50 To St John's

Canada
Québec & New Brunswick
Nova Scotia & Newfoundland
Québec & Ontario
Manitoba to the Pacific

32 Off to Nova Scotia
33 Whales, Digby Neck
34 Yarmouth and beyond
35 Through to Lunenburg
36 Lunenburg
37 To Halifax
38 Halifax
39 Halifax and Bluenose II
40 Halifax
41 Halifax Citadel
42 Fixing Morty
43 Greenwich & Stanhope
44 Charlottetown
45 Canadian Confederation
46 Whisky and Ceilidh
47 On to Broad Cove
48 Glace Bay and Marconi
49 Arriving in Newfndlnd
50 To St John's
51 St John's
52 St John's
53 Avalon Peninsula
54 To Twillingate
55 Rain to Rocky Harbour
56 Gros Morne
57 Vikings up north
58 Wind and ferries
59 Labrador

Canada

Bishop's Falls to St John's, Newfoundland & Labrador

Thursday 22 September 2005 (day 123)

At Gambo, en route to St. John's

We both slept well despite the rain that came down during the night. It was about 10:30 by the time we hit the road, stopping first for more petrol before heading on again to St John's. As expected it was still pretty windy with strong gusts that rocked and hit us as we went. We drove down through Gander and on to Gambo where we stopped for a break at Joey's lookout, named after a local man who had established a big sawmill here. The village was below us in the valley and all you could see around you was water and trees. A farm van was parked up selling fresh vegetables so we bought some carrots and broccoli for tea and then carried on.

Knowing that we would be coming back this way I have not really made a mental note of what we passed along the way or been left with any impressions other than how hard the wind was blowing. Our main entertainment en route was laughing at some of the local place names. Yesterday's best was the road to Blow me Down (quite apt under the circumstances). Today we went past Goobies, Come by Chance, Tickle Harbour and Dildo Pond to name a few. The only main change in the scenery was when we came closer to St John's and drove through a high pass. Here, there are no trees, just rocks covered in low grasses and heathers.

At St John's we headed to the CA Pippy Park just on the edge of the city where there is also a campsite. Its big, clean and reasonably full for the time of year. We caught up on some household chores, flushing and cleaning out Morty's tanks and doing another run to the launderette, before heading into town for a night out. We checked some of the local guides before going out and I now wish I had not. They gave an overview of the type of people that go to each of the bars and I was dismayed to find that I fall into the "mature aged 30 - 50" category. We went to George Street, the main hub of entertainment for the city. As it s Thursday, and off season, it was relatively quiet but all the bars had outside terraces so in the middle of summer this must be quite a buzzy and lively place.

Long road to St. John's, end in sight

From the outside, the pubs all looked as if they were closed and had no visible signs of life. We started at O'Reilly's, a recommendation from the taxi driver who brought us into town. It was one of the few things he said that either of us understood, partly due to his accent and partly because he spoke so softly. This was a typical Irish Pub, lots of dark wood and men handing around the bar with pints of ale.

A young lady was up on stage with her guitar singing and playing away. She had a good voice and was obviously quite a draw with the locals. We were not sure if that was due to her musical ability or because she was blonde, pretty and well endowed! Needing food, we moved on to Bridie Molloy's, a bit more of a marketing department pub but they did good food.

We went for local Newfoundland specialities sharing a fish and brewis to start with. This is a dish made from salt cod and hard bread that is soaked separately overnight then mixed together with bits of fried bacon - very tasty. After that I had moose pie which was very good. Stef went for seal flipper pie which was not so good. It was like fishy tasting meat which I also thought tasted a bit like liver. I am sure we will probably give it another go but whereas moose will go on our "eat out of choice" list I suspect seal flipper will go on our "eat to be polite if it is served up in front of us" list.

The live music did not really materialise in this pub but we got talking to a father and son at the table next to us. They have been here for the last few days on business and fly back to Halifax early tomorrow morning. Clarrice left us his number so that we can call him if we go back through Miramichi in New Brunswick where they live. We were asking him about getting tickets for an ice hockey match as St John's play their first match of the season here tomorrow. Clarrice is a well connected man and knows the coach. He called to see if he could wangle some tickets for us but they are all sold out. But, he also has connections with the Montreal team (an ex player is a good friend) so if there is a match on when we pass through he will try and get tickets for us.

So far I would say that everyone we have met in Canada (with the exception of the part near to Montreal) has been very friendly and welcoming as you can see from Clarrice, so it is hard to see how Newfoundlanders (aka "Newfies") can be more so. I do not envy him his early start tomorrow. I think his son will wake up with a sore head (they will get less than six hours sleep tonight) and then after their three hour drive from Halifax back home he is then on duty looking after his wife's seven Scottish Terrier dogs!

Prev | Up | Next

Top

Visitors:
Home \| Info \| Blog \| Travel \| Pictures \| Site map \| Search \| Guestbook	Copyright © 2001-2007 Stefan and Vanessa Aalten-Voogd