Day 7 Codroy Valley

Oh my!! Today did not disappoint! Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, a date for us was packing David’s camera gear and heading out to back roads and get-away places. Newfoundland is full of them. We would wander for hours, exploring and taking pictures. Today was date days all over again!

Alice, the lady who owns the campground produces a local paper. I started my day reading that and was feeling very hopeful about the day ahead based on her accounts of the area. I had actually had the day planned but we decided on a last minute whim to abandon that plan for another day and just head out with the Codroy Valley Travelers Guide Day Trip in hand! Good choice!

Before we left though I discovered some interesting tidbits about the park. Apparently this land was owned by Alice’s mother and father years ago. In 1965, MPP Bill Keough (my Uncle Leo’s brother!), came to visit and talked about the government wanting to establish a provincial park in The Codroy Valley. They were in the process of trying to find land. Alice’s parents agreed to sell 10 acres to the province for $1.00 and a deal was struck. In 1997 when the province decided to privatize the parks the family was given the opportunity to enter that process due to the origins of the park land.  The family accepted the offer and they now operate this wonderful park!

Today we came across many interesting things that one comes to expect on a visit to Newfoundland – the many local stores and bakeries, closed because it’s Sunday (good for them!), the people along the way who stop to chat (and to remind you as you admire the view that they get this everyday), the signs that announce, for example, that a store offers everything from “baby farts to a clap of thunder”…but by far the delight of the day was the scenery. It continues to astound me that no matter where you go in Newfoundland, the view is unbelievably beautiful. We met a couple today from North Bay who have been travelling in Newfoundland since early June. When they noticed our Ontario plates and asked where we were from and I started by saying, “Originally, Newfoundland.” They came back with, “Lucky you!”

Our ramblings brought us to incredible beauty. Despite being a sunny, warm Sunday we only met the occasional person, even on our long walk on one of Newfoundland’s rare sandy beaches. Lunch was delicious, but there was no wait for a table or rushed service. There was no fee to park, or place we were forbidden to go. Newfoundland is a place to wander at will, stop and talk to those you happen to meet, and if you’re smart, to stop and appreciate the breathtaking scenery and the opportunity to just be! Steeped in history, you can appreciate the tales of the Micmac hunters who first lived along the shores of the Codroy River in the 1700’s. You can trace the current inhabitants back hundreds of years to the first European settlers to arrive from Ireland, Scotland, England and France. You can speculate on whether Viking settlements really came this far south, as is now considered. You can trace community names and learn that places like O’Regans was named by the Newfoundland Nomenclature Committee in 1904 to honour the memory of a beloved priest who died when he was shipwrecked visiting a parish along the coast. He was only 29 years old at the time! Few people in coastal Newfoundland can’t trace a colourful history back to ancestors who first settled Newfoundland! I love the story. I love to see in the view that is before me, a rich past. But honestly, while Newfoundland feeds the soul of the history buff, it also offers a rare chance to just appreciate the moment and be open to whatever happens by!

As I was happily blogging away in the trailer, I could hear what sounded like live music. Off to investigate, we discovered a Screech In! Alice and Dennis, the owners here, invite his sister, a retired secretary from the school in Port aux Basques, with her retired former principal to come and perform live music. Apparently the secretary was a secret musician and no one, including her husband, knew she could play until she played for her mother’s 90^th birthday party. Now they bring them out to the camp ground for Screech Ins before folks get back on the boat to leave. It was as much fun as it always is with people making fools of themselves! The music was a little on the Newfoundland dirge side, and we could have used something a little more upbeat, but it was a great surprise to pass away the evening!

The road less travelled!

 

When the Newfie Bullet (railroad) left Newfoundland, boxcars were sold for $300 each and delivered for an additional $300. Clearly many folks on The Codroy Valley thought this was a great way to get a garden shed! Many houses have them in their yard. Some are decorated with care, like this one!

 

...and some are not! But how in heavens name it was buried into the side of the hill was beyond us!

 

The beautiful Codroy River runs through the valley to the Atlantic.

 

Lonely as a gull on a rock!

 

Cape Anguille lighthouse, at the end of the Anguille Mountains, the most westerly point in Newfoundland.

 

I work at getting my irises to grow. Here their are blankets of them through fields and walking paths, including these growing out of the rock!!

Another road less travelled! We wondered how far we could go around the island? This track followed the coast for miles!

One of the rare sand dunes in Newfoundland.

A beautiful, sunny day and we had the beach to ourselves! Well we shared it with the Piping Plovers who skittered across the sand in front of us.

A retired principal and his secretary, moonlighting as musicians in retirement!

American visitors who were very good sports!

Loading up the Screech shots!