Newfoundland

[Syv]

Well - this forum seemed lonely, so I thought I'd post here about one of my adventures, though no serious breakdowns!

I had to go from Ontario to New Brunswick for my cousin's wedding. Well! I'm not going THAT far without making a TRIP of it! So off I went to Newfoundland in my 1986 Ford pick-up...

Here's a couple of silly happenings on this trip...

1) Had no sooner driven off the ferry at Port-aux-Basques, than I pulled over to review the map & rolled down the window. BIG MISTAKE! The truck was immediately filled with a swarm of BLACK FLIES! Welcome to Newfoundland...


2) Started up to Cornerbrook & Gros Morne National Park. Soon decided to detour off on a north/west road along the western shore because I "saw a whale" !!! Well, on this little dirt road I calmly travelled for miles & miles enjoying the scenery. After what seemed like hours of this (I'm not sure)& still coming to nowhere, I decided to do a U-turn.

There were grass fields along either side of the road. I was doing my "3-point turn", when the front right wheel came to close to the soft gravel edge. I could feel the truck starting to slide towards the grass field. Little did I know there was about a 1 foot drop to the ground below the grass.

Great! Now here I am stuck sort of sideways across the road, with my front right wheel off the road only slightly but enough that I couldn't get back on the gravel... In the Middle of Nowhere!

There had been absolutely NO traffic either way on this entire journey so far.

After about 5 minutes of staring at my predicament, I said aloud "Now what, Lord?".

About 2 minutes later I saw a pick-up truck coming southbound. He stopped. He immediately offered to tow me out. His truck had "stuff" on the front already that looked like a "working" truck. He said it was a tow line for his fishing boat. He said there was a fishing village at the end of this road if I'd kept going. Friendly fellow. Had me out in a jiffy. Didn't want anything for his efforts. Wished me well.


3) Somewhere along near Birchy Bay or Gandery Bay I believe, a couple locals suggested a "trail" to see a nice waterfall. They gave directions where to turn off & said it's "no problem at all" for my vehicle. It was a logging road or hydro access or something - I cannot remember - definitely not a "named road".

Found it. Just a path through the bushes. Started in. By the time I was about a 1/2 mile back (1/2 hour later), the trail had closed in so much that bramble bushes & small trees were SCRATCHING the entire both sides of my truck, top to bottom, every step of the way. There was no way out. Nowhere to turn around. Backing up would only make it worse. Had to keep going. Finally came to the waterfall where there was room to turn around. Saw it (nice 'nough), & had to go back the same way through the bushes.

Let's just say my friend at home was not thrilled when he saw all the paint scratches when I returned a few weeks later.

So - nonetheless, nothing serious, but still it sure lets you know it doesn't take much to vary the best laid plans "o' mice an' men".

Happy trails to all,
Sylvia

[Robert Schaller]

Hey, it's a TRUCK, right? It lives for adventures like that! Good story! (And besides, tell him to lighten up! What's a scratch or two, anyway!) :)

I've heard horror stories about those black flies. Down here in Arizona, we get little tiny gnats, and they swarm around your head sometimes, but they usually don't bite much. The worst things we get, insect-wise, usually come one at a time (like scorpions), except maybe for those pesky little armies of red ants. I had bees in my airplane once though, that was exciting. Bob

[Syv]

Guess bees in your airplane is better than "bees in your bonnet" ;-)

[Robert Schaller]

With bees in the plane, at least you have a chance NOT to get a sting -- we didn't, on that particular occasion, but we shut it down and jumped out pretty fast (we were not in the air at the time, obviously). In your bonnet, well, that's almost a SURE sting! I got one on the hollow of my neck at about 50 mph once (on my motorcycle). The last thing he did before he "passed away" was sting me. Ouch.

[Quebec Gen]

Hi Syv,

great story, I always wanted to go to NewFoundland, I just didn't have enough time to do it! Did you take the ferry to Labrador? Some people I know visited that area (seacoast) and everyone thought it was one of the most beautiful area in the world : whales, icebergs, mountains, crystal clear lakes,... Do you remember the cost of the ferry ride to NF?

I have a few bad bugs stories also, here we literally collect them, especially in Northern Quebec, it's awful! You just step out of your vehicle for a few seconds and you're surrounded by a huge cloud of flying bugs of all kinds. Last summer I was on my way to Fermont and took a few pictures. One of the picture was unclear, I was wondering why until I realized that the big black stain in the corner was actually a bug flying just in front of the camera while I was taking the picture.

Some years ago, on a motorcycle ride with a friend, a big bee just smacked on my forehead. I was a little stressed because I thought it was stuck somewhere in my helmet, when I put it off, I realized the shock had killed it and it was lying dead in the bottom of my helmet! I guess you can say I'm a hardheaded woman:o)lol


Gen

[Syv]

Nope - didn't go over to Labrador.

The ferry to Port aux Basques with a dormitory bunkbed was over $100 if I recall. I'm actually planning it again for the coming year & the Marine Atlantic website shows it at $76.50 for a passenger vehicle PLUS $27.00 per person. The dormitory sleeper is $16.00 per person.

I always book an OVERNIGHT ferry so I don't waste precious "seeing stuff" time.