We begin our 2 weeks trip to Newfoundland with our landing in St-John’s landing mid afternoon. After picking up our rental car from Avis we make our way easily to our first home here, The Murray Premises Boutique Hotel.

We are pleasantly surprised with convenient free parking right in front of the hotel and a quaint reception area.

We decide to begin our hiking right away and head for the long path along the water up to signal point. Absolutely beautiful views of the city as we hike up and several stretches where Chuck finds it much too close to the edge 😂

We are also excited to see our first of many icebergs!

Our Fitbit indicates that we covered 12km that day and 18,000 steps!!

After visiting at the top a bit, we head back down via the city on a steep decline which turns out to be much harder on my knee!!

Back in the city, we head to Trapper John’s for the screeched in ceremony. We are greeted John who was a very colourful fellow with lots of stories.

We discover that this involves 4 things. We must eat something from Newfoundland which turns out to be bologna or what is known as a Newfoundland steak. We must have a shot of screech rum. Which is Jamaican rhum bottled here in Newfoundland. We must repeat a local saying about old friend being the support for our sailing forward, very lovely. Then we must kiss the king of Newfoundland which of course is a frozen cod. We perform all these steps to John’s multiple stories and receive our certificate making us honorary Newfoundlanders!

We then head to a local pub on George St for some cod and local music.

We are back at our hotel just in time to watch game 6 of the eastern conference and watch the Raptors make history with a win!!

On Sunday we head south to Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America and hike part of the eastern coast trail toward Maddox Cove.

We are treated to beautiful cliffs and more icebergs. The scenery is reminiscing of the northern Scotland we visited a few years ago. Very windy coast!

Our stop for lunch is at the Murray Landscaper Grounds cafe (farm to fork) as featured in an article in the Globe and Mail that we had read. Excellent vegan food in a nice, bright and airy dining room.

We then drive up to Stiles Coves to hike up to the beautiful cliffs and waterfall.

Well worth the drive/hike. A little bit down the road we stop at the end of the Pouch Cove trail in Flatrock to take a look at the flat rocks, the waterfall in Big River and the stunning waves crashing on those rocks. Loved it!!

We then make a stop at the Quidi Vidi brewery for a few sampler of the local beer, one of which made with iceberg water, before heading back home.

Our Fitbit today says 14 km, 20,500 steps.

Well earned dinner at Exile, the restaurant part of the Jag hotel owned by the cousin of one of Chuck’s friend. What an awesome decor and atmosphere with multiple posters of music legends.