Saturday, July 30, 2016

Day 27 Trinity Bay


The day started with torrential rain but we set out anyway, believing that it had little bearing to how the day would turn out. We were right! We spent our entire day in Trinity, in two trips, and still left disappointed that we didn’t get a chance to see and capture pictures of everything.

Unlike the other places we’ve visited, Trinity has been restored and exists primarily for tourists. Most people we talked to lived here only for the summer and when tourists go back to their lives, Trinity essentially closes for the winter. There are 12 restored buildings in town that recreate what life would have been like in days gone by. Many of the homes serve as Guest Homes and Art Shops. We wandered the streets admiring the job that has been done under the guidance of the Historical Society and appreciating the natural beauty of this little cove. One building that was in the process of being refurbished allowed us to see the detail and precision in the restoration, and the true craftsmanship involved. Each piece of siding was being painted then cut precisely to fit together almost like a puzzle. The windows were being individually constructed with stained-glass panels, and the insignia over the door was hand carved. These buildings are works of art!

We enjoyed a great lunch at The Dock Marina – fresh fish! What else? While we were there, Andrew and Mary-Kate both contacted us to let us know that they are working on Christmas plans! Since this is the first Christmas (and birthday) that Mary-Kate will be away from home (working on the cruise ship) I was hoping that we might be able to arrange to go to her! Today she received confirmation of her next assignment so we were able to book a cruise with her on Boxing Day! Five days after her actual birthday and she won’t be home for Christmas, but we’ll make it work! Andrew and Michelle will be joining us as well, making the whole thing that much sweeter! I love it when we have our next holiday booked while we are still on this one! Blessed I tell you!!

Going back to the trailer for a bit in late afternoon we had time to freshen up before heading back down to Trinity to attend a production of the Rising Tide Summer Theatre! We arrived plenty early and the fog had rolled in while we were at the trailer! We so enjoyed a tranquil stroll in the shifting, swirling mist. We retook some of the same pictures that we shot earlier in the sunshine. While everything didn’t translate and some scenes will have to just be remembered when the fog was too thick for pictures, some pictures were so much more interesting in the fog!

The production of This Marvellous Terrible Place delivered by Rising Tide Theatre was superb! The stories and songs told of an outport way of life that is no more. At times hilariously funny, at times wrenchingly sad, the six performers were extremely talented and delivered a show that brought the audience to their feet! Their voices blended in wonderful harmonies. They were able to have the whole room in an uproar with a facial expression. My only regret is that we didn’t do this on our first night here. We would have certainly booked some of the other 11 different plays in the season for the other nights! Absolutely delightful entertainment – theatre at its best!
Spots about town

Lupines galore at every roadside and in every ditch 

St. Paul's Anglican Church with sacramental records dating back to 1753

Beautiful homes

Wildflower gardens everywhere


Roads made for walking!

Apparently the restoration here involved moving a door, but NOT the stairs leading up to it???

Our happy hour spot last night was more dock than deck!

This one was in the process of being restored one piece of siding at a time!

The hand carving over the door

Happy boy...again!

Looking across at Trinity from the lighthouse

Fort Point Lighthouse guarding Trinity Bay 

Our foggy walk

The sailboat of the folks we shared happy hour with last night! They called to us as we passed!

Fog makes some things even more pretty

Add caption



Rising Tide Theatre in fog


 

Friday, July 29, 2016

Day 26 Trinity Bay


Today we decided to tackle Skerwink Trail. I remembered that the trailhead was very close to the park but when we turned onto the main road and saw the swirling fog weave in and out of the hills and coves that surround us, we were mesmerized. We were in fact quite a distance away when we realized that we must have missed our turn to Trinity East! Finding a spot to turn around (no easy task around here) we headed back the way we had come and realized that the turn off was right in the spot where the fog was playing with the landscape! No big deal! We have been “lost” on Newfoundland backroads before – often in fact! Some of our best days and David’s best pictures happened when we were lost!

The little town that is home to this coastal trail is beautiful! Brightly coloured houses dot the hills that lead down to the cove. While a bright blue, or orange, or Pepto-Bismol pink house would look ridiculous in Ontario, here the brilliant colours work! I heard a story at one time about a doctor who had come to Newfoundland to live in an outport. Apparently he claimed the reason Newfoundlanders painted their houses distinctive, bright colours was so they could find them wandering home in the fog! Maybe true? I don’t know but it creates a treat for the eye in every little village and cove.

The Skerwink Trail is rated as “Difficult”. We have hiked many trials since we have been here and find no rhyme nor reason to the ratings? We have learned to assume little by a trail’s description. While this trail was lovely and we certainly made it through without issue – for a fellow not fond of open heights, this one may have qualified as a bit of a challenge in a few spots! He was a trouper though (not that he had much choice when you’re 3 km in on a trail loop!) The trails hugs the top edge of the bluff out to Skerwink Head before heading back in along the other side of the ridge and down to a lovely rocky beach. Along with the incredible views, the occasional rock climbs and the countless stairs we saw fresh tracks and droppings so I had some hope of spotting a moose! When we passed fresh bear scat though I stopped wishing for wildlife viewing! Not sure where or how you hide when you are as big as a moose, but we hiked alone.

Another bit of work to be done so we went back to the park for the late afternoon. We had dinner reservations tonight so time to freshen up after or hike wasn’t a bad idea anyway!

Dinner at the Twine Loft was inspired by a Facebook post last fall. My cousin Leslie and her husband Dennis had come to Trinity for a little getaway and posted pictures of their hike on the Skerwink, drinks on the deck overlooking the ocean and dinner at the Twine Loft. It all looked so good we thought we would make it part of our plan! Great tip!

We arrived for happy hour and met two other couples. We all spent the hour before dinner enjoying wine on the back deck right on the water! One couple was from Calgary and were visiting Newfoundland for the first time. They were here for a wedding in Gros Morne and took some extra time to stay and explore the island. They had visited some of the same places we have so we exchanged stories and tips. He and David both had to stop at one point and do a work check-in on their phones. Both of them are electrical engineers working on the road!

The other couple are from Grand Falls and are on vacation on their sailboat travelling along the coast. We compared living in a boat and living in an RV and agreed they are similar experiences. Our home doesn’t float and they don’t do well on land, otherwise similar experiences, right down to a few places we have both visited in the last couple of weeks! In the course of the conversation we talked about university. He and I had both gone to MUN and in a discussion of memory (I could remember my student number 7703218, but couldn’t remember where I left my glasses or why I went upstairs!) He laughed and said, “7706704”. We were at MUN at the same time, and both studied biology in our first year. He went on to get his science degree while I veered off to social work, but at a small university the chances that we had been in the same place together years ago was pretty good!

When we were fetched for dinner, we sat in the tiny dining room that once held fishing nets! Like so many of the buildings here, it has been beautifully restored and repurposed. Again like so many of the places we’ve eaten, the kitchen is part of the dining room, providing a very intimate and homey atmosphere. From where David is sitting he can watch our meal being prepared and when lively numbers play from the traditional background music, he reports the cook is dancing in the kitchen!

When asked where we were from (for the umpteenth time since we have arrived in Newfoundland – and the answer isn’t straightforward for me!) and the story unfolds, I find out that our waitress and her family were neighbours of Mom and Dad when they lived in Labrador! Her son went to school with my sister, and yes she remembered Moya! What are the chances?

By the time we leave the Twine Loft the sun is fading and while we wander around, picture opportunities aren’t great. With a promise to return Trinity tomorrow we go back to our cozy trailer to settle in for the night.
Brightly coloured houses

Now there's the way to build a garden fence!!

Views along the Skerwink Trail



Molldow - tons of it!


Fog player peek-a-boo with the little islands all day

What does up...

Literally hiking along the edge of the cliff



Some stairs, some tree roots, some rock face - all with a very unsteady handrail...but at least we had one here!

Looking over the lighthouse, across to Trinity

...must come down

Our destination

Fire is ready, waiting for caplin

Sea caves galore

These little blue dragonflies are everywhere

My artistic moment - a ditch!

