Vacation Installment #3: Icebergs & Cemetaries

Wednesday June 20th had us driving from Badger to Twillingate...up "The Road to the Isles".
A bit of history for you...in the 19th century, Twillingate was a stop over point for the floater fishery, the term applied to fishermen from eastern Newfoundland who sailed to Labrador each summer to catch and cure cod. They were called floaters because they often lived aboard their boats for the whole summer. Twillingate's economic importance gradually faded during the 20th century, but rose again with tourism after the causeways were built. Tour boats take visitors from the town to see icebergs.

We tried to get out on a boat tour on Wednesday (and Thursday as well) but we couldn't. We thought the tour boats weren't going out because of the fog, but it was actually because the ocean was too rough. The waves were 20 feet high! We had some very interesting conversations with both tour boat operators...love their accents.

Here is a photo of our first iceberg siting from shore...a little foggy:

We drove out to the lighthouse, which is located on huge cliffs, but it was so foggy, we couldn't even see down to the water!

We enjoyed the Twillingate Dinner Theatre...7 talented people who cook and serve dinner, and then perform a 90 minute show filled with songs and skits. We stayed for the night at the Hillside Bed & Breakfast...hosted by the very friendy Wynston & Wavey.

I'd love to get back to Twillingate again sometime...and see it without fog! I was extremely disappointed that we couldn't get out in a boat tour to see the icebergs, but it worked out for the best. You'll read about our zodiac adventure in a later post...something we wouldn't have done if we had already gone out in a standard boat tour.

Next day, we checked with the boat operators again but they weren't going out. They had been docked for 3 days because of weather...a big loss of business for a business that only operates 90 days each year.

So, we headed off to our next destination....Glovertown. This was an easy drive, and we arrived at our bed & breakfast at 3pm. A lovely place run by Keith (originally from England) called The Lilac Inn.

I loved this old house...maintained and restored beautifully and filled with antiques from England. There was even a full sized rocking horse in the hall. (maybe five feet high by six feet long...the rocking horse, not the hall!)

Here's a photo from inside the house. Isn't this painting beautiful? And it's painted right on the stairwell...it's not a framed painting!

Keith suggested we take a tour down to Salvage, a 20 minute drive out to the coast. So, we were off.

Once we arrived in Salvage, a little fishing town, we parked the car and hiked up to the lookout. This was quite a steep climb...one that had us both pausing a couple of times to "take in the view" (aka "take a break"). Here are a couple of views from the top:

On the left, out to the ocean (with an iceberg in the background). On the right, the view into Salvage. (the hills are shrouded in fog)

At the lookout, there was a sign posted:

What else is there to do but climb up this round knob to look out over the harbour for incoming boats and ice? This lookout also provides a view of Burden's Point, Doctor's Pond, and the oldest cemetary in Salvage.

Settlers first came to Burden's Point as it was a good area for drying fish and had favourable wind blowing down the harbour. The fish flakes are no longer here but you can still see the cemetary dating back to the 1700s and the heritage house currently not occupied.

Then some words that couldn't be read, ending with:

were the last to leave Burden's Point in 1971. Today, a boardwalk around Doctor's Pond provides access to the Point. The famous Dr. Mac who was know for his dedication to outport medicine as much as he was known for his strong liking to a drop of scotch is the namesake of Doctor's Pond.

So I decided that I had to go take a look at the cemetary dating back to the 1700s. John didn't want to take another hike, so he stayed at the lookout. I had to trek back down the hill from the lookout, and then take these trails to get to the cemetary (marked by me with white arrows)

Maybe not the best decision for 4:30pm. I started off and hiked for 5 minutes. I reached a clearing and looked out. The cemetary seemed miles and miles away! I debated with myself, but decided to go on. I really wanted to see this old cemetary. I hiked for another 5 to 10 minutes and stumbled across a cemetary! Obviously not the one I had headed for, but it was tucked away on the hillside with no view to the ocean. It obviously hadn't been cared for in a while. I stopped to take a look. The oldest stone I could find was from the 1850s. The most recent was 1957. It was a very peaceful spot, and sad that it seemed forgotten.

I spent some time wondering about the people. I'm not a person who enjoys going to museums but I do spend a lot of time thinking about the people of the past and how they lived and died. Then it popped into my mind that John might be getting a little worried about his hiker, so I headed back. I stopped at the clearing to look up to the lookout to see if I could spot John (using the zoom lens on my camera). Just as I was about to yell I heard him yell across the valley "Sara, are you there?". We often have moments of mind communication like this...I guess it comes from spending so much time together. (13 years, 24 hours a day) So I waved my arms and yelled back "Can you see me?". He spotted me, and I carried on. When I reached the lookout he explained that he had been watching the boardwalk for me to come out and when I didn't he started to worry. (you can't see it, but it's in the centre of the photo on the right marked with the white arrow)

All's well that ends well, but I didn't get out to the old cemetary. It turns out that the hike went a different direction and was 6 kilometres long. I'm resolved...if we ever get back to Newfoundland...I'm going to Salvage in the morning so I have the time to make the trek out to the old cemetary and back.

We stopped at The Lounge in Salvage for a drink. Their tourist season doesn't begin until July, so we had the place to ourselves. John loves to talk and ask questions so we had a great talk with the bar tender and cook (both female). One of the interesting things we found out...Newfoundlanders slow down their speech when they talk to "mainlanders". They told us that we wouldn't be able to understand them if they spoke the same way with us that they speak to each other. We learned that this was quite true the next day when we stopped at a tea/coffee shop and talked with the locals. We could understand them completely when they talked with us, but when they had a conversation between themselves we couldn't understand a word! Yes, they were speaking English but they have quite heavy accents to our ears.

Anyway, the manager (also a worker at the fish plant) and a man came in and joined us and we talked to them for a while (well, John talked and I listened). It was all quite interesting. This is what we love to do...talk to the locals and go to the places they go to. We would have stayed longer, but had to leave to find some dinner before things shut down for the night.

Next: puffins and lots of icebergs heading for St. John's