Tag: Travel

Camp day today. Laundry, cleaning, etc. To aid with this it rained so we spent most of the day inside.

We did venture out later in the afternoon and walked to The Outport Museum and Tearoom. The owner of the home turned into a museum when there was a moratorium placed on Cod fishing. Being out of work and a history buff, he began collecting items from around the community that spoke of the history of La Scie and the area.

Today the old house is full of artifacts that speak to the lives of the people who once lived and worked to build the community that exists today. The owners took it upon themselves to tell us stories and add information to some of the pieces on display.

The tearoom serves traditional Newfoundland food and Barb enjoyed fish cakes while I had Moose soup. We also enjoyed dessert before heading out and back to the van.

It was lightly raining when we initially headed out earlier, our return walk was fraught with gusty winds and driving rain. Definitely a quiet evening inside.

Tomorrow we head to Lewisporte.

Shallow Bay Campground is wonderfully quiet. We had a nice nights sleep and awoke to a sunny morning after some light overnight rain. Parks Canada comes through again with their nicely equipped showers (9/10) and we got ourselves ready and packed to go before 10:00am. This included a quick stop to empty our tanks.

Re-joining Route 430 South we made our way through Gros Morne National Park towards Deer Lake where we stopped to re-provision and fuel up the van.

Heading East on the Trans Canada Highway, we stopped for lunch at the White Bay Restaurant. Continuing on the TCH, we arrived at the Route 410 exit that headed North into the Baie Verte Peninsula and towards our destination of La Scie. This route North is called The Dorset Trail.

La Scie (French for ‘The Saw’) probably hints at the towns forestry background. Today, fishing appears to be the primary industry with the very secluded harbour well stocked with all sizes of boats.

We are camping for a couple of nights at the Island Cove RV Park located at High Point on the North side of the harbour. The campground is small with only 9 serviced sites and about the same number of unserviced sites.

Before dinner we hiked up to the High Point Lookout for some wonderful views offshore. As a bonus there are a couple of icebergs below the cliffs.

After a later dinner we relaxed and then watched the sunset before retiring for the night.

Tomorrow is a day for relaxing and getting a few chores done.

Today we begin our trek southwards down the Western Arm of Newfoundland, as such we will be driving The Viking Trail again, but in reverse.

We awoke early and the foghorn let us know before we opened the blinds that the sea fog was still enveloping the van. The propane-powered furnace had kept us nice and warm throughout the night and we were keen to start our day. As such we pulled out of the parking lot at 7:30am on our way to top off our fuel tank and make a breakfast stop at Tim Horton’s.

Here is an updated list of items we wanted to see on this trip.

• Caribou – 1
• Moose – 5
• Icebergs – 9+ (Not updating anymore)
• Puffins – 0
• Whales – 2+

Yep, within 30minutes of driving out of St Anthony we saw 2 more moose (meese?) The first was simply eating in the roadside ditch. The second came out of the ditch and crossed the road in front of us (Firm brake pressure was applied but there was really lots of room). Here’s a picture of that 2nd moose.

Shortly thereafter it began to rain. The rain built in intensity and the roads become challenging to drive as all the potholes were now filled with rainwater along with the heavily rutted asphalt road now looking like dual rivers in each lane. Hydroplaning is a real risk as is loosing a wheel in a hidden flooded pothole so weaving between hazards became a sport for all drivers today. Luckily no damage was done and we ended the day in one piece.

Below are a few pictures ‘from the road’.

We made a short detour into Port au Choix to visit the Parks Canada site where they have unearthed evidence of human settlement going back over 4,500 years. We were really hoping to see Caribou as they are known to frequent the site, but alas no luck. We did however see our first whales (2) far out in the Strait of Belle Isle. No pictures due to distance.

Our day ended just North of Cow Head at the Parks Canada ‘Shallow Bay Campground’. A nice quiet & again grassy site for the night.

Tomorrow we re-provision and head eastward.

A cool start to the day at only 2°C and lots of sea fog. Icebergs that were visible last night are not this morning. The parking area was quiet and we both slept very well.

Today we start by heading to the Parks Canada National Historic site in L’Anse-aux-Meadows. It is the only authenticated location of a Viking Norse settlement in North America and dates from around 1000AD and quite possibly founded by Leif Eiriksson (son of Eirik the Red).

“Not all Norsemen are Vikings, but all Vikings are Norsemen.” – Our tour guide

As you approach the historic site it becomes very evident very quickly how remote this part of the island is. Our tour guide told us that this past Winter (2025/26) they had 16feet (4.88m) of snow. Now try to imagine yourself living in Norse village in a sod building in this climate. These Norse settlers had to have been incredibly tough individuals.

L’Anse-aux-Meadows is thought to have been a trade port from which goods would have been collected from further expeditions southwards before being sent back to Greenland, Iceland & Scandinavia. The thought is; however, that the settlement only lasted for a few decades before it was decided to shut it down and all settlers returned to their homelands.

We are both very glad we came to visit this wonderful place and hear about how it was discovered in 1960 and what the archeologists have found over the years that allows us to have an insight into how it came to be, how it functioned and probably why it was abandoned. It was a long drive to the Northern tip of Newfoundland, but one that we feel was very worthwhile and educational. The scenery ain’t half bad either.

From L’Anse-aux-Meadows we drove South to St Anthony where we spent a quiet afternoon relaxing in our fog enshrouded van at Fishing Point Park. We had heard that there were a couple of smaller icebergs near the entrance to the harbour and were hoping to see them.

Our patience paid off! After a couple of hours the fog lifted enough that we could see the ‘bergs clearly. A few photos are below.

At 7:00pm we attended The Great Viking Feast dinner theater that is held in a unique sod roofed restaurant. We were well fed and thoroughly entertained.

After dinner we retired to our van and stayed in the parking lot of the restaurant having previously obtained approval to do so. However, given the sea fog we were lulled to sleep by the soft bass tones of a foghorn from the lighthouse that is just the other side of the restaurant.

Tomorrow we head back toward the South.

• Caribou – 1
• Moose – 3
• Icebergs – 9+
• Puffins- 0
• Whales – 0

Travel day. Today we’re headed to the North of the West Arm to spend the night near St Anthony. It will be a long drive so we’re up early to cook an egg breakfast on the now functional Blackstone griddle, Yeah! Yummy. Then off to the showers before packing up and heading out at around 9:00am.

Out of the campground we turn North on Route 430 and the drive is expected to take about 4 1/2hrs. Our first stop was Arches Provincial Park where we walked down on the pebble beach admiring the stone arches formed over thousands of years from wave & weather.

Further North we stop at Plum Point for a lunch in the van overlooking a lovely quiet bay in the sunshine. From here we headed to Flowers Cove where we stopped to hike a short trail and look at the Thrombolites. These are really rare rock formations from millions of years ago. A plaque tells us that they can also be found in a location in Western Australia.

A little North of Flowers Cove we spotted our first iceberg of the day!

It was a long way out in the Strait of Belle Isle and really just a blip on the horizon, but Barb got to tick something else off of her list.

We finish the day driving to Saint Lunaire-Griquet where after seeing more icebergs in the harbour, we stopped at The Daily Catch restaurant. We are staying in their parking lot as they are a Harvest Hosts location. We reserved the spot earlier today and we stay for free but are expected to frequent the establishment. A seafood dinner is in order and was delicious!

Tomorrow we spend a day amongst the Vikings!