The Viking Run, Days 22 & 23- St. Barbe, Newfoundland / Port Hope Simpson, Labrador

 Today is my last day on The Rock. Newfoundland has been amazing and seeing it has been a dream come true. From the moment I drove off the boat in Argentia all the way up today, my last night in St. Barbe, I have seen some incredible scenery and met some of the nicest people. Life here must be hard in the way that you would have to be extremely self reliant. There are no hospitals, police or simple stores and services we take so for granted in the states anywhere for hundreds of miles. 

I some some of my grandmother's effects at home, one item being an old matchbook from the Sinbad hotel in Gander. Well Gander was a planned stop any to see the aviation museum, so when I was researching the trip it would turn out the Sinbad Hotel still exist. It's been re-modeled a few times but I book a room and had a pleasant meal in the hotels restaurant. The following morning I stopped briefly at the North Atlantic Aviation Museum, mostly just to see any 9/11 exhibits they had. The museum was small but the take a lot of pride in it. 

 

From Gander it was a long and windy (or so I thought) ride to Rocky Harbour, where I would camp for the night. As you get of Canada's Hwy 1 for Rocky Harbour, you ride along the souhern boarder of the Gros Morne Provincial Park. So many people go on and on about the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia and I'd have to say, no riding has ever been better than Gros Morne. 

After my tent night, it was another very long riding day ahead, up Newfoundland's northern peninsula. And this time the wind was no joke. They even post rode signs warning you of high wind areas. At many points during the ride the bike would be leaning heavily in to the wind, tilted over while I would try to keep it in the lane. Were a child ever to ask me, "where does the wind come from?' The answer would be emphatically...NEWFOUNDLAND!!! The wind however would only be the beginnings of what would make for what has to date been the most treacherous riding I have done.

Leaving Rocky Harbour I had sunny weather and a beautiful morning. I was able to swing by the Lobster Cove lighthouse and grab a few pictures. I was also able to stop along the shoreline and see the remnants of the S.S. Ethie, a steamer that went aground in 1919 and was fabled for the daring rescue of its crew and passengers by the locals, including a famous Newfoundland dog, although history would later reveal it was a rough collie that was so heroic. 

My destination that morning was L'anse aux Meadows, the site of the first European settlement ever in North America. Centuries before Columbus would ever find the "New World", Vikings were inhabiting northern Newfoundland. The road to L'anse aux Meadows is named the Viking Trail. And this trip gained it's title from this planned ride up the north coast and to see the Viking settlement for myself.

I had beautiful and nearly hot weather at 80 degrees for my entire ride to L'anse aux Meadows. But as I mentioned earlier, the wind. Now let's talk about something else on the Canadian roadways. The highways and roads that are in the middle of nowhere are in great shape. They see little traffic and the country funds their upkeep. When you get near a town or village however, say ten miles on either side. The roads begin to get potholes in them. That's what the locals call them, the government too I guess because sometimes they'll even put a sign up informing you of the pothole situation. Now let me tell you, these are not potholes. The are abysses of death. They are so big and deep that if you said your name in to one it would echo back several times over. So now you have a blustering wind that can move you completely out of your lane of travel AND push you towards impending doom if you manage to drop a front well in one of these pits at speed. All bad, we haven't got to treacherous yet.

The Viking settlement at L'anse aux Meadows is a UNESCO heritage sight and to me one of the highlights of this trip. Park personnel dressed in period attire answer questions and show you around. Their knowledge of the settlement and Viking life is mesmerizing. I would end my day here and stay at a BnB less than a mile down the road. the next day's forecast, rain.

In the morning I would wake to fog and drizzle, better for packing the bike than a full on wash, but that was coming. I need to make a two and a half hour run back they way I came, heading south down the peninsula to St. Barbe. This meant riding again through the hellacious wind and the pothole landmines. Only now, now was where we were going to make this jaunt so bad. Twenty minutes in the the ride the rain started. A cold north Atlantic off shore rain. A rain that fills the potholes with water and makes them invisible. A trifecta of oh lord please let me make it through. It was a white knuckle ride all the way to St. Barbe in which i rode between 40 and 55mph as the conditions allowed. Luckily I made it through unscathed. Challenge accepted and I came out on top.

In St. Barbe I would fuel up the bike and my reserve can at the towns only gas station; afterwords I would cross the street and have dinner at the towns only restaurant and then go check in to a wonderful AirBnB run by two very nice folks with whom I must of spent several hours chatting with. The following day I was to catch the 10:30 ferry out of St, Barbe to Blanc Sablon, which is actually in Quebec. Issue here was that i could not get a reservation on ferry and would have to be at the booking office (also the restaurant) before they opened to purchase a non-reserved ticket. There are only so many of those to go around so my plan was to get up at 4:30 and be at the office by 6AM. 

And that I did. First one there, again in the rain. Eventually about thirty-five people showed up. When the doors opened at 8:30, I was first in and got the number one unreserved boarding card. As it would turn out, motorcycles also board first. 

The ferry left right on tome at 10:30 and I said fare the well to Newfoundland. Two hours later I was riding my bike of the ferry ramp and on to the shores of Labrador! I had a two hour ride ahead of me through off and on rain with the last forty minutes or so in beautiful  sunshine. My destination was Port Hope Simpson, from where I write this evening. This is the last stop of civilization between here and Goose Bay where I will venture off to tomorrow. 

So yeah, I'm riding a motorcycle...IN LABRADOR!!!!