Day 3 & 4 - July 15-16

DAY 3 L'Anse Aux Meadows and St AnthonyA long drive north to L'Anse (cove ) aux Meadows. It was a dull dreary day with the misty rain starting just as we reached the site. Most of us braved the wet and the mushy ground so we could walk to the site of the Viking settlement. It has been allowed to grass over but you can see the mounds that are left from the buildings. It has been determined by the finds that it was never meant to be a permanent settlement.

The reproduction of the buildings match the measurements taken, are built to style and are furnished with historically correct items. Watch your head when leaving, I bumped my head and it hurt!

The walls are peat, the rest wood, readily available on site.

The white structures on top allow light in and smoke out. On a wet day it was surprisingly warm inside with the fires burning.
Meadows link


The day gradual brightened although it did say cool as we drove to St Anthony the home of the Grenfell Mission. Dr. Grenfell came out from England, saw the poverty and poor health conditions of the fishermen and their families and over the years set up health clinics and established nurse and doctor visits to many isolated areas.
Grenfell Mission
His home is nearby and is open to visitors.
The town has one traffic light. First one we have seen since leaving Corner Brook.



A common site along the road .. when you pass a house you see a wooden box or more elaborate structure out near the road. It's for your garbage waiting pickup. Gulls can't get at the bags.

Fishing boats in St Anthony.

We drove right to the end of the road and arrived at Goose Bay. There is a light house and spectacular scenery looking out to the Atlantic Ocean.

Path over the cliffs and low vegetation looking back towards St Anthony.

I was so busy wandering taking photos of the cliffs they had to send Paul back to get me so the bus could leave for our hotel.

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DAY 4 Ferry to Labrador and Red Bay Whaling Station

Our iceberg.

This wasn't a good year for sightings and it was getting late in the season so we were lucky to see even one as we crossed the Strait of Belle Isle from Newfoundland to Labrador.
We had backtracked down the one road to St Barbe to catch the ferry after spending the night in St Anthony. ( see map in first post - as before click to enlarge all photos )
The ferry docks in Blanc-Sablon, Quebec and it is a short bus ride to L'Anse-au-Clair Labradore, site of our hotel.
Just to put it all into perspective, this shot was taken from the top forward deck of the ferry.


Our first stop after lunch was in Red Bay at the Red Bay National Historic site were the remains of several Basque fishing vessels have been found. The one centred on is the San Juan which sank in 1565 with it's cargo of whale oil on board. The photo above represents a Basque fisherman beside a whale fin.
The museum is well laid out and holds many artifacts. It was interesting learning about the archaeological survey and record made of the San Juan and to learn that it was covered and reburied on the bay floor for preservation.

They did raise and reconstruct the Chalupa, the oldest surviving model of it's type.

Red Bay.

As we drove back to our hotel we crossed the Pinware River. Sport fishermen can be seen in many of these fast moving waters fly fishing for salmon. There is a strict limit on fish size and number. The salmon you eat in restaurants is all farmed as the wild are being encouraged to repopulate.

We made a stop at Point Amour Lighthouse. Paul was brave enough to climb the narrow ladder to the top but I opted for the gift shop where I bought myself some handcrafted Labradorite
earrings.

For dinner tonight we had caribou served with traditional vegetables: turnip, potato, carrot and cabbage. These all grow well in the small gardens that you will see dotted along the side of the roads where the soil is better for growing. It was really really good.
Restaurants are allowed to hunt more animals as long as they are used on the premises as part of the menu.