Hike up to Castle Rock

 We woke up to a foggy morning and went for a run down the rail trail which is just up the road from Cathy and Rick's house.

Later we drove a little ways and used the rail trail to access Castle Rock.

Lake along the trail.

The sun came out so it was a hot and humid hike.  We reached thee top with 360 degree views.

Great view though the seashore was still foggy

Smiles all around.

We got some good views of an oven bird on the hike but no photos.

On the way back we spotted a few lady slippers.

More bog laurel.

A healthy young white pine.

The next morning we did a bird walk down the rail trail where we saw another ovenbird and this magnolia warbler.

Our niece Heather invited the whole family to her Chester house (she lives in Kent village but is buying and renting houses in an early retirement plan) for a barbecue.

Preparing real local strawberries for strawberry shortcake.  They were delicious.

Most of the family. Nephew Daniel's kids are in Ottawa visiting their Dad.

After the BBQ we drove back to Dartmouth with Leo's sister Ann.

If you heard of the recent flooding in Hants County, NS, Cathy and her family were in the middle of it (but no major damage for them).  Robert had his driveway washed away.  Heather's house in Chester had leaks in her roof.  Cathy and Rick were visiting Cape Breton, but Robert drove by and discovered water flowing out of their basement.  He pumped it out for them.

The blue door is their basement.  The babbling brook we fell asleep (located behind the motor home and the veranda) overflowed and ran right into their house.

Here's a photo Heather took of the damage on the road above their house. The ditch running to the left is their brook.

The rails to trails are closed. There is a 30 foot washout near their home.

Ferry to Nova Scotia and drive through Cape Breton

 

The ferry ride back to Nova Scotia was so foggy we didn't bother to go outside or take pictures. Mercifully, it was also very calm so no sea sickness for me.  I had already loaded up on Gravol so I did a lot of napping.

We camped at the Mira River Provincial Park again, where we were again serenaded by many birds.  Leo and I were thrilled to get good looks at a Northern Parula and a Blackburnian warbler.

Lousy picture but proof of sighting.

The next morning we drove back on the southern scenic route along Lake Bras d'Or.  We stopped at the St. Peter's Canal which connects Bras d'Or to the ocean where we spotted the heron pictured above.

We got to watch a boat go through the lock!

We arrived home to Rick and Catherine's home in Chester Basin and slept in the guest suite, ie. the motorhome.

Last week in real time during the NS floods, water was flowing into their basement.  Rick and Cathy were in Cape Breton, but their son pumped it out for them.

Back to Port aux Basques

On the Road Again

It was a long day of driving as we had to catch the ferry at Port aux Basques the next morning.  Leo and Rick saw a black bear but Cathy and I were slept through it.

We stopped for lunch at the power station where the Humber River flows into Deer Lake.

 

Here we saw a black duck

And the Bird of the Day:

Ring-billed gull

South of Corner Brook we experienced the famous Wreckhouse winds, which bounced us around the road.  We were following a pickup hauling a travel trailer that was swaying dangerously around the road.

There are caution signs at either end of this dangerous portion of road and a big parking lot in the middle of nowhere for transport trucks to wait the weather out.  The sign informed us that the winds were a mere 52 km/hr when we drove through.

We returned to our first campground in Newfoundland at Cheeseman Provincial Park. Leo and I walked down to the beach again.  As usual we heard more birds than we could see.  The beach was surprisingly devoid of shorebirds though we did see 2 spotted sandpipers.  Endangered piping plover reportedly nest here, but we didn't find any.

Downtown St. John's

In the afternoon we drove into St. John's, parked in a Sobey's parking lot and walked down to the harbour.

View back to Signal Hill and Cabot Tower

Rick has visited St. John's harbour many times with the Navy, and he had some interesting stories.  The Portuguese White Fleet, the sailboats that fished the Grand Banks, used to come into harbour and the streets were full of sailors from all over the world.

While we there the Polar Prince, the support ship for the doomed Titan submersible, was in dock, after the wreckage was discovered.

We also checked out the downtown shopping area on Wharf Street which is converted to a pedestrian mall for the summer.  Not too busy as tourist season doesn't start till July in Newfoundland.

The lilacs were just starting to bloom in late June.  

There was some complaining about the steepness of the streets were were climbing up, but it's hard to show it in a photograph.

We loved the colourful houses and the colourful murals.

I spotted these cute mailboxes on neighboring houses.

 As we were heading back to La Manche we got a call from the campground.  We're we going to vacate our campsite?  What?, we said, we have another night booked.  No you don't they said.  In a panic we realized that we had reservations that night at Notre Dame Provincial Park 400 km away.  We rushed back to take down our camp and drove all evening, arriving at 9 pm.

Cape Spear

 

We made it! To the easternmost point of Canada!  Here I am in front off the lighthouse at Cape Spears in actypical lousy selfie.

We headed to Cape Spears first thing in the morning when the Cape was blanketed in fog.  Good place to spot whales but not today.

 A couple of Newfoundlanders were picking berries but I couldn't figure out what they were.  We call them marshberries, she said, but I don't like them, they're too sour.  She let me try one, it looked like a small grape.

Ferns and berry bushes.

Later I googled marshberry and it's a kind of cranberry.  It was soft and clear but that's probably because it survived the winter.

Leo spotted a savannah sparrow.

The inside of the lighthouse was furnished they way it would have been when it was operated.

Gotta have sperm oil for the lighthouse lamp.

In olden times the lighthouse keeper would spot the ships coming into harbour and raise the ship's flag.  The signalman at Signal Hill would spot the flag  and raise another it on his flagpole.  Townspeople would see the flag and know what ship was coming into Port. They continue the tradition today.

Though the fellow said the folks at Signal Hill would be telephoning this morning because of the fog.

On to St. John's

 

View of St. John's from Signal Hill

The next morning we drove to St. John's and headed for Signal Hill.  This involved driving right through Downtown along Wharf Street. It was a steep walk up from the RV compatible parking lot.

We stopped at the Visitor Centre to watch the informative film about the history of Signal Hill throughout the centuries.

And of course the obligatory selfie with a dummy.

Lots more climbing involved

To get to the Cabot Tower.

Great views all around of the city, the harbour,

And Fort Amherst at the mouth of the Harbour.

We looked for whales, but no luck.

Below is the best view of Quidi Vidi we could get since we weren't able to visit this tourism hotspot.   A quaint fishing village right in the city! 

Afterwards we drove to our campsite at La Manche Provincial Park.

There is a swimming lake here and a small but attractive falls we walked to after barbecuing sausages over the campfire.

Heart's Desire

 We stopped by Dildo on our way to Heart's Desire.

Not to be confused with Heart's Delight or Heart's Content, both just down the road.

We visited Rick's old friend from the navy, Terry, who'd retired with his Newfoundland wife May, in her hometown. They live in her family home right on the water.

We had a great evening visiting and finding out about Newfoundland life from May and her sister-in-law Bonnie.

May told us the gulls used to drop the sea urchins on their roof to break them open, but since the road in front of the house was paved they drop them on the pavement.

More birdlife:

Common Loon

The Great Black-Backed Gull is the largest member of the gull family. They are common on the Atlantic coast.