, which is not on a rail a carriage. The other is in St. John’s waterfront. The “trailway” is where the railway tracks used to be, used mostly by off road vehicles today, as Newfoundland doesn’t have a railway anymore.

At Brigus (Derived from Brick-house an old town in England) there are many stone walls and buildings, we saw a stream with stone walls. We walked through “The Tunnel”, An early engineering feat which took four months in1860, by the Cornish miner John Hoskins in order to provide easy access to Abram Bartlett's wharf. He used gunpowder, which resulted in a passageway measuring ~80 feet long, 8 feet high and 8 feet wide. AYE!

Cupids is a beautiful little place, there are archeological diggings being done during the week. “Originally known as "Cupers Cove" or "Cuperts Cove". Cupids became the first chartered settlement in Newfoundland when it was established by The London and Bristol Company in 1610 with John Guy (Guie) as Governor. In 1616, John Mason arrived and assumed the position of Governor. At that time less than 60 people lived at Cupid's. Guy and Mason were both harassed by pirates”.

Many of Newfoundland’s seaside towns have fishing stages, some off which are quite old and falling apart, but very quaint. Along the drive are lakes, ponds, peninsulas, many islands, bays and sea everywhere you look. There are relaxing gift shops in every town along the road. We bought some scented candles, which smell like Baked Apple Pie, etc.

The houses are quite expensive here, as it is popular for retirement and snowbirds. In Conception Harbor we saw some scuba divers, we saw one protruding wreck, but there are a few scuttled whalers and schooners.

At Harbor Grace Riverhead is a stranded ship the S. S. Kyle, built in 1913. There stands an airplane; “The spirit of Harbor Grace” to commemorate H. G’s rich past in aviation. The starting point of Amelia Earhart’s first successful solo transatlantic flight.

We noticed people selling filled plastic buckets along the road; these turned out to be freshly picked Blue berries. They were aboot 3 Doubloons each, we decided to buy some on our way back with pieces of eight. Further along the road were parked cars, with people picking Blue berries, we stopped to take some photographs and picked a few berries, to make sure what the plants looked like. They are like small peas the color of dark grapes and delicious. What a booty. The annual Blueberry festival is held here.

We sat on the rocks and saw some whale spouts on the horizon. “Scurvy Dog” enjoyed herself with some children jumping from a pier into the water, we had our bathing suits, but the water was too cold for us. ARGH! Other towns we drove through were Port De Grave, Spaniard’s Bay (named for it’s early Spanish Settlers), Salmon Cove, Carbonear (from where you can see Carbonear island), Bryant’s Cove, Bishop’s Cove and Bristol’s Hope.

At Freshwater, I imagined the few houses removed with digital effects and pirate ships sailing in the islands and coves.

We have since picked Blue berries on our way to Greyman’s beard and have some frozen.

We can see the islands at Freshwater, past Bell Island from Greyman’s Beard with a “bring them near”. One can buy frozen and tinned Blue Berries here all year round, we can also get Blue Berry Bagels, Muffins, pies etc.

Shiver me timbers, it’s time to go,

Captain Bluebeard.

Newfoundland

Our move from Calgary went well, we had Chinook weather with no snow. Our flight to St. John's at midnight started very badly. As the schools started the following Monday they oversold and even though our seats were booked two weeks ahead, we had to be on standby. Security was a nightmare, we Q’d there an hour and everybody was treated like cattle. The plane left a half hour later, which cut into our hour stop over at Toronto, at least we flew business class, then onto Halifax, another stop over and the last lap to St. John's. As it was night, we tried to sleep, the food was ok. We got our cat, who seemed to have had a better flight than we had. We arrived in St. John's in good weather.

We stayed a week in a apartment and Mr. Tokeloshe went to show us the house, Portugal cove and The Town of St John's. The Cabot (pronounced like in Afrikaans Kabot, is a Blockhouse on a hill with a lovely view of the harbor and hiking trails), Signal hill, the Battery, etc. The colorful clapboard houses are beautiful, but expensive; St. John's even has some Cathedral’s, old historic buildings, churches etc., which we would like to explore sometime. We drove past a pub where an episode of the sci fi show "Lexx", which we had seen was shot. Mr. Tokeloshe showed us an interesting old crowded bookshop.

We also drove to St. Philips, (a small fishing village with a pebbly beach), Manuel, with the Manuel’s river, Conception Bay and many other places, which we will hopefully visit again. They are all on the side of Portugal cove and sheltered. Mount Pearl, which is inland is quite big and like a suburb of Calgary.