First thing this morning, Ray heard, and saw out of our 3rd floor bedroom window, an asphalt stripper driving down the road in front of the B & B. He wondered to himself why someone would be driving equipment like that through the streets of downtown St. John’s. Shortly after this, Louis interrupted our breakfast saying there was an accident down the road. He didn’t know all the details but Mary’s daughter had just come in to the B & B and told him there had been an accident. While packing up the car after breakfast, Ray walked down the road to see what had happened. To his surprise he saw the asphalt stripper sideways in the road with its conveyor belts protruding into the middle of one of the small colourful houses in the road. What had happened is that the vehicle drove along the road parallel to our B & B, then turned left down one of the many steep hills in the City. Think of Hell Hill (the original) paved; think of one of the hills in Ushuaia; think of a really, steep hill, that stretches straight down over 2 major intersections to the harbour. Think of a vehicle with steel tracks trying to control its speed down this hill. You got it! It doesn’t. So, obviously, the driver realized this too late, and then tried to stop the vehicle by turning right. There are two possible scenarios. Either he tried to stop by turning into the building; or he tried to stop by turning right into a small street on the right, and it didn’t work and he went into the building. On the way, he took out an SUV parked by the side of the road. Very fortunately, if you can believe this, no one was hurt. The house was a rental, and there was no-one living there. The van was empty. There was no-one in the street. There was no other traffic around. The driver was not hurt. People around the accident were dumbfounded. How could anyone not understand that you could not take a vehicle like that onto a paved road as steep as that.
So, we left St. John’s around 10. 30. First stop was Cape Spear. Most people think that Cape Spear is important because it is the most easterly point in North America. Not so. Its important because it is the site of the oldest lighthouse in Newfoundland. Its another desolate cape in Newfoundland. The old lighthouse sits atop the rock. It doesn’t function any more, but a new lighthouse has been built just in front of it. Around the lighthouse are Canadian gun bunkers placed there to protect the cape from the Germans in WWII. We had a walk around the cliffs keeping well back from the edge so that the gale force winds wouldn’t knock us over the edge into the ocean a couple of hundred feet below.
Our second stop, was Cape Broyle where we went on a 2 ½ hour kayak trip around the fiord in a raging gale. It was total fun! The wind was quite strong, the waves were very choppy, and it was a constant test of your strength, especially the trips across the bay when we were at total right angles to the wind. We went in a cave, kayaked by the side of a waterfall, and tasted some sort of delicacy from a sea urchin……and battled the wind and the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a small world. One of the guides worked last summer at Rustica Harbour (not quite the right name I think), and he was astounded to hear that I had kayaked there last summer with a girlfriend (Pat). He was really intrigued by this and was going home right away to check his log to see if he took us out!
After the kayak trip, we drove down the Avalon Peninsula through the Oceanic barrens to Trepassey. It is amazingly barren. There are acres, and acres, of nothing but ponds and grasslands. It really is desolate. The coast is beautiful. High cliffs, rocks, and wild surf. The B & B had been recommended by our hosts from Cantwell House in St. John’s and we were made very welcome. We cleaned up a little from our salt water dousing and then went out to dinner. When we got back, we learned that Mary and Louis from Cantwell House had called Harold and Marie at the Northwest Bed & Breakfast because they had heard on the news that there had been a kayaking accident and although everyone was OK they were worried about us. Apparently the winds were so great that one of the kayaks around Cape Broyle overturned but the kayakers were soon rescued and pulled back into shore lying over the kayak. It must have been jolly cold. The kindness and thoughtfulness of the people in Newfoundland goes beyond what we understand in Ontario! Anyway, Mary is calling tomorrow morning at breakfast to speak to us to make sure we are OK, and also to pass on some information she thought of about Labrador.
So, we left St. John’s around 10. 30. First stop was Cape Spear. Most people think that Cape Spear is important because it is the most easterly point in North America. Not so. Its important because it is the site of the oldest lighthouse in Newfoundland. Its another desolate cape in Newfoundland. The old lighthouse sits atop the rock. It doesn’t function any more, but a new lighthouse has been built just in front of it. Around the lighthouse are Canadian gun bunkers placed there to protect the cape from the Germans in WWII. We had a walk around the cliffs keeping well back from the edge so that the gale force winds wouldn’t knock us over the edge into the ocean a couple of hundred feet below.
Our second stop, was Cape Broyle where we went on a 2 ½ hour kayak trip around the fiord in a raging gale. It was total fun! The wind was quite strong, the waves were very choppy, and it was a constant test of your strength, especially the trips across the bay when we were at total right angles to the wind. We went in a cave, kayaked by the side of a waterfall, and tasted some sort of delicacy from a sea urchin……and battled the wind and the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a small world. One of the guides worked last summer at Rustica Harbour (not quite the right name I think), and he was astounded to hear that I had kayaked there last summer with a girlfriend (Pat). He was really intrigued by this and was going home right away to check his log to see if he took us out!
After the kayak trip, we drove down the Avalon Peninsula through the Oceanic barrens to Trepassey. It is amazingly barren. There are acres, and acres, of nothing but ponds and grasslands. It really is desolate. The coast is beautiful. High cliffs, rocks, and wild surf. The B & B had been recommended by our hosts from Cantwell House in St. John’s and we were made very welcome. We cleaned up a little from our salt water dousing and then went out to dinner. When we got back, we learned that Mary and Louis from Cantwell House had called Harold and Marie at the Northwest Bed & Breakfast because they had heard on the news that there had been a kayaking accident and although everyone was OK they were worried about us. Apparently the winds were so great that one of the kayaks around Cape Broyle overturned but the kayakers were soon rescued and pulled back into shore lying over the kayak. It must have been jolly cold. The kindness and thoughtfulness of the people in Newfoundland goes beyond what we understand in Ontario! Anyway, Mary is calling tomorrow morning at breakfast to speak to us to make sure we are OK, and also to pass on some information she thought of about Labrador.
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