2015 Nov
14-20
Nota: publicado en Inglés: vamos a editar e incluir versión en
español pronto.
If you are in Algiers in
winter and need to be in Malaysia a couple of weeks later, St John’s,
Newfoundland would not usually be your preferred stopover location. We were in
this situation, however had a commitment in St John’s, and also some time
available which would allow us to visit family in Nova Scotia afterwards, so
off we went. Alan flew from ALG to FRA and then to St John’s via YYZ; Marce had
to be in Colombia for a few days, and so flew from ALG to BOG, and then to YYT
via YYZ at the end of the week.
St John’s was cold but
clear, and Alan had a day free so rented a car and took advantage of the
“unusual” excellent weather to make a circuit of the Avalon Peninsula. The good
news? Clear roads, excellent views, no traffic. The bad news? Everywhere (cafés,
stores, etc.) was closed for the winter. After fruitlessly seeking a place for
lunch, Alan finally found a place open – the “Blue Whale” in South Dildo; assuming that the “all day breakfast” would be the safest option, he ordered this,
waited long enough for it to have been brought by taxi from St John’s, and
found it to be the worst meal of the year… oh well, it’s always good to
calibrate the scale. We noticed that the café is conveniently close to the
local office of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, however presumably they
are focussed on hygiene rules and not taste. Fortunately during the week he was
able to take advantage of the excellent “Saltwater”
restaurant, making up for this experience. St John’s lived up to its reputation
as extremely friendly, as previously noted, and it was also good to be able to
catch up with friends again.
Marce’s flight arrived in
the middle of the night, so it was mid-morning before we were able to get out
and walk around the town for Marce’s first experience of St John’s. We then
headed west on Canada Highway #1 (the “TransCanada”), stopping briefly for
lunch at Clarinville, which proved to be a fruitless mission, since the power
transformer for the block in which the restaurant was situated exploded while
we were waiting for our order…
We continued west, gaining
a far better appreciation of the size of Newfoundland, and fortunately seeing
some moose at the roadside at dusk.
We were going to spend the night in Rocky
Harbour, and realized that we were going to arrive late enough that finding
dinner might be a challenge (not late in Latin American terms, but certainly
late for Newfoundland in the winter. We called the hotel from Deer Lake, and
were given the number of the only place which might be able to serve us dinner;
we called them and since it would be too late if we simply arrived and ordered,
we ordered from Deer Lake, so that when we arrived in Rocky Harbour we went
directly into the restaurant to be served our excellent dinner immediately – a
singular experience!
In the morning we headed up
the coast into Gros Morne Park, with its glacially eroded fjord landscape.
As you can see, the information boards were less useful then they presumably are in summer.
As you can see, the information boards were less useful then they presumably are in summer.
An isolated pair of sun lounger chairs made the weather seem even colder than it was.
Later in the day we headed
south towards Port aux Basques to catch the night ferry to Nova Scotia, which
was the MV “Blue Puttees”. This is an
8 hour crossing, and it was obvious from moment we entered our cabin that it
was expected to be rough…
In fact, although there was
indeed a lot of motion, the athwartships design of the bunks allowed us to
sleep well.
On arrival in Sydney (NS,
not to be confused with Sidney BC) we headed south again, crossing Cape Breton
Island (or Peninsula if you prefer, although it is indeed an island) and then
continuing south west into Nova Scotia, with a stop in Antigonish, to Kingston,
where we spent 3 days with Alan’s brother and his family before heading off to
Malaysia, via FRA (yet again), incidentally bumping into Alan’s old friend Jeff
in YYZ; a welcome reunion.
Photos
may be used for non-commercial purposes with credit to alanymarce@gmail.com
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