Category Archives: Newfoundland
Hiking in Gros Morne
We get ready for the 4:30 hour drive across central Newfoundland to Bonne Bay in Gros Morne. Thelma sends us with our coffee mugs filled and homemade muffins for the ride. About halfway there, we see cars stopped on the road….There is a moose crossing the highway very calmly, first one!
We arrive at the Bonne Bay Inn and are pleasantly surprised by the location as it is perched on the side of the road overlooking the bay and just steps from Woody Point and the discovery centre. Perfect spots to spend a few nights in the area.
We immediately set out to hike the Tablelands trail. The trail is fairly easy but on rocks small and big so watch your step. Halfway up, we come upon lots of snow and must find the less soft area so as to not sink in. The landscape is very unique, with its yellow rocks as far as the eyes can see. A good hike to stretch our legs and of course make snow angels 👼
We are back at the Inn for dinner and are treated to a minke whale swimming in the bay right in front of us! The Inn has a lovely lounge for the guests, a dining room and a bar. The first place where we stay with so much common area to relax on comfy chairs, and bonus, a laundry room accessible to their guests free of charge….we love it!
The next day we set out mid morning for our main hike of the area: Green Gardens Trail. It begins as we climb in tablelands rocks for a few kilometres, but quickly takes us down to the valley on a steep descent through beautiful forest. We then climb back up to the cliffs where we reach the stairs to the beach. We decide to continue on for 1.5km but the remaining of the trail is closed. We pass by beautiful lookouts and landscape as well as some local sheep quietly grazing up at the top.
Ready for the hike back, preparing ourselves for the big ascent.What comes down must come up as they say!! A roughly 12 km hike in 3:30 hours. We feel very accomplished and were rewarded with beautiful views!
Back at the Inn for a shower and we then make our way by foot to Woody Point where we visit the Galliott studio and cafe that we read about in the Globe and Mail and have lunch at the local pub. Great music and a LP carpet…all is breaded as usual but we are starving!
We spend the rest of the afternoon reading our books and relaxing at the Inn, topping the evening with a light dinner in the dining room with a view, where we now spot a pair of harp seal swimming about accompanied by very persistent seagulls!
The next morning we leave for Rocky Harbour for one night as it will reduce our drive up north by an hour and we have the Cruise at the Western Brook Pond.
We stop on the way to the Southeast Brook falls short trail. A beautiful hike in the forest opens up to a cascading falls and we are treated to a rainbow overlooking the far section of the falls. Gorgeous nature again!!
At the Western Brook Pond, we have a 3 km hike that takes us to the harbour. What fabulous vista at this famous landlocked fjord with very entertaining and informative guides on the boat. Chuck is sitting beside a lady from Vancouver who feels the need to talk constantly…imagine Chuck 😂
Lots of beautiful waterfalls, cliffs and formation in the rocks with their own name, like this one: “the tin man”.
This 2-hour cruise is awesome! Back to find the Bambury Hillside chalet where we learn that the whole town will have water shut off tomorrow morning for repairs….we plan to leave early!
But first tonight we will dine at the Black Spruce restaurant in nearby Norris Point, another recommandation from the Globe and Mail.
We go to the Gros Morne Cabins stores to get snacks for the game tonight and we are impressed by those colourful cabins right on the water. This is where we should have stayed!!
Over at the Black Spruce, the dining room has a expansive view overlooking Bonne Bay and we are pleasantly surprised by the originality of the menu and the excellent flavours of our meal. A very tasteful roasted cauliflower soup with a Parmesan crisp to start followed by a squid ink fettuccine with lobster and saffron cream. Chuck opts for the scrumptious beef tenderloin with creamy sea truffle mash potatoes.
All and all, one of the best meal we have had on the island. Well worth the drive! I get very pretty blue mussel shells earrings at the downstairs stores. Youpi!
Back at our chalet to watch the very disappointing Raptors game 2 😭. Leaving Gros Morne in the morning.
Twillingate and Iceberg Alley
The drive to Twillingate from Trinity is a good 3h30 parle along the coast, some ponds and thick forest. Our first stop is the Beothuk interpretation centre. The kilometre and half trail to the remnants of the indigenous village is punctuated with interpretive signs detailing the life of the Beothuk in the area more than 100 years ago.
We come upon the beautiful statue of Shanamdithit, the last known Beothuk, sculpted by local artist Gerald Squires. This was the impetus for the creation of this centre following excavation by archeologists in 1981. She was very detailed and striking.
Once at the end of the trail we lookout on some indentations, revealing the location of housing from that time, as well as Boyd’s cove. As we look up, we see a large bird with huge wind span….a juvenile eagle lands at the top of a nearby tree! What a sight!!
Back at the interpretive centre, we learn more about the way of life of the Beothuk as well as their extinction with the death in 1829 of Shanawdithit.
Onwards to Twillingate as we have an iceberg boat cruise with the “iceberg man” in the afternoon.
We arrive at Iceberg Alley Inn and meet our lovely, chatty host Thelma. We are also greeted by their friendly golden retriever…I get my fix!
After checking into a large, well appointed room, she directs us to Canvas Cove bistro for lunch. Excellent mussels and soup. Off we go to the cruise, all bundled up with multiple layers, hats and mittens, and thank god we have those!
The sun is shining and the winds are strong and cold. We are safely sitting on the front of the boat where Iceberg Man takes us to smaller “bergs” to explain the origin of the notch which are from the iceberg flipping in the water and that the ones we will see today, would have left Greenland 3-5 years ago!
