7/19/14 – New arrangements of bergs in the bays this morning. We decide to drive out to Long Point, at the tip of the island, where there is a lighthouse, parkland with trails, more bergs, and whales can be spotted offshore. It was awe-inspiring coastline, walking above the steep cliff,

but the water was a bit choppy and the bergs generally more spread out.

We did not see whales at first, but then began to spot them surfacing not to far offshore. Finally, a pair came in quite close (Minke?), and we got great views from almost directly above.

We drove into Twillingate for lunch, then a fish market to buy dinner – I posed with an 11-lb friend.

After dinner, we strolled back down to the bay to watch the bergs floating, and talked to some of our camping neighbors out there about what next to do before heading south to St. Johns. We spied with binocs on a large gathering on the spit – an open-air wedding!

Also noticed an arrangement of rocks on the adjacent hillside had been repositioned to honor bride & groom! Before:

Now:

Getting chilly and breezy, so headed back about 9 (broad daylight) to relax in front of the electric heater and get sleepy.

7/15/14 – Continuation. We have plenty of time before needing to arrive at the terminal, so we decide to head to Sydney to explore a bit. We drive by the waterfront, then circle around and up to George St. This turned out to be a great place to leave the rig, as there are level curbside spots in this neighborhood wide enough for the rig between curb and bike lane, and it is in the historic area. A short walk takes us to two small historic house tours and a walking tour of the neighborhood. We end up back down at the wharf where the cruise ships dock, at a restaurant – Flavor on the Water -  for a late lunch. The special was lobster roll, and a gluten-free bun was available, so we decided on that. There was plenty of lobster, and the buns were good, but they were not of the caliber of what we had at the Rusty Anchor!

Back to North Sydney and a last gas tank fill before lining up for the ferry. About 4:30 pm we turned off propane, drove on board, folded the mirrors, gave Hans his medicine, and left food, water, and ventilation for the cats before heading up to the passenger decks. The ship pulled out about 6:30 p.m. We brought a few snacks along, but I wanted more for dinner. They have a snack bar with pre-packaged sandwiches and a few salads, pizza slices, hot dogs, etc. Also a complete dining area and buffet, Nancy opted for the former, I the latter, and we sat in the dining area. The ship’s décor is similar to a small cruise ship, rather than a typical ferry, with two decks of cabins, reclining lounge chairs in a quiet area near the front of the ship, and a large lounge with lots of chairs and couch areas, a bar, and entertainment during the first part of the trip, spanning the rear of the main deck. We dozed a little…

7/16/14 -  OMG! It’s pitch dark at 00:30 am as we drive off the ferry, and POURING RAIN! Having great difficulty locating the road leaving the wharf, and once on that, seeing the road surface, direction signs, anything  - except the prominent ‘Watch for Moose’ warning. Creeping down Trans Canadian Highway 1 at 40 km/h we finally see through the sheets of rain the sign for the turnoff to J.T. Cheeseman Provincial Park at our left, and head down the park road. Once in the campground, we see roads leading off to the various loops, and manage to edge back into a vacant site for the night. It’s level. Phewwww! Our cats weathered being alone for the crossing without a hitch, and our freezer and fridge, turned off at 4:30 pm Tuesday at –5.3 & 38.8 F respectively, extra ice in both and fridge on high for a couple hours, now read 26.1 & 47.8 F, as I turned the propane and fridge back on. Now to catch up on sleep….of course, the rain has stopped.

Morning now, overcast and drizzly. We move to a new site and pay for 2 nites, giving us time to explore the park and plan a few days ahead. We asked about trails, and the somewhat laconic young temp hire at the gate said there was just a 2 km road to the beach. Turns out there actually was a really neat trail there, too, as well as a short one to a waterfall. We took both. Our first steps through Newfoundland!

7/17/14 – Overcast this morning, some drizzle. We decided to aim for Twillingate on the northeast coast, in order to see the icebergs before they disappear, stopping little to sightsee in the intervening 630 km or so – we would do that on the return trip. The intent was that we would find interesting spots to stop for the nights, assuming the trip would take several days, due to slow travel. It turns out that barring a few spots of potholes and road construction, highway 1 (TCH) has little traffic, smooth, wide lanes, and easily supports my 58 mph cruise while consuming the miles of green, green, mountainous and mysterious countryside.

We stopped just a few times, including Corner Brook for grocery restocking, and ended up late afternoon in Bishop’s Falls, at the hydro dam and municipal campground on the Exploits River, 492 km towards our destination. Enroute we stopped at an information center to call ahead and book two nights at Peyton’s Woods RV Camp near Twillingate,since it was obvious we’d arrive early the next day. Tonite we took a no-service site, which was on a circular field down by the river, next to the plant and the downstream side of the dam spillway (the falls). The perimeter next to the river was filled with fly fishermen and their pickups, either from the rocky shore or in small boats, salmon fishing. We set up on the opposite side, and relaxed after a long day’s drive.

