Slowish start and got off to visit with Bernice Dallin at the Manuels River cafeteria. Fun time and when we come back we’ll get to see her garden.

Home to Heather’s for a great lunch without Fred as he flew back to Calgary in the middle of the night. Then took off in a flurry to catch the ferry – last one of the year – to North Sydney. fortunately we have a 2 bunk “stateroom” as it is an overnight (18 hours) voyage.

Have an extra day in St. John’s thanks to the sailing tomorrow instead of today. Went to visit Heather’s father, James Steele, and had a very interesting visit. He turns 85 in October and is a very staunch Newfoundlander…did not want to become part of Canada.

Spent some time in The Rooms looking at art (Mary) and history (Graeme). The art collection was memorable showing the Pratts, to Blackwell and then lesser known artists.

On to the Manuels River for a museum tour, lots of very interesting geology lessons including a detailed discussion of the trilobite beds from 500 million years ago. Walked along the ocean trail and ended up at Heather’s family cottage which Heather is going to rebuild. View across the water to Bell Isle where iron ore was mined.

Went home and devoured Heather’s pan fried cod meal. To die for!

Easy morning and then down to Quidi Vidi for lunch and a walk around. This is a functioning fishing village within the limits of St. John’s. After lunch went to Village Plantation where artists of all descriptions can work and sell their creations.

Went home and had a visit from Heather and Fred’s neighbours. And then the Seaweed Gin took over.

Once again we’re being delayed by the weather gods. Found out that the ferry we are supposed to be on this Saturday has been cancelled and will now sail on Sunday. With just a little luck this is the last water crossing we have to make.

At one point the women of Ferryland were left alone as the men had been called north to fight the French. The women dragged cannons to an island in the middle of the harbour, where sheep now live, and successfully repulsed a French attack of warships.

Made good use of the sunny day. Drove out to Ferryland to the lighthouse for picnic lunch. Ate inside as the wind was furious. Ferryland on the Irish Loop was established by Lord Baltimore in 1621. He later moved a bit south and established….you guessed it…Baltimore, Maryland.

After driving through Maddox Cove and Petty Harbour we went to Cape Speer where the waves were something to see. Cape Speer is the most eastern point in North America.

Dropped Heather at her dad’s and then went to Signal Hill after a brief stop at Middle Cove.

Drove around downtown a bit, visited a gallery and then a bit of a walk about before dinner at Merchants where Heather rejoined our group. The mural below shows St. John’s during the famous fire.

Getting ready for our last Breakfast at Fisher’s Loft and then hit the road for St. John’s. On the way, we went to Dildo for the necessary pictures and then stopped for lunch at Fred’s favourite fish and chips place.

Drove on to St. John’s with a quick stop to collect some essentials: Gin, cheese etc.. Made it to Heather and Fred’s home in Topsail in torrential rain and wind. Now it looks as though there is champagne in the air. Dinner was snack on, snack off with a bit of booze tossed in for good measure.

Drove along the east coast of the Bonavista Peninsula on our way to the Bonavista Social Club where we hoped to have lunch. Along the way we passed through the world’s largest collection of cold cellars and a puffin viewing site at Elliston. Then a very interesting museum of the Mathew which was the boat that John Cabohto sailed in to first landed at Cape Bonavista.

The Social Club was closed so we went back to Trinity for lunch before tackling the Sperwink Trail in high winds and threatening cloud.

Back to the Inn and another wonderful dinner. Celebrating no rain all day!

Packed up after two nights in Terra Nova and set out for our rendezvous with Heather and Fred. Tried to get breakfast in Charlottetown and Port Blandford but nothing was open. Went along through Lethbridge, Southern Bay and Plate Cove East on our way to the end of the road at Tickle Cove on the west side of the Bonavista Peninsula.

Then high tailed it down a gravel road to Port Rexton and the Fisher’s Loft Inn where we met Heather and Fred and went over to Trinity where we had some lunch and later cocktails.

Drinks and dinner of layered cod pie at Fisher’s Loft Inn and braved torrential rain on the way back to our rooms.

Spent the morning drying out from the downpour in Miramishi. When I opened the tent bag, about a cup and a half of water flowed out onto the ground. It’s good to clean/dry house once in a while to get rid of the water and critters.

Went back to Glovertown for some supplies and lunch at the White Caps Cafe.

Then took a very leisurely drive to Eastport and the end of the road at Salvage where we walked a trail and met some lovely people. Salvage is an active fishing village on a part of Bonavista Bay.

Then we had another night in the Oasis after a steak dinner.

Happy birthday Ross. Wherever you are.

Frost on the ground this morning. Left Bishops Falls and drove up to Farewell where we would catch the ferry to Fogo Island but the times were all wrong. We proceeded back south to Gander Bay and started a tour through Carmanville, Musgrave Harbour, Lumsden, Centreville, Gambo and Glovertown on our way to Terra Nova National Park where we want to stay for two nights.

Stopped and had a little snack at place called Muggees for squid rings and met Delilah who has never been off the island.

After all the excitement we carried on to a great campground in Terra Nova National Park. Tried a new experience staying in an “Oasis”.

Somehow our wishes have been answered even though it’s Friday the 13th! Fog early in the morning but when it burned off….bright blue skies and sunny and it lasted for the entire day.

Drove through Lewisport to Boyd’s Cove and visited the extremely interesting Beothuk Interpretive Center. The Beothuk were a society that used ochre to cover themselves, hence the colloquial name “red skins”, and were inhabitants of this part of Newfoundland prior to Europeans arriving on the scene. A combination of disease, competition with Europeans and starvation resulted in the society becoming extinct in the early 19th century.

We then went up around Summerford and had lunch at the most delightful spot so far. Mary had a seafood chowder and I had a crab (caught this morning) sandwich on a soft kaiser with home fries and a St. John’s beer.

After lunch we proceeded to Twillingate where we went to a museum of the life in that particular outport. Not my favourite but we did find out about an opera singer from Twillingate, Georgina Sterling, who travelled to Paris to study and audition. She adopted the stage name of Marie Toulinguet when she was singing in the Paris Grand Opera. Later in her career she damaged her voice and was unable to return to the operatic stage.

Later went to the lighthouse at the end of the road in Twillingate.

And then passed by a famous provincial park on the way back to Bishop’s Falls.