Twillingate and Fogo Island

We had one full day in Twillingate. It was going to be difficult topping last night's sighting of the iceberg that was so close to the shore. We woke up and it was raining. Our first rain of the trip. The locals keep telling us how dry and hot it has been however it hasn't gone above 22 degrees since we have been here and many days it has only been highs of 15 to 17. I could hardly imagine a cool wet spring. We headed out to the Twillingate lighthouse around 10. Lighthouses are always fun places to visit in the rain There were no cars in the car park. The locals have told us how busy the tourism is this year but we are having problems finding other tourists. It was foggy and the rain had turned to a light drizzle. There was fog out on the water. Out in the ocean one could make out an iceberg floating in and out of the fog. It was all rather ethereal. We walked around on the cliffs overlooking the ocean and the distant iceberg. There was no one there other than Cheryl and I.

We headed back into town to have lunch. We were curious how much the beached iceberg had melted so swung around Bayview road and had another worship. I guess this iceberg has been stranded in Twillingate for a month and at first was a very large cube before parts started to fall off. It was making a bubbling sound from releasing gas. One of the locals who had been visiting it daily told us it had been calved from a glacier in Greenland 3 years ago and the ice was probably 10000 years old. Learning this we felt compelled to walk down to the shore and fish out a smaller piece of ice, an ice cube? from the water. Was it ever cold.

After lunch at our cabin " Above de Atlantic" we headed out for a hike to a Natural arch bridge. We got a little disoriented hiking first across a peninsula. We ended up doing a longer hike as we had to hike around the tip of the peninsula to get to the Natural bridge and back to the car. It was only a four km hike but the path yoyod up and down these very steep rocky hills. There were lots of railings to hold onto both going up and down. It was very pretty in a desolate way. I have noticed that the various communities that we have stayed in have all been very active in building hiking paths to promote tourism. There are weeks worth of day hikes in each of the little communities that we have stayed in since leaving St. John's. The name of the trail system in Twillingate is the Red cut. We met a New Brunswick couple while we were out hiking but no one else. Too cold and windy for mosquitoes they told us.

Today we headed off to Fogo island. We had to drive 45 minutes to Farewell. A sign at the ferry terminal stated "Welcome to Farewell" which was cute. Before we left for Farewell we drove down Bayview Road to say good bye to our iceberg. We could see some large icebergs off the coast. When we got down to the cove with our iceberg it was gone. It had floated off during the night.

We were in good time for the ferry as we always worry that there will not be enough space for us. We almost didn't get on a ferry in Norway as we had arrived very late. That was a close call as it only ran daily and we had prepaid. The ferry ride today was an hour and other than seeing 2 icebergs was fairly uneventful.

Our first impression of Fogo island was that it was even more desolate than our hike in Twillingate. Is more desolate considered barren. There are very little to no trees. In the North where we are staying in the town of Fogo there are no trees, mainly just rock. We couldn't get into our Air BnB until 3 so we decided to do a hike on the island/peninsula just north of Fogo. Fogo Head Trail. It took us a long the coast and up up up this rocky promontory overlooking the ocean. Looking out to the ocean, there was nothing between us and Iceland. We saw 2 icebergs which we suspect were the ones seen from the ferry. The locals had built steps that seemed to go on forever before reaching the top. I counted at least 300 steps before losing track. It was a loop that circled around through the North end of town. There was a craft store at the trailhead. Cheryl bought a quilted apron. They had many crafts including hooked rugs and beautiful quilts. Fogo Islanders are known for their quilts. People over the winter have time on their hands. This store was run on consignment. The quilts were masterpieces of art. The store owner told me that a queen sized quilt could take 90 hours of work. They sold for 850 to 1000 for a queen and more for a king or the more ornate designs.

We are staying in a very cute saltbox house looking out onto the ocean. The name saltbox came from the fact that the early houses in the fishing out ports were made from wood from the boxes that the salt used in the processing of the cod was stored in. Wood was at a premium and the boxes were reused. Saltbox then was used to refer to a certain architectural type of house with two stories at the front and one sloping story at the back. It now seems to be applied quite liberally to any wooden house which looks quaint. After supper we walked around town. There we a few people driving around and four children playing hockey but otherwise it was very quiet.Read more