Lupins, Orchids, Beothuks and Icebergs

We have had two back to back drive days. On June 21 we drove from Bona Vista which is on one peninsula over to Sandringham on the next peninsula just north of Terra Nova Ntl. Park. Today we drove from Sandringham through Gander to Twillingate on the very north of the island on the next peninsula. We drove for about 2.5 hours each day. On Saturday driving down from Bona Vista we hit all sorts of weather. It started sunny and warm and by the time we had hot the number 1 highway over an hour and a half we had driven through fog and rain and had a 10 degree temperature drop. We stopped in Lethbridge Nfld not Alberta. Cheryl 's colleague Derrick is from there so we wanted to stop and take some photos. Lethbridge appears to have been forgotten as there weren't many houses and there weren't any architectural guidelines. It was a bit of a disappointment but there were lots of beautiful flowering Lupins. A non-native semi invasive species. We continued on to Terra Nova Ntl park. We pulled off at a viewing point and I hiked up an old watch tour. It was quite terrifying as the wind was blowing at 60 km per hour and I thought my glasses would blow off. We chatted to a Danish family who had rented a motorhome and were driving around for 8 weeks in Maritime Cdn. We drove on and ate our lunch in the beautiful Parks Canada building beside the bones of a humpback whale. The building had some great exhibits including one where you could hold urchins and starfish. I love holding starfish which I am infrequently allowed to do as I live in Edmonton.We did a short hike along the Coastal trail on the shore of Neuman Sound to a waterfall. The highlight was seeing these Pink Lady slipper flowers which are a northern orchid. The waterfall was barely running as there was little snow this winter and they have had a dry spring. Good for us with no significant rain during our trip but not great for forest fires or the environment. The sound was whipped up into a malestrome of whitecaps. Our B and B for the night was in Sandringham run by a Newfie couple who had lived in Calgary for 30 years. 5 other couples. A busy but very comfortable stay. That evening we drove to Salvage a very beautiful village on the ocean and walked around. We later learned that Peter Manbridge has a property there and that the majority of properties were owned by Come from aways with many American owners.

This morning we drove a short way to Sandy Cove away from Twillingate. Sandy Cove has this spectacular beach supplied by adjacent eroding cliffs of sand. The second sandy beach we have seen in the last two days but it was larger than the other. Probably a km in length. We chatted to a local who worked remotely for CMHC who was walking his Cairn terrier. Just as we were leaving the sun came out and it felt glorious.

After a brief stop in Gander for lunch and groceries we continued on to Boyd's cove where there was a museum dedicated to the Beothuk indigenous people of Nfld. The Beothuks had numbered only 700 on the whole island. Archeological digs had discovered remains of a Beothuks village at Boyd's cove. It was a beautiful spot with an open meadow, a beautiful beach, a small river. It was very peaceful and the sun came out. There was evidence that a village of 30 to 60 people had lived there between 1600 and 1750 with some evidence of habitation dating back to 1000. Who better to chose a great spot other than these people. The Beothuks met a sad ending. Devastated by European diseases, think TB, smallpox and measles. Aren't we having a measles outbreak in Alberta now. They were also hunted and killed by Europeans. The last Beothuks died in 1829 of TB.

Another 45 minutes down the road and we finally made it to our Air BnB in Twillingate on Bayview road. We had heard of Bayview Road before our arrival as at least 2 couples we had met in BonaVista had told us about an iceberg which had become marooned on the bay by Bayview round. We met our Air BnB host Jeanette and after our orientation she insisted that we drive another few kms down the road to see the iceberg as it was melting. The iceberg despite having melted was pretty impressive. It consisted of a large spike and smaller flat section. It appeared huge. Probably 50 meters tall 200m off shore. There were a lot of people again with big cameras photographing it. It was like some sort of religious experience with all these people preying to it. We partook in the heathen summer solstice ritual before heading back to our cabin. The drive days really tire is out.Read more