Despite a number of us parking overnight fairly close together, there was no noise at all from any of the campers. This morning we awoke to heavy fog (again) and couldn’t see across the bay directly in front of us. The town was going to be hosting a Canada Day celebration where we had parked and by 9:00am they were asking overnighters to relocate so that they could get things setup.
We headed off to the West and said goodbye to our busy little parking spot.
We were headed toward Cape St Mary to visit the Ecological Reserve. The drive was about 2hrs and we saw sunshine and then more fog. The best thing we saw along the way (but got no picture) was a female moose and her calf drinking at a small lake. That makes moose’s #7 & #8.
Arriving at the Ecological Reserve we were hoping to be able to parkup for the night but they had clear signs stating no overnight parking. Other plans will have to be made. Anyway, we headed into the information centre and then out along the 1.4km walk to view birds at Bird Rock.
The walk through the fog along the cliff tops was magical. Sure, it would have been nice to look out across the ocean and maybe see whales, but the fog had its own wonder and cast a soft light on everything.
Arriving at Bird Rock we saw 1000’s of Gannet’s, Razorbill’s, Kittiwake’s and Murre’s. We were on a rocky headland about 300ft (100m) above the waves crashing on the rocks below. The birds soared in the wind and somehow found their way back to their mate sitting on nests of eggs.
After enjoying the show for a while & realizing that we were drenched from the fog we walked back to the van and enjoyed a light lunch before leaving.
We had decided to drive North toward Placentia where it appeared that there were several park ups from which to choose. After just a few minutes of driving the fog dissipated allowing us a better view out to sea as we drove along the coast. Through small hamlets in deep valleys, the road twisted, dove and rose again as we proceeded northward.
Arriving in Placentia we decided to take a look at the Parks Canada historical site, Castle Hill. A French built fort atop a hill that overlooks Placentia Bay. The fort was lost by the French to the English during the seven years war. The ruins today are remarkable intact and the views are spectacular.
Leaving the historical site we head back into Placentia to fill up on fuel and then head back South of town to a park up spot we passed earlier. Just a few minutes of backtracking and we had a lovely grassy spot next to the sea.
This will do nicely ahead of our drive tomorrow to Gander.