We then approach a larger one and we circle multiple times to take pictures from all the different angles that are stunningly different.
He brings up to another site where we can see an iceberg that has split up the day before.
We then start cruising up to the coast to a cove where a third iceberg is located. A cold and windy 25 minutes, Chuck makes his way to the back for shelter but I choose to stay at the front to take the magnificent views.
Back to the original iceberg where the sun is now lower and reflect beautifully on the iceberg and the water. We are told that we are lucky this year, as last year there was only one iceberg all season and it only stayed for a week.
We opt to go to nearby Annie’s for dinner where the fare is ordinary. Back home for an early night as we must be off at 6AM the next morning to catch the ferry to Fogo Island.
Thelma prepares us a nice bagged breakfast with yummy baked oatmeal and off we go for the one hour trip to the ferry to make sure we will make it in the 8:30 crossing as it is the dangerous good trip so less spots. Thelma is on top of this!
Once a across we drive to Fogo island Inn for our tour of the Inn and our lunch. There really isn’t much to do so we sit in the library to wait as we are early.
The Inn is underwhelming for all the press and write ups. I find the structure not very appealing but the tour gives us a nice perspective on the vision of the founder,……she made her money in fibre optics in Toronto and chose to return home and invest her $42MM in her social entreprise dream. Everything is sourced on the island as much as possible as well as with the environment in mind. They seem very proud of their locally designed wall paper but I much prefer the quilts and the needlepoint bench cushions.
Over at the dining hall, we are impressed with the rope chandelier and the views are truly magnificent. Lunch is lovely with all ingredients organic and from farm to table as much as possible. I am surprised that there are no vegetarian option on the main but the salad bar is excellent!
We leave quickly to catch the 2PM ferry to avoid waiting for the 4:30 one and make it!
On the causeway, we pass the sea ice and notice a seal sunbathing.
Back in the lovely commons room at the inns. There are more quotes on those walls than anywhere I have seen!
I take the opportunity to phone mom and take care of some work issues which Chuck attempts a nap prior to our lobster dinner. Thelma sends us to Samsone for dinner where their live lobster pool will assure us of a “lobster fresh as a daisy”.
The 15 minute drive is well worth it. The staff is very friendly and the view is awesome. I pick my lobster and and am transported back immediately to my youth having lobster with my mom. It all comes back very easily and Chuck and I share a delicious local lobster.
Chuck leftover “squid rings” are fed to the local seagull who rules their patio. She is certainly well fed!
Back to our room to watch the Raptors win game 1 of the NBA finals…woohoo!!
Trinity and the Bonavista Peninsula: cliffs, vistas and icebergs!
On day 3, we left St-John’s early, direction Trinity, in the Bonavista peninsula. A quaint little town on the water with several local attractions.
We checked in at the Artisan Inn and immediately made our way the Two Whales restaurant which we found from an ,article in the Globe and Mail. Excellent vegetarian fare and great atmosphere!!
Then on to the highlight of the Discovery trail section: the Sherwink Trail.
What a beauty!!
As we climbed up high to the top of the peninsula, walking along the cliffs, we marvelled at the chiseled rocks along the cliffs and the numerous sea stacks emerging from the sea.
I must say it was one of the most spectacular trail I have hiked and understand absolutely why it is rated as one of the top 35 trails in North America and Europe.
at the bottom of the trail, we arrive at a rocky beach. Of course Chuck does a great skip rock throw which can not be reproduced for the camera 🙂
We then drive to the lighthouse that we could see from the trail.
It is hard for pictures to render the magnificence of the views and the incredible sounds of the sea crashing against the rocks!! The trail skirted the cliffs much closer than comfortable for Chuck and the hike was fairly stiff but the views at the top were well worth the effort!
Back to our Inn for happy hour at the beautiful lounge upstairs from the dining room where I discover the local seaweed gin and tonic with iceberg ice!! Off for dinner at the marina for more cod.
On day 4, we woke early and left for Bonavista with a stop in Elliston and it was well worth it. First we spent time learning about the sealing way of life and the great tragedy of 1914…what a tough life…
Onward to Puffin island where we walked up to the edge of the hills to be within a stone throw of the island and witnessing puffin nesting and flying…beautiful sighting.
Along the way, we spotted multiples root collars, very hobbit-like…it is the capital of the world for root cellars after all!!
But the cherry on the cake on Sunday awaited us….we continued our trip to Spillar’s Cove and Cable John Cove. After a short walk from the end of the paved road, the vista opens up to an amazing sight!! Cliffs, iceberg, caves and more…I had to sit and take it in. Absolutely beautiful!!
Next stop is the dungeon, a sea cave with a collapsed roof, very neat again…. and a good hike on a road full of potholes 🙂
We then make it to the Cape Shore Trail along the sea to the John Cabot statue to commemorate his discovery of the continent as well as the large Bonavista lighthouse which today is honking constantly for fog.
We come back to Trinity just in time to visit the black smith and the cooperage house. The blacksmith is on duty working and spends time with us to discuss his trade. Very interesting.
Back home for happy hour where we meet a lovely couple from Vancouver and enjoy a nice dinner at the Inn where we meet a very knowledgeable amateur whale photographer from England. A few spots added to our bucket list!
2 nights in St-John’s with an “s”
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.
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.
Martine's food and places 