Day 18 – Rainy Day

Awaking to the sound of seagulls never gets old. Today we start in Twillingate outside of the dinner theatre we enjoyed so much last evening. The gulls are playing over the harbour and life returns to this quaint town as the sun peaks above the horizon. This wouldn’t last however as the clouds are moving in and rain is expected across Newfoundland today.

We manage to hit the road around 8:00am, pretty early for us, but the day will be long and we wanted to get it started in the hopes that there’ll be some daylight left upon our arrival in Bonavista.

We head South back toward Boyd’s Cove and then turn East on Route 231 towards Gander Bay where we turn North to follow Route 320 towards Musgrave Harbour and the North coast. The road is fairly good however is amongst the trees and so our eyes are wide open looking for moose. The rain has now settled in and falls steadily forming large puddles and rivulets on the asphalt hiding potholes, of which there are many.

By Cape Freels the trees had given way to wide areas of fenlands and we stop to stretch our legs and admire the sandy beach. This would be a nice place to dry camp for a day or two if the weather were warmer, for along with the rain a cold wind convinces us to skip a walk on the beach. Instead, just a few photos and then a hasty retreat to the warmth of the van and a return to the road.

Route 320 turns South and eventually returns us to the Trans Canada Highway where we turn East and head toward Terra Nova National Park. We stop at the Blue Hill Viewpoint and admire said view in our rain jackets. The wind is picking up and the rain continues. We have a quick lunch in the warmth of the van and then return to the TCH.

A little further East we turn onto Route 230 towards Bonavista. As there was a lot of road resurfacing taking place on the 230, we decide to take Route 235 along the coast of the peninsula. This might have been the initial road to Bonavista as it weaves through pretty villages on the coast; however, it now needs some reconstruction as much of the time driving it is spent swerving across the road to find the best way through and around the massive potholes while avoiding traffic traveling the other way.

Arriving intact in Bonavista we drive through the town (we’ll spend time here tomorrow) and head straight to Cape Bonavista where we pull into the Landfall municipal park. The town allows dry camping for up to 3 nights in the park (gravel parking lot) and tonight there are about 12 vehicles parked up.

We arrive at about 4:30pm and the rain is beginning to intensify along with the wind. We spend the evening watching some television glad that we are dry and warm. Outside the weather continues to worsen and by midnight the wind is heavily buffeting the van and the rain is being driven horizontally across the landscape.

Come back tomorrow and find out how we faired.