Friday | Aug. 21, 2015 @ 8:00pm
This morning we woke up at 4:30am, took down the tent and made for the Labrador Ferry. It was quite dark out which made taking down the tent interesting. Once we got on the road there wasn’t much of note that happened and not much to see as it was dark. We got to the ferry terminal and paid for the crossing then went and got in line. We had to wait a while because we had shown up early…mostly because we didn’t have a reservation and we wanted to make sure we got on. And the ferry was pretty full so I imagine showing up early was the right decision. This ferry operation seemed quite a bit unorganized when compared with the last one. It took a while to unload all the vehicles and then it took them a while to jostle all the vehicles together with the transport trucks when loading them. It was pretty foggy so we really couldn’t see much once we were underway. After exploring the various decks of the ship, we sat down in the lounge near the front. It was decently rough out and at one point a wave actually washed up over the bow of the boat and hit the windows of the lounge. Otherwise the journey wasn’t of much interest and I napped for a bit with my head on a table since I was tired from the early morning wake up.
We arrived and drove off the ferry without much fanfare. It was incredibly foggy out and we couldn’t see much. We stopped by the information centre in l’Anse du Clair and asked about the weather. It looked like it was going to continue the same way all day…which was kind of disappointing because I was looking forward to seeing the scenery on the way to Red Bay. We stopped at a grocery store for supplies and then had a coffee. It was still foggy so we carried on. As we drove, I was a little bit down because we couldn’t see any of the scenery at all. But as we went further it wasn’t long before most of the fog cleared up. It was then we could see the most amazing scene ahead of us. It was rocky, tundra like hills, with long views where we could see the road snaking off into the distance. Add the small fishing villages and the sandy beaches, and these were the best sights I’ve seen yet on this trip. The fog was still there in some spots, but it served to enhance the scenery and made it look better.
We arrived in Red Bay and were greeted with an amazing sight of the village on the hills surrounding the bay, with gentle fog rolling across it. After taking a bunch of pictures, we stopped by the visitor center. It was crawling with people who had come over in tour buses on the ferry. We stopped to ask some questions about campgrounds and cabins, but otherwise we quickly moved on and will return tomorrow.
The place I had planned to camp wasn’t all that good, so we headed back along the road to the Pinware River Provincial Park. After setting up camp, we drove back along the road to get some cell service. I called Battle Harbour to figure out if they did day trips since we weren’t as sure about staying the night with the expensive cost of it. I was given the number of someone else who did day trips. So I called him and we will be going there for the afternoon tomorrow.
After dinner we decided to explore the beach near the campground. It is crazy windy, which I’m told is abnormal. The sand was blowing across the beach and stung our legs as we walked. There were a ton of seagulls out at sea, diving and catching fish. The waves were pretty ferocious as well. There were some sand dunes along the edge and we found some sea shells. All in all it was one of the nicer beaches I’ve seen, although it would be nice to return sometime when it’s not as windy.
And now we are at the campground considering the thought of trying to sleep in a tent that is blowing around like crazy. Fun times. At this point I’m completely blown away by Labrador…I was already expecting a lot and it had been more than I thought it would be.
The Narrow Twisty Road 