7/18/14 – A fitful night’s sleep. Apparently this spot is THE place to be for fishing the salmon run. By 4 am, they are already arriving, pickup after pickup, some towing a small boat too, despite intermittent light rain. We got up slowly and took our time hitting the road, back on TCH east. Shortly we exited at Notre Dame Provincial Park to check out this likely stop when we head on to St. Johns or back to the ferry. Got a wealth of information from the friendly lady ranger at the booth about Twillingate and surrounding towns / islands. Weather clearing and blue sky, we then headed out on the 340 and wound around until we reached the town, then the campground. The icebergs are right there! You can see them in the bays and coves while driving in, and from the campground. The hills and land formations around town are fantastic! We walked down to the beach and watched as one of the bergs split with a loud crack, then slowly re-oriented. We hiked up a promontory offering a 360 degree panorama, bergs in all directions, another sharp report as a new one calved off a chunk. We see why Twillingate calls itself iceberg capital of the world!

7/15/14 – Tuesday, cool this morning, and overcast, showers possible. We board the ferry for Port aux Basques, Newfoundland at 4 pm for a 6 pm departure, arriving in the wee hours of the morning. We will likely head slowly northwest about 10 km to a Provincial campground to get some sleep. Anyway, not sure when we will regain internet access.

Thought this would be a good time for a few comments and reflections. When we entered Canada, I migrated our Verizon plan to one with a $15/mo/1000min voice plan for here, on top of the U.S. plan rate. However, I turned off 4G data access on my phone, because that would run $50/100MB/mo, too expensive. Therefore, blogging, e-mail access, and route planning via the internet has been limited to available wifi. Most private campgrounds have it free, not always great, and many public venues. However, once out of a campground, or in a remote park, none. This means that most e-mails and blog comments I get on my phone, which does not lend itself to easily sending replies. We really do read, enjoy, and appreciate all of them, eventually, even if we don’t always respond. So, thanks!

Not having internet access on the road means no Google Maps, and suspecting this, I tried a few apps before leaving home. The one which has proved a real asset is OsmAnd. At this point, I only have the free version, which allowed me to download enough maps to the phone to cover the Canadian part of our trip. It works much like GM, but since it only needs GPS, it works everywhere we’ve been, with excellent detail and accuracy. It has even showed the trails we’ve walked, it allows searches, and routing. When home, I will download the full version, since you can’t always get internet on the road. Our Garmin has not been stellar in Canada for some reason, so we really haven’t used it here.

Almost all the campgrounds we have stayed in have been private, and expensive. Tax is added to EVERYTHING here, and at a high rate. The price, I guess, of free healthcare and generous retirement packages. Anyway, almost every night has cost $35 to $40, sometimes with no hookups, mostly with some. They all HAVE 3-way hookups, but the price would be even higher. Many of the sites in most campgrounds are for ‘seasonal’ use – folks travel there a few miles from home to spend a week or so at a time in the summer, and keep the rig on site. Still, we’ve never had to search for a camping spot, though we sometimes call ahead on short notice. The national parks – and sometimes the provincial ones – have a daily entrance fee, per person, in addition to camping. Camping rates on a par with the private campgrounds. HOWEVER, the general condition and facilities of all the campgrounds has been excellent, with obvious pride and care in their preparation and maintenance. Showers available everywhere, usually free, so we have taken NONE in the rig since entering Canada. Everybody has been VERY friendly and helpful here.

A comment on the roads – a mixed bag. Frost heave has played havoc with them, so when they are bad, they can be atrocious! You will often traverse a road that is silky smooth where it was repaved recently, bounce and slam along a bad section for miles, then hit more smooth areas. We will probably need new shocks when we return. The major freeways and tollways are usually in excellent condition, but most of our traveling is not on them.

We have had lots of advice on Newfoundland, and they universally say the residents there are VERY friendly. I guess that means they are VERY, VERY friendly! One other encouraging note – I called the provincial park we’ll be staying that first night and the rate for us (senior rate) will be $10.

7/10/14 – Not the most restful night – a bit warm and humid, compared to what we had been used to, and the tent sites were close, and our neighbors liked campfires – so we had to keep the rig mostly closed up. Showers refreshed us come morning, and we got an early start on the road north, stopping in Inverness, an old mining center. We started with a visit to the mining Museum, small and a bit of a work in progress, but our guide was enthusiastic and informative. Next we walked down to the coast in the middle of a pretty golf course and next to a small harbor,

then up to an artisan working with sea glass at Tears of Glass. She is pretty well known, having supplied her work to the Golden Globes honorees in L.A., among others, and had lots of lovely jewelry on display. We then drove on northward, joining up with the clockwise direction of the Cabot Trail, ending up in Cheticamp. There we stayed at a campground on Cheticamp Island – actually connected via a causeway – and took a stroll along the beach and then next to the wetlands across from town before returning to the rig to get ready for dinner.

