After our time in Little Bras d’Or was ended…we were up early for the 4 mile transit to the ferry to Newfoundland…just so ya’ll won’t pronounce it wrong it’s pronounced Nu-fun-land up in these parts…basically we turned left out of Arm of Gold campground for 300 yards and then right on NS-105 which is also the TCH (Trans Canada Highway) which dumps you right into the ferry terminal. We had already gotten our reservations for the 90 mile 6.5 hours trip on the Blue Puttees ferry…we arrived at the terminal by about 0830 and got quickly checked in…we were the 3rd RV to check in for the daily sailing which leaves at 1145. We went into the terminal building and killed some time before boarding started at 0920…we were on the ferry by 0945…Connie parked Little Red in the outside lane and Big Red and the rig were in the center lane…they put RVs in the center for better weight distribution.

We sailed about 15 or 20 minutes early and had a nice transit on a beautiful day over to Channel-Port aux Basques on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland. We found seats, napped, ate some fish and chips in the restaurant, took another nap…and we were there. Neil pulled off first…and you exit the ferry terminal directly onto the highway…no place to park…so he went up the road a couple of miles and pulled over to the side near an Irving truck stop…very similar to a Flying J or Pilot in our neck of the woods. Connie showed up about 10 minutes later…her row was the last to disembark…and we finished the rest of our grueling 24 mile transit to Doyles NL and quickly…well not quite so quickly as there were 4 or 5 rigs that pulled off the ferry after Neil but passed us while he was waiting on Connie and Little Red…but we got a nice site 38. It’s a full hookup back in but the way the CG roads are built we basically only had to back straight up to get into the site. Neil hooked up utilities and we had dinner…then rested until bedtime as we were tired…dinner wasn’t until like 2100 or so.

Thursday we basically rested and Connie planned our time here in the Codroy Valley…it’s not like there’s a whole bunch to see and we’ve been going pretty steadily since we crossed the border so a couple of easier days seemed in order. She did find 2 scenic drives for us to go on…including 3 lighthouses and a waterfall…so it wasn’t all bad. After that was done we did a quick hike around the inspirational trail…as the campground named it…about a 2 kilometer figure 8 hike along the shore of the Grand Codroy River.

After awhile…we figured out why they called it the Inspirational Trail.

Although we liked this one the best.

Friday we headed off on a scenic drive that basically goes north and west from Doyles…which is situated on the western side of Newfoundland. The island basically looks like an upside down capital Y…we landed at Channel-Port aux Basques on the southwestern tip and Doyles is just a bit up the coast from there. We’ll visit Cow Head about halfway up the coast and then Quirpon where the Viking settlements were at the far northern end before coming back down past Cow Head and then heading eastward across the center of the island to Eastport on the east side and then St. John’s on the far southeast tip…we’ll then retrace our path across the middle back to Doyles to board the ferry back to Nova Scotia in about 3 weeks.

Ok…let’s take a look at our Fun Stuff© and the associated photos.

As we left the harbor we got a shot of the Low Point Light…we saw this from the ground side the other day but it’s at the mouth of the exit from Sydney harbor into the Atlantic…although the ferry actually goes straight across the narrowest part so whether we were in the Atlantic or the Gulf of Saint Lawrence depends on your point of view I guess.

Shortly after we passed the light…we passed the inbound ferry from Newfoundland…the ferry runs twice a day and this one left last evening from Argentia over by Saint John’s for the 16 hour transit back to Sydney…Neil noted that we exchanged the proper International Rules of the Road single whistle blast for a port to port passing of the other ferry…glad to see they follow the rules.

On our day trip up to the north of Doyles…we did get a few shots.

Cape Anguille Lighthouse…the westernmost point of Newfoundland and the location of the island end of the underwater cable that finally connected it to the rest of Canuckistan back in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

Another one of those foghorns…the sign basically says “this is a loud sumbich…”

The main bridge across the. Grand Codroy River in the area…one lane. Didn’t see a weight limit but it would have been wide enough for the rig and we did see a truck cross it…although he probably only weighed 15 or 20 thousand pounds instead of our 34 thousand…not sure we would want to take the rig across it…no sir, not sure at all.

