I have not taken 2 weeks off from work in … forever? I can not remember the last time that I had a significant break from regular life. Well then; this will have to change. I have a lot of vacation days banked and it is time that I started using some of them up.
I decided to head back to my homeland. I have not been back to Newfoundland in 12 years and have not returned to the main city there, St. John’s, in 30 years. I planned on taking the Agentia Ferry (not to be confused with Argentina), an 18 hour crossing between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Agentia, Newfoundland, on the way over. It is a crossing that I never did as Corner Brook, the city that birthed me is on the opposite coast and the Port-aux-Basques to North Sydney run is only a 6 hour ferry crossing.
To keep the distances in mind, in Canada we tend to talk more about how may hours drive somewhere is from somewhere else. From Fredericton to North Sydney it is a 6 hour drive (+/- 30 minutes), plus a 18 hour ferry crossing and an 2 hour drive from Argentia to St. John’s. After spending a few days there, I would drive 2 hours 30 minutes to Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador - Wikipedia (I have never been to Bonavista) and stay there for a few days, then get back in the car and drive 6 hours to Corner Brook. Few days there and a 2.5 hour drive to Port-aux-Basques, an 6 hour ferry and another 6 hour drive and I would be home.
In all, 3100 km driven (1926 miles), 700 km sailed on two ferries (435 miles) and 50 km hiked (31 miles) on my 5 stationary days (not spent driving).
Here is the rough route:
Little green stars for St John’s (bottom right star), Bonavista (upper right star) and Corner Brook.
Pictures are worth a thousand words right? So on to the picture dump!
Ferry #1, and St. John's area
Ferry: Atlantic Vision
St. John’s from Signal Hill (First wireless transmission across to England)
Fishing trawller heading in to port before the hurricane hit.
Bonavista
Around the small fishing/sealing town of Elliston
Trail at Spillars Cove:
The pillar below is in the first and second picture. In the first, it looks fragile and small but in the second, you can see that 20 people holding hands may be able to circle it.
Oldish fishing boat and fish drying rack.
Kings Cove Lighthouse trail:
Corner Brook and the trip to Port-aux-Basques
Heavy rain the night before led to some very active water falls:
Codroy River valley on the way to Port-aux-Basques:
And the Ferry home:
It was a great trip! I did not realize how much my soul and internal batteries need to be refreshed by rugged tundra and forrest trails with salt air. I miss that landscape, the people and the harshness of the environment. Lots of memories were renewed and many more were added.
Start to finish:
