Twillingate, Beothuks, and Fogo Island

 Aug3, 2024

Woke to a much nicer day

And drove out to Long Point Lighthouse

There is a fishing boat under all those hopeful seagulls. 

Sweet display alongside the lighthouse

Back through Twillingate, though we’re decided not to hike since the trails were muddy 

These octagonal boxes are at the driveway entrance of almost every house (others have a less popular shape). Bagged trash is put in them to keep the animals out

Stopped at the farmers market - more a craft fair - but bought a bake apple cheesecake. Bake apple is a berry that is only ripe for a short period and is evidently difficult to either find or harvest, not sure which. But it was delicious.

Love the names of places here

Stopped at the Beothuk Interpretation Centre which told the story of the Beothuk indigenous people who were wiped out by murder from the various countries’ colonizing fisherfolk, by the diseases that were new to them, and by starvation that was the result of being forced inland and no longer having access to their fishing and hunting grounds. They painted their bodies and clothing in red ochre, as depicted here.

Then we got on the ferry to Fogo Island

And drove to Tilting at the far end

Which boasts the best sandy beach in Newfoundland - it was pretty nice sand

Jelly!

Piece of an Arctic Red Jelly

Cool striations on the rocks

The Beothuk people were not without their own acts of murder, provoked or not, but obviously the locals have a long and prejudiced memory

Our spot for the night. As I was cooking dinner an elderly local man stopped by and visited. He was a retired teacher and told tales about growing up in Tilting, about fishing, about playing ice hockey. He ad written several books and, lo and behold, he had them in his car if we wanted to purchase any. Of course we did! We are now the proud owners of two Roy Dwyer self published books. 

Waterfall and Twillingate

 Aug 2, 2024

We put on our bathing suits and hiked to Thunder Brook Falls. I panicked when I heard male voices but it was a nice group of guys packing up after a few days of camping near the falls. The water fall was sweet but not impressive. 

Luckily they told us to keep going to the better falls. 

Nature's graffiti

The water was delightful

After our swim we drove through heavy rain to Twillingate. Unfortunately we are too late to watch the icebergs float by (and there were very few and much earlier this year) and our chances of seeing whales is slim with this weather.

The round orange structures are crabbing pots

Since it was too rainy to see anything or comfortably hike we decided to go to Auk Island Winery. But before wine tasting we had to see the Newfoundland ponies

And pose for a cheesy photo

We arrived in the winery in time to see some folks get screeched in and become honorary Newfoundlanders. It involves repeating some phrases in the local dialect, kissing a cod fish, and showing a shot of Screech (locally made rum).

Their gimmicky wine is made with “pure iceberg water”

Some of our wine tasting choices. 

My favorite of the electronic signs

The day continued to be dreary

Drove to an abandoned campground in Crow Head for the night. Evidently an American bought it, began to fix it up, and then died. Either it’s tied up in the estate or no family member wants to take it on. Hmm - do I want to own a campground? Nah. We went to the lowest spot, down a rutted dirt road away from the other campers and had a lovely view

No idea what this was but there were several large industrial pieces about

Our spot for the night

And our view

A Wedding and Waterfall

 July 31 - Aug 1, 2024

A drearier day overlooking Humber Arm

Spent the better part of the day at yet another Ford dealership to diagnose and repair why I had no power on the hills - couldn’t get above thirty and there was a ticking noise. Turns out another spark plug was ready to blow. Luckily they fit us in and got us back on the road by 5:30.  

Went up to the Captain Cook outlook to make dinner and met a man in a suit who was there to perform a wedding and was accompanied by his two witnesses. He was an interesting talkative man. He shared a line his wife uses when he is grousing about things - “Don’t let the old man in!” I’m going to remember that for Matthew. The bride and groom arrived and the wedding was performed.

Matthew met them on the trail afterwards. She had just flown in the day before from her home in Arizona for the wedding. They had a long distance relationship but had not met in person, and here she was, married and now living in a different country and culture. I wish them the best!

Stopped to pick up some local brews - the names always crack us up

Then drove back to the Marble Mountain parking lot for the night

Next morning we hiked up the mountain to Steady Brook Falls and saw this little guy

If its not stairs its steep inclines on every hike it seems

But the views were worth it

Folks were zip lining across it 

There was another line going down the mountain but no one was using it while we were there

This was in the lot we spent the night in. Matthew said the steering column was broken

Spent the rest of teh day doing laundry and then driving on. Pulled off the highway to fill up at the local spring

Drove to Thunder Brook Falls parking area for the night. It was crowded when we got there but cleared out once night fell.