We drove into town to the All Aboard restaurant for the evening’s music program. First we had a young lady fiddler and a young male keyboardist, both excellent, who played a few numbers to rousing applause, and later they were joined by a slightly older girl fiddler, who was superb, and the first young girl did a highland dance to the music. Later the keyboardist played an excellent fiddle while accompanied by the older girl on keyboard, and then she left and our original pair continued. Simply amazing these multi-talented musicians!

During this rousing recital, I laboriously consumed sumptuous local fresh snow crab, and Nancy thoroughly enjoyed her delicious baby back rib dinner.

7/11/14 – Left the campground, and took the dirt road turnoff to the north end of the island to see the lighthouse at the harbor entrance. Passed nobody but a hardy lady jogger and a curious cow over several miles, but a pretty and slow drive.

Back to Cheticamp and north again on the Cabot Trail, and shortly we were in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We paid our entrance fees, good until 4 pm tomorrow, then headed up the road…

… to the Skyline Trail, a 7.5 km loop walk. Nancy has sworn she will not leave Canada until she sees a moose, so we had high hopes for this trail, with several reviews reporting sightings. Sure enough, about 45 minutes out, in a small clearing in the woods, Nancy found her moose – a female unconcernedly grazing a few meters off the trail.

After that, we continued to where fantastic views of the mountainsides plummeting steeply into the ocean dominated our scenery. This included a descent of 285 steps and ramping boardwalk to a aerie viewing platform affording sweeping coastal views north and south.

Back at the rig by mid afternoon, we drove on north past Pleasant Bay and eastward to MacIntosh Brook campground. No services at the sites – matter of fact no real designated sites, just scattered picnic tables and a self-service pay station. However, nice restrooms with hot and cold running water. We set up camp and waited for friends Vivian and Cam to join us – they were on their own car trip to the Maritimes, touring the park in the reverse direction. They picked us up about 5pm, and took us back to Pleasant Bay, to the Rusty Anchor restaurant for dinner. Three of us had the lobster roll, and Cam had lobster putine, and we ALL agreed it was delicious – Vivian added it was the best one she had ever had. It was OUR first. They dropped us back at our rig and continued on, and we called it a night.

7/12/14 -  Back on our own schedule, we rose at leisure and took a hike from the campground to a pretty waterfall,

then headed westward in the rig across the northern part of the Cabot Trail. We stopped for a hike to an old sheephearders’ trail camp, through a 350 year old virgin sugar maple forest.

Continued west on the CT through gorgeoous scenery, but steep climbs and descents, down the eastern side of the park,

to the Keltic Lodge, and the Middle Headlands trail. This was the last stop in the park, and plenty of time before our 4 pm deadline to exit. A somewhat rooty, but easy trail out to a point where several gull species and Black Guillimots had their rookeries.

Can you see the pre-fledged baby gulls?

Back to the rig, we continued south on the CT until we reached the turnoff to the 205, which terminates at the ferry terminal in North Sydney, for the next leg of our trip – Newfoundland! Along that route we came to a very convenient KOA just off the freeway,

so pulled off there for the night and to check on ferry reservations. It turns out the next ferry we can get is Tuesday at 6 pm, so we book it, then look over our options for the next couple of days.

7/13/14 – We are due for a 5000 mi. oil change, what to do? Since it is Sunday, all we can do is research  possible options, and it seems there is a place in North Sydney, near the ferry terminal, that can likely do it, but will have to check early tomorrow. Luckily, there is a Walmart just down the street, where we can overnight. Meanwhile, we decide to head back to the Cabot Trail and head west to Baddock on the Bras d’Or Lakes, site of the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. Bell settled here and carried on much of his many experiments in aeronautics, hydrofoils, and developing methods for teaching the deaf to communicate and speak.

His was a mind more interested in pursuing the unknown than making a profit, but the invention of the telephone went a long way in financing his many endeavors. A truly fascinating man, who helped pioneer the National Geographic Society as well. The best museum visit to date! Following that we continued east around the lakes, took a small cable-drawn ferry across a 100-meter gap at the foot of the lake,

then back west to North Sydney. Walked around town to explore, and now settled at camp Wally for the eve.

7/14/14 – Walmart in North Sydney is a less than relaxing campsite. It seems the youth in town use the mall parking lot for rendezvous purposes, mostly while staying in their vehicles, speeding from group to group. Actually, it could be the inspiration for the cartoon movie ‘Cars’. Anyway, after midnight it calmed down, so we did get some sleep. In the morning I went across the street to arrange to have the oil change done at OK Tire, a 1 pm appointment. Meantime, time to post updates to the blog – Walmart’s free wifi has pretty good bandwidth, and all the stores seem to have it – the key is finding a discrete spot to access it, in this case a bench just outside the mall entrance. Oil change done and we left town for Arm of Gold RV Park, just off the 105, and a straight shot to the terminal. We took a walking path around the park and next to the Little Bras d’Or Lake, then came back to start organizing our Newfoundland trip.