This is ony a picture of what the people had to do back in the day to rescue folks shipwrecked on these rocky shores.
We had to backtrack somewhat on our way to the Irish Loop and Portugal Cove South because the highway we wanted to take was gravel. Only about 40 kilometres but we had a rental car and didnt want to take any chances. However, taking the TCH had one benefit. It took us past Salmonier Nature Park which started as an environmental education centre but has a tourist destination. A boardwalk took us through some very interesting exhibits including many animals that had been injured and were recuperating in a setting as natural as could be made. There even was a section dedicated to animals that were now extinct like the Great Auk. It was a setting totally different from what we had been used to. This park is in the interior of The Rock so there were no beaches and water views. Quite a change.
As we headed south on the Loop, the weather took a turn for the worse. We hadnt eaten since breakfast and hadnt found anywhere to have lunch until we got to Trepassey. Just as the skies opened, we found the Edge of Avalon Inn which included a really nice
dining room. The special of the day was beef stew which was perfect considering the turn in the weather. The staff was wonderful, and we really enjoyed the experience. Dianne couldnt finish her stew so she asked if she could have a container to take the rest home. Sure, my darling! replied the server and, when she returned, that she had added a bit more stew and included another bun and some butter! We had a few more laughs and Dianne even got a hug from the server. Another bonus was the skies had cleared during our hiatus.
Dianne had booked us into The Stages, a small grouping of dwellings much the same as the stages used to process the cod in the old days. The bay as right across the street and it would have been great to sit on the deck and watch the sun go down, except for the weather. But it was fun to storm watch. The units were and we quite enjoyed ours. The main
reason for being here was to make the trek to Mistaken Point and the fossil beds. It got its name because the point was often mistaken for Cape Race and many ships paid a big price. We were surprised how many people showed up for the guided hike. We thought tourist season was over. While we waited for all the people who had registered to turn up, we toured the interpretation centre. Some interesting displays. One showed them lowering a chap down the cliff face to rescue some people who had been shipwrecked. One of the guides said her had been one of the people who had done that. She said that was just what people had to do back in the day. You must drive to the start of the hike in your own vehicle, so we formed up behind the guides vehicle and set off. It was quite a road which did include some gravel, some potholes, three one lane bridges and at least one 18% hill. Once we had our vehicles parked, we headed off
over the tundra, or what looked like tundra to us. It was about three kilometres over a slightly rolling landscape to the edge of the sea. It would have been shorter but the bridge they used to use was washed out in a recent storm. Foreshadowing? The guides took small groups onto the rock faces that had been thrust up at about 45 degree angles. The surfaces were smooth and contained several thousand fossils that date back millions of year. Pretty impressive.
The next morning, as we headed north towards St Johns, we passed through several small towns until we came to Ferryland. Lord Baltimore founded a colony here in the 1600s before he moved south to the area in the U.S. where there is a city named after him. There werent any coffee shops around so we had to have something in a large restaurant where we were the first customers. We had to wait while they made a fresh pot of coffee but that is a good thing. Refreshed, we set off to walk around town.
