Up to the top of the North Arm

We left Gros Morne on another grey foggy day and headed north to our stop for the night, Port au Choix. First stop though was at Cow Head, there’s a yarn shop there that Cathy wanted to visit. We got there a bit early so took advantage of the time and had a short hike out to an old lighthouse. Built of cast iron in the 1909, it in operation until 1960 when it started to fall into disrepair. It was refurbished by the town in 2002 with the help of a provincial grant and is now listed as a municipal heritage property. Nice walk through the woods and we did see a couple of fox up on a rocky ledge. When we started to walk up there, one of them got up and barked at us and just stared! We assumed they had kits around so we left them in peace.

We’d reserved a site at the Oceanside RV park in Port au Choix, run by the local Lions Club. All their serviced sites were filled by very large RV’s, almost all from the same club, and most from the southern states. We were glad to be parked away from them, facing the ocean! When we got there, it was strongly suggested we catch the show at the French Bread Bakery in town. They have a tradional outdoor oven, made in the same way they were made in the 1700’s when the French were allowed to fish this part of Newfoudland by the Treaty of Utrecht. They could not set up permanent settlements, but could erect temporary structures for the fishing season. The ovens were built from the ballast stones in their ships. The ballast wasn't needed on the return trip as they would be loaded down with salt cod. The story teller was great until he went off on a tangential rant about the shutdown of the cod fishery in 1992. His rant lasted longer than the story about the bread ovens and the French settlement of the coast. Great bread, interesting story about the ovens, but not recommended for a visit because of the extended rant. Come about an hour after the scheduled start time, and you can by the buns that were fresh baked.

We left early and had breakfast at the best breakfast place in Port au Choix, actually the only place open for breakfast in Port Au Choix, at the Sunset View Motel. Coffee and 2 partridgeberry muffins for $4.99, good deal!

The drive north was smokey (there is a large and serious wildfire burning in Labrador that is threatening Labrador City), and foggy. We stopped at Flower’s Cove to take a short walk to see the Thrombolites. Thrombolites are built by micro-organisms that resemble the earliest form of life on earth from 3.5 billion to 650 million years ago. These are “living” rocks and the micro-organisms that build them are endangered. Interesting short walk and loved learning something new!

Oddly enough, after leaving Flower’s Cove, you drive though Savage Cove. Love the place names here! We did finally see a couple of young moose on the side of the highway as we headed north but they chose the right option and bolted into the bush, and not across the road in front of us!

We made it to St. Anthony at the top of the North Arm by 11:30. A short stop at the visitor centre and then off the laundromat. Lunch in the van waiting for the laundry and then off to grocery store before heading back to Pistolet Bay Provincial Park, our home for the next 3 nights. Nice small park, 30 sites in total, and our campsite gives a fantastic view of the setting sun. Ran into another VW Westfalia couple from Nova Scotia touring the North Arm for a couple of weeks. We compared notes on our van owning experience, quite similar.

Our first full day here, Canada Day, started with our traditional Canada Day breakfast, pancakes, bacon, and maple syrup! The rest of the day was about the Viking history in the area. In the early 1960’s, an area at the top of the North Arm called L’Anse aux Meadows was found to have clear evidence of a permanent Viking settlement in Newfoundland. The area is now a National Historical Site and a UNESCO Wold Heritage Site. The National Park Service has re-created the buildings found by the archeological dig near where the original buildings were. The staff/interpreters onsite act in the role of the viking settlers, and let visitors know what life was like 1,100 years ago. Very interesting and one place I’ve wanted to visit in Canada for a long time. It was absolutely worth it! It didn’t hurt that we visited on Canada Day, and the Visitor Centre was honouring the day by providing visitors with a small slice of Canada Day Cake! Load up on sugar and walk around a Viking settlement.

It was a beautiful day, and warm enough most of the time for only a t-shirt, a first for our time here! We took a 3 km coastal walk and saw our first iceberg of the trip, along with a very cool little fairy village that reminded me of our time in Twizel New Zealand earlier this year. We should see more icebergs tomorrow when we head out on a 2 1/2 hour boat tour looking for icebergs, whales, and Puffins! According the Iceberg Tracker on Cathy‘s phone, there are a few more around the area we’re heading to on the boat.

Next stop on the day was the Norstead Tourist Attraction. They have a re-created Viking village and also house a full scale replica of the Viking Ship Snorri that re-created Leif Erikson’s journey here 1100 years ago. The Snoori landed in Canada after an 87 day trip in September 1998. The ship was built in Maine from Norwegian Pine and other than the of some use of modern tools for some of the planks to reduce wattage, it was constructed using methods from 1100 years ago, soft iron rivets, wooden nails, and lots of hand hewn wood! It’s a square rigged knarr and is inspired by ships from ther Byzantine Empire. 1100 years ago, it was the only type of ship capable of an open ocean voyage to North America, something Europeans wouldn’t do until nearly 500 years later. Recorded history from Norway has Erikson traveling as far as New Brunswick in Eastern Canada. He encountered the local indigenous peoples including the Innu, Beothuk, and Mi’kmaq and quickly realized there were a lot more of them than there were Vikings and left the area!

In the main building, the interpreters were busy making cloth, doing single needle knitting, explaining how chores and meals were allocated by the chief and his wife. The chief managed the work of the men, and his wife managed the work of the woman. They had a hearty breakfast after morning chores, then a substantial dinner once the sun was down. If anyone was caught not doing their assigned work, they were not allowed dinner. I don’t imagine you wanted to get caught more than once!

Our last stop of the day was the Dark Tickle shop for coffee and piece off partridge berry carrot cake. Indulgent but really yummy!