Saturday was scheduled to be a beautiful day…so we headed out for our second drive which would just happen to include a stop at the pub for dinner on the way home. 

First stop was the Cape Ray lighthouse.

Followed by a succession of small coastal towns…here’s a sample shot but they all looked pretty similar…small and quaint with houses that ranged from dilapidated shacks to pretty nice looking homes…each town with it’s own harbor of fishing boats.

Next up was a stop at Barachois Falls…which included a 1.25 mile round trip hike…it was all on gravel path or boardwalks so it was a nice walk albeit uphill on the way back. The falls is about 125 feet tall total and was really pretty nice…although Connie didn’t hike the last 50 yards as it was mucky and scrambling over rocks.

Here’s a shot Connie got…

And here’s Neil’s HDR, Luminarized version…actually a couple of different versions…his was taken about 50 yards past where Connie’s was as he got to the edge of the stream and then used the tripod and spent 10 minutes processing it as opposed to the 10 seconds it took to process hers. From a strictly what did it look like with your eyes standpoint…hers is probably closer…but from a which one is more likely to have you say “yeah” standpoint maybe one of his is better…let me know what you think in the comments and/or if I should put in both the straight out of the camera shot as well as the processed ones when he does things like this.

Next stop was the town of Rose Blanche…which strangely enough is the last town accessible by road as you head east across the southern coast of Newfoundland…all the rest are only reachable by ferry until you get almost 300 miles east to the Argentia area. There are both people and car ferries that transit along the coast.

Looking due east…the town of La Petites is about 5 miles across there but you can’t really see it because of the haze. There are only about 20 permanent residents in the town now…but it has overnight accommodations and there’s a car ferry that leaves Rose Blanche about 1600 in the afternoon and returns the next morning about 1000 if you should want to go there and visit…although with only 20 residents they get about 90% of their income from tourists and there’s probably 1 place in town total where you can eat and get a beer.

Also at Rose Blanche is the Rose Blanche Lighthouse…which amazingly enough is different from the standard white with a red top design scheme of every other lighthouse we’ve seen here so far. It’s constructed of granite and is no longer in operation but is operated as a tourist attraction only.

With that our day was done…we headed the 45 kilometers back to Channel-Port aux Basques for dinner at the 1 Ton Pub and Grill…Connie had clam strips and Neil had a bacon cheeseburger…her clams were good but his burger was typically overdone as all burgers up here in Canuckistan are…they’ve got some sort of health rule that prevents them from actually making them edible and requires burning them almost beyond recognition. He’s not going to have any more burgers up here he thinks. The fries on the other hand were the best we’ve had in a restaurant in quite awhile.

As we finished our beers and dinner…Neil noticed the ferry coming in so we hurried up and left before it moored and disembarked…every night at Grand Codroy Campground about 1915 there’s a line of RVs that got off the ferry trying to check in…that would be fine as we’re already checked in but they clog the entrance road and we didn’t feel like sitting in the backup until they all got checked in so we could get to the campsite.

We had our third mini NHOG Rally though…we had gotten an email the other day from Joe and Vick Garafola…we met them at the NHOG Rally in Chattanooga in 2016 when Connie had her eye issue and couldn’t see…they were in the area so we told them to stop by. They were on the ferry and after checking they came over…Neil lit a nice campfire…and we chatted for an hour or two until we were all tired and headed off to bed.

Sunday…well Sunday it rained…all day…so we went to Mass and gave Vicki a ride as Joe isn’t Catholic but she is…afterwards we did laundry and Neil dumped and flushed our tanks in preparation for tomorrow’s transit to Cow Head NL.

No Interesting things from the net today…slow internet and hard to upload.

Cyas.