Twillingate

We were out of the door of our cute little cabin in Champney’s West at 9:00 a.m., well before the checkout time of 10:00 a.m. It’s a good thing we were moving on because the water stopped working. We had enough for morning ablutions, but not for doing the breakfast dishes. It was a little weird to look out the front window with water as far as the eye could see, yet to have none coming out of the tap. Makes you appreciate infrastructure. I left an apology note on the sink and messaged the unit owner.

Today’s destination was Twillingate, with two stops along the way. First stop, after about 1.5 hours, much of it along the Trans Canada Highway (TCH) was Terra Nova National Park, Canada’s most easterly national park. We inquired about hiking trails – several of the options that would have suited us would have required us to backtrack along the TCH. That didn’t seem very eco-friendly, so we opted for the Coastal Path which is listed as 9.5 km/3.25 hours to its end and back. We were told there was a nice waterfall at about the halfway point of the outbound leg where we could get some nice pictures and then turn around. Off we went. Unlike the Skerwink Trail, this one was mainly covered with very gnarled tree roots and offered very few good views of the water. We plugged on, and when we heard from returning hikers that the falls would require another 20 minutes (we already had invested 35 minutes) and that the falls only had a minor trickle of water, we called the game and turned around. We put in 70 minutes of vigorous walking which should mitigate some of the ice cream consumption and support of local chocolate manufacturing companies that we have done. We gave Skerwink Trail an 8 out of 10, and Coastal Trail 5 out of 10. Both need way more signage.

It was time for lunch, so we found the Parks Canda Red Chairs and took the requisite selfie. At the picnic table, a nosy bird landed to check us out. I put down the last of my sandwich to take out my phone for a closeup and the cheeky devil stole my sandwich! We packed up and hit the road, mainly because the skies were starting to darken.

A very light rain started not 2 minutes after we left the park entrance building. We drove through gentle rain for about 40 minutes, and then it stopped. Perfect. Ernesto hasn't put in an appearance yet around here. Mind you, the moon last night was orangey, due to the smoke from the western Canada forest fires.

Our next destination was Gander where we wanted to see the Compassion Monument. A piece of steel girder from the World Trade Centre is the heart of Gander's is displayed atop a 9,000 lb. chunk of granite. The monument commemorates the lives lost during 9/11 and the compassion of local people who assisted almost 7,000 unexpected passengers in Sept 2001.

While we were looking at the monument, the Director of Tourism for Gander, Brian Williams, came out to talk to us. He designed the monument and gave us the back story. The Bethpage Fire Department in a suburb of New York, responded to the 9/11 crisis but lost 80% of their members in the aftermath. They were given a piece of steel from the World Trade Centre. They stored it for 10 years, and when they heard about the enormous success of “Come From Away”, they shipped the steel to Gander – no warning, no checking, no nothing – just a giant UPS package addressed to the Town of Gander. It’s one of the very few parts of the destroyed World Trade Centre that the US government has allowed to leave the country. Brian arranged to have it put on display in the lobby of the town hall which was fine for visitors Monday to Friday. Each Monday, the windows of the doors would be covered with fingerprints, nose prints and paw prints! So, Brian decided it needed to be outdoors. He chose a piece of granite with a hollow in it so people could sit and have their picture taken. The monument is simple and evocative – make the time to see it if you can. The unveiling took place on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in the midst of the tail end of a hurricane. Of all the media outlets, only CTV managed to show up, making Brian a lifelong CTV watcher. Brian gave us Gander pins and thanked us for coming to visit. It was another lovely moment of travel serendipity.

We were on the road again, finally this time to Twillingate. We are in a lovely suite with a kitchen, a nice big sitting room, a bathroom twice the size of the one we had in Champney’s West, and a fat, fluffy queen-sized bed. And, uncommon for Newfoundland, we have an air conditioner. But there is a big warning not to try to run it and the microwave or hair dryer at the same time! With have a fabulous view of the harbour - we'll walk down there tomorrow.

Dinner at Georgie's was excellent - fish and chips for Doug and delicious fish chowder for me. Dessert was cheesecake for Doug swimming in chocolate and caramel, and three mini pies (blueberry, strawberry and partridge berry) for me. Going to have to put on some steps tomorrow!Read more