7/27/14 – Rained most of the night, and started again in the morning as we get ready to leave. We headed north on the 238 to the town of Bonavista, rain easing up a little as we continue beyond to the end of the cape, and the lighthouse. On a rock island just offshore we could see a lot of birds, including some puffins, but too wet to hang around.

Slightly south of there we took a detour to the ‘Dungeon’, a double-entrance sea cave with a collapsed roof, and the rain slacked enough for us to walk over and be awed.

We backtracked then to town and went to see the Mathew, a full-scale replica of John Cabot’s vessel. Cabot first landed in the New World at Cape Bonavista. The ship has a specially-built boathouse whose doors will clear the masts and crows-nest, and it current resides there for some maintenance work – good, because it poured outside while we perused the exhibits and boarded ship inside. I highly recommend this stop.

We left town south on the 235 towards TCH, traveling through some of the pretty little coastal towns enroute. Once on TCH we headed onward westbound and stopped for the night at Jonathon’s Pond Campground on the 330 just north of Gander. We took a no-services pull-thru site, but drove back to the entrance area to first do laundry and showers before setting up camp.

7/28/14 – We Headed back to Gander, where we made a wifi/shopping stop at Walmart, then on to the North Atlantic Aviation Museum, back on TCH in Gander. Gander has a strategic role in aviation history. During WWII, bombers bound for England from US and Canadian factories were flown to Gander before heading across to Northern Ireland, this representing their maximum range. That was true too of all the early transatlantic passenger and freight flights, and the Gander International Airport ran a 24/7 full-service bar for the passengers. The unusual small museum has several neat planes and lots of artifacts and historical storyboards detailing the history. Another worthwhile stop.

We next headed west on TCH to Springdale, where we turned north on the 391 to Rattling Brook Falls, which is an 800’ high cataract off high cliffs reminiscent of those at Yosemite. Unfortunately, damage to the staircase needed to get a full-on view of the falls foreshortened the trail, so our pics were from a bad angle and a distance.

After retracing our steps and continuing westward on TCH, we headed in the direction of Gros Morne National Park, ending up for the night just off TCH at the 430 at Gateway to the North RV Park, full hookups.