Newfoundland

Our ferry left Nova Scotia in the evening and travelled through the night. From the moment you board, you are essentially in Newfoundland as the entire crew is Argentia based. You're drenched in that adorable accent at all ends of the boat. Every interaction with the bouncy and high energy crew is like being on an episode of 22 Minutes.  It's ridiculous.  

The ferry trip from North Sydney to Argentia is approximately 16 hours, and I guess one is supposed to sleep at some point during that time. We did not. Chalk some of that up to excitement, sure, but the comfy chairs we had scoped out were in a shared section of the lounge and the snoring from other travellers was more than our sleepiness could overcome.      

Sunrise on the Atlantic. Somewhere on the horizon will come the Island of Newfoundland. A pod of dolphins swam across the bow of the ship and off port we were treated to a fluke and splash from some aquatic leviathan. If you are going to stay up all night to watch a show, this is the one.  

 

We travelled past France on the way. (Seriously, look it up!)  Not sure if you can actually see it from the boat, but you can make out some islands that could maybe be St. Pierre et Miquelon.  

No matter, the view from the breakfast parlour is unbelievable as we begin sighting our 10th and final province as a series of Tolkienesque islands on the horizon.  

The sunrise is half an hour earlier than we were expecting. Newfies are just so cute.   

Impossible to fathom this is the same national state as the flatlands of Saskatchewan, mountains of BC, lunar lakes of Ontario, or francophone vie du Quebec. We have travelled here without our passports.  

We threw a huge party for two at the welcome sign as we left the ferry terminal. Welcome to Newfoundland, you will now ride your bicycle up a humongous incline! 

Gasping for oxygen and looking to refill our water supply we stopped at the information centre to get another dose of the local accent.  As is usual for all stops on loaded touring bikes, we are approached by road travellers with questions about our start and end points.  

This Ontario RV couple is certainly impressed that we have visited some 10 provinces with a guitar and they have some suggestions for what we should see while in Newfoundland.  A hundred kilometre detour here, or a seventy kilometre detour there, or maybe you guys should go through this town and you can play trad music with the locals at the bar.  

Again, no register to them that we are travelling by BICYLE.  lol.  "I'm more of a blues guy" I said.  

When you chat with road travellers in BC, they give you a cute little "pat on the back" when you tell them you're going to ride a bicycle to Newfoundland.  You may as well have said you're biking to the Moon.  "Yeah, sure kid". When you arrive by bicycle in Newfoundland, and chat with road travellers there, the distance covered is so non-sensical it goes over their heads. The sweet spot for praise and accolades was in Ontario as by then you've certainly established that you are serious, and the distance covered is still small enough to chew on. Leash your self admiration in all other provinces.   

In truth, we feel the same way in our own heads.  It does not make any comprehensible logic that we are standing in this parking lot on bicycles that we pedalled to here from Victoria, BC.  

But enough about us.  The welcome scenery is magical. 

This is an altogether different panorama from anything we've ridden through prior.  It does feel as though we've arrived on the moon.  

Thanks to Jeremy Fisher, lunch is at Tim Horton's. A Timmie's along a Newfoundlandian highway is another extra-planetary experience indeed. We had managed to make it through 8 provinces before stopping in at one of these things, but now it was a becoming a regular intermission. They're everywhere out East. We don't normally behave like this.       

The ride from the ferry terminal in Argentia to St. John's is pretty remote, other than the very busy Trans-Canada highway we're rolling down.  (well UP and down).  We were told it would be hilly, and that is holding true.  Probably the most elevation we've ridden since BC we figure.  

We're just not bothered by hills at this point. At the top of each crest is a spectacular view, and we're not in a hurry with only 135 kilomtres to cover over two riding days.  We're planning to camp at another provincial park site that will be closed for the season.  

Nearing our destination for the night, about 40 kilometres from St. John's, we spot mushroom pickers.  Cars stopped along the road hint at something going on, and the hills are full of people crouched over harvesting fungus. 

Fresh moose tracks at the campgrounds. We go the other way.  Butterpot Provincial Park is deserted for the season and we have our pick of 185 camp sites. The washrooms are open and freshly cleaned, but otherwise it's a bit apocalyptic.     

 

Nothing but us and the mooses out here, so a skinny dip in the lake seems only natural.  

The weather luck is fantastic. Warm enough to enjoy the evening as the sun set.  

We running on very low/no sleep, so the minute it's dark we're in the tent and zonked out.  It's cold but not unbearable. This makes 10 provinces in which we've set up and camped in a tent.  51 nights total, and we're able to savour this last one.  Tomorrow we'll be at a hotel in St. John's, a gift from Dad. We've also booked a 'warm showers' with Wade who has agreed to host us for a full 6 days in St. John's. Sherrie has promised to do some of the cooking. It'll be weird to live like 'normies' again.   

The famous Newfoundlandian sense of humour manifests with these distance to St. John's signs about every 5 flippin' kilometres from the city. 

The last kilometres of the cross-country ride is torture.  

Where is this city?  Does it even exist? Are we even moving? 

We did not find it all that funny.  At the time.  

A final hill climb and crest over the summit with a view to the outskirts of St. John's. We're both a little teary eyed. There's still a couple hours to ride into downtown, but we can see St. John's.....as in St. John's, Newfoundland.   

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