Buttercups and forget-me-nots growing wild! One woman from Calgary said to us, "Oh here these aren't weeds. Here they're flowers!"

(VERY) Happy hour ... again

Turnip and apple soup - yum!

Barren's Blend Pudding with hot Screech sauce

Cheers!

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Day 25 Trinity Bay


Early this morning we set out to find a dentist. David has been pushing his luck with this loose crown and this is the first place where we found a website that claimed a dentist. We took a little detour to Trinity before heading to the dentist in Bonavista. We wanted to score tickets to the Rising Poor Tide Summer Theatre and since we haven’t had huge luck with such things since we arrived we adopted what we hoped was the book early enough policy!

Poor David! The town of Trinity is so pretty! It really was very cruel to bring him there just for tickets and make him leave without pictures to go to the dentist! The tickets were no problem and I promised him a return trip to Trinity, so with just a few “I have to stop here for one picture” moments, we were on the road to Bonavista.

As it happens he could have taken all day. After a short wait (the sign said I’m with a patient and will get to you as soon as I can) we learned, the website is very out of date and they “have to get to that”!! The second dentist in the practice who covered the outport offices, left for Halifax. The main dentist only get out here every few weeks for a day. This wasn’t his day or week! Oh well! He says he will just keep chewing on the other side until we reach St. John’s!

Bonavista is beautiful so it certainly wasn’t a wasted trip! We set out for the water and local wharf as we so often do. There is a reason the wharf is central to these outports. While it may not have been originally designed to quickly orient us to the surrounding town, it always does such a great job of it we certainly don’t mind taking advantage! When Giovanni Caboto first laid eyes on this spot in 1497, he called it Buena Vista. A beautiful sight it certainly is! Still a busy fishing harbour, many of the buildings are being restored and there is plenty to see and do to learn about Cabot’s discovery and the early days of the community.

After some time on the wharf we wandered over to the Ye Matthew Legacy, a museum dedicated to retelling Cabot’s tale and now housing the replica of The Matthew created in celebration of the 500 year anniversary! The ship sailed from Bristol, as Cabot had done, and is now in permanent drydock in the museum. You can board her though, and we spent a long time on board with a local expert who was happy to provide the private tour complete with loads of background story. Now this is the way we should be teaching history in school! We weren’t sure initially whether we would bother going in. It’s another glorious, sunny day and there is so much we want to see and take pictures of we hesitated to spend time indoors! So glad out instincts served us well with this one – well worth the visit!

Before leaving there we asked for directions to an art studio that George and Valerie had suggested we visit! Paddy Barry was a local photographer who worked with the Fogo Island Inn and was a friend of theirs. He left Fogo some time ago to open his own gallery in Bonavista. We found it without much trouble but it was closed. As we were pulling out of the parking lot a man drove in. When asked, he confirmed he was indeed Paddy Barry and the next while past in wonderful conversation about Fogo Island, Bonavista and his incredible photography! Newfoundlanders are such incredibly open and friendly folk. Spend time with a stranger here and leave richer for the experience! Paddy set us on the way to Neil’s Yard for lunch! He told us to follow the water and the signs for free Wi-Fi and we couldn’t miss it!

I can assure you we missed nothing by heading to Neil’s Yard for lunch. Newfoundland had become such an eclectic mix of people like Neil Shah. He is British, came from London on holiday, fell in love with Newfoundland and never left! He had thought he would love a place on the coast of Cornwall but discovered the price was out of his reach and little was available. He travelled to Newfoundland and discovered Bonavista which reminded him of the Cornwall coast. Sweeten the deal with government subsidies that were available at the time for someone with a proposal that would support tourism and Neil was sold!

The menu was small like the little café/gift shop that was right on the beach. The building, originally a store when it was built in 1830, has been lovingly restored. Our lunch of fresh crisp salad and homemade crepes were absolutely delicious with a cup of tea. Lunch was so delicious in fact that by the time I remembered to take a picture, there was no lunch left to photograph! The only criticism I could imagine anyone leveling is, like all Newfoundland buildings, there is no air conditioning and the day was hot! Neil looked after that quickly though by opening the door to the ocean and announcing Newfie A/C with a lovely ocean breeze! David commented that Neil was the perfect “front man” for a place like that. Friendly and unassuming, he chatted happily to everyone and created a bit of a kitchen table atmosphere among the tables. The people at the table next to us had been visiting from Nova Scotia and had been in every day since they arrived – apparently once even twice in one day, when they came back for an afternoon tea and dessert crepe! As Neil looked after everything but the cooking (his partner in back did that) I couldn’t help but notice his face was set in a perpetual grin! Whether out front to personally greet every person who came to the door, delivering food to the table, behind the counter steeping tea, or in the back kitchen plating food (I could see him there from where I sat), not once did I see him without the kind of grin that might suggest he has a secret! I suppose, in a way, he does. Clearly he loves the spot where life has landed him - what better secret than that could you possibly know!

We spent a happy few hours wandering the back streets and shores of Bonavista with David filling his camera with images I can’t wait to see. When mine are good, I know his will be spectacular! By late afternoon we were heading south once again when David wanted to detour to Elliston Point. We have seen signs for a Puffin Festival, and also information on a bird sanctuary. Puffins are crazy little sea birds that are very cute and colourful. We have seen them on boat tours and when we have gone whale watching here but that often makes them difficult to photograph. David wanted to see how close he could get and while I suspected he was to be disappointed, I’m always up for a road less travelled so Elliston it was. We weren’t overly interested in the “festival” part but when we hit the road we doubted there would be many people there. We thought the highway was bad, that was only because we hadn’t yet visited Elliston! I suggested David brace his tongue against his loose crown if there was to be any hope of it still being there for the trip out!

Elliston was a sealing community way-back-when and a stop at the local visitors centre and a pretty walk out along the bluffs paid tribute to the local men who lost their lives in that treacherous industry. At the end of the bluffs we discovered three young girls sitting in the long grass watching the shorebirds. One was taking pictures of the birds as they dipped and dived in their noise dance, one was weaving crowns of wildflowers, and one wearing one of those crowns of wildflowers was singing and accompanying herself on a mandolin! I stayed it this idyllic spot savoring the moment while David snapped pictures of the incredible coastline here.

The boy was on a puffin quest though! I masked my annoyance (mostly!) of having to leave on what I thought would be a fruitless pursuit, by suggesting we ask someone if there was any chance of getting up close and personal with a puffin. Without the bat of an eye, a young girl in the visitor centre pulled a hand drawn map and gave us instructions for walking to the local puffin colony!!

Oh my!! A short hike along another bluff, just down the road from where we were, and we were surrounded by hundreds of puffins! Even with the small group of people who shared the spot with us, one flew and landed about 10 feet from us! David later said, “How freaking amazing was that place? Puffins land 10 feet away and then stay and pose for you!” Good thing I decided to stay quiet about my thoughts of our chances of seeing a puffin!

Rising Tide Theatre in the early morning fog.

Bonavista

Bonavista harbour

Bonavista harbour with the town in the background

Museum dedicated to John Cabot`s voyage

The mast of The Matthew. A beautiful ship but honestly, sailing in this from Bristol It`s a wonder he ever found us!!

David taking advantage of Wi-Fi while waiting for lunch at Neil`s Yard. Notice the Newfoundland tartan tablecloths!

Neil`s Yard Café

Typical saltbox and barn design

Pretty walk around Old Day`s Pond

Still colourful washing flapping from a clothesline in every yard!

Memorial to the men who died in the seal hunt. This is a man holding his dying son on an ice flow.

Across Elliston harbour

The shore here has countless sea caves

The little islands full of sea birds

The 3 young girls we happened upon - taking pictures, weaving crowns of wildflowers and singing and playing the mandolin

Fog danced around the islands all afternoon - something very calming about fog!

Puffin lawn chairs

Elliston is apparently the `root cellar`` capital of the world???

Islands maggoty with puffins!!

Puffins constantly taking off and landing

This was the best picture I could get but David's should be incredible

The colours are just beautiful, and because these are my pictures, there is no enhancement or colour adjustment (because I don't know how!!)