Ride Day 8—Raliegh on Ha Ha Bay

RT Day 26—Friday, July 9th
St Barbe to Raleigh on Ha Ha Bay
81.64 miles
Burnt Cape Cabins

Tour Guide Description: We turn northeast along the top of Newfoundland. A long lonely stretch of Newfoundland's northern interior barrens lies between us and Pistolet Bay. The vegetation and conditions here resemble that of Canada's north tundra. A diversion allows us to go to the far northern tip of Newfoundland. This, the longest day of our tour, goes through a wilderness area, services along our route will vary. The usual prevailing tailwind should lessen the effort in rounding the tip of the island. As done every day, and again for this long day, we will be offering rides in our support vehicle for anyone desiring to shorten the distance. We camp in an attractive forest setting.

Knowing that it was to be a long day, I was bucking for an early start so that we could get in earlier than we have been and have some time to look around before eating and falling into bed. Suz had never ridden this distance before and had doubts about her ability to do it. We had a long stretch of tundra with no services on it, so we both packed big lunches (pb&j and banana sandwiches) and several bars/crackers. We have not been supported consistently, so Suz also packed extra water and extra clothes, too.

We spent considerable time getting ourselves waterproofed and organized, but still managed to eat breakfast and get out of Dockside and on the road by 7 am. We left the ACC water jug, our food boxes, and all of our things in our room for the staff to load onto the truck.

It was thickly foggy, riders disappearing into the fog not feet away. I hoped that my blinking front white light and red helmet and rear lights would alert vehicles to my presence.

Suz struggling to keep her glasses clear

There were several of these "woodstacks" along today's route. That's the ocean just visible in the background.

Another  wooden building along the route--an unusual sight except in towns.

I pedaled off and then looked back. Suz was nowhere in sight. I waited a bit and then rode back. Suz was riding slowly, barely turning the cranks, and looking so glum that I assumed she found the prospect of riding so many miles too daunting. I told her that she didn’t need to ride if she didn’t want to, meaning that I didn’t mind riding alone and she could sag if she wanted to. (Later this came back at me during one of our arguments as being something hateful to say. All I was trying to do was be considerate and comforting though I'm sure the tone of my voice revealed my impatience.)

I started off in too many layers (sports bra, long-sleeved Under Armour® shirt, cycling jersey, raincoat, plastic raincoat), so stripped off the plastic raincoat and pushed up the sleeves of my Under Armour and raincoat. The fog was so dense that the hairs on my arms were soon white with tiny water droplets.



We followed the coast north for the first 20 miles or so, past the tiny towns of Anchor Point, Deadman’s Cove, Bear Cove, Flower’s Cove (this was the site of the grocery pick-up, but the grocery was closed when we got there at 8:20), Nameless Cove, Savage Cove, Sandy Cove, Shoal Cove East, Green Island Cove, Green Island Brook, and finally Eddies Cove where Hwy 430 turned east to cross the tundra.

When we turned east at Eddies Cove, Barbara caught up with us and rode with us for a bit before resuming her own pace. Marshall and three other riders were ahead of us. At first when we turned, we thought we had lost our strong tailwind, but a few jigs in the road brought it back and we sailed along, climbing some hills at 18 to 22 mph. What larks!

We crossed many rivers, wind whipped to foam, and stopped at the jct of 430 and 432 across from St Anthony’s Airport, which was a good distance off the road, to eat our lunch. We put our backs to the airport sign posts to block some of the wind while we ate.

Harvested area near the airport; we are across the road snacking under the airport sign

While we were eating our roadside lunch, Barry of the BUNS rode up. He thought that we were supposed to turn right onto 432 because he had about 70 km on his computer. He was confusing kilometers with miles, something I had done on the second day, if you remember. Actually, we were not supposed to turn until we hit mile 70 and then onto 436/437. Good thing he did not turn. Hwy 432 would have taken him south along the east coast. After getting himself straightened out, he decided to pedal to the airport for a cup of coffee. We continued on, joyful to have such a tailwind.

Wood cut from under the power lines ready for pickup in the gravel pit

About 10 miles later, we stopped in a gravel pit to eat our second pb&j and banana sandwich. We chose the gravel pit because it had fewer blackflies, which are the major pest we’ve encountered on the ride.

I turned over one of the wooden sleds that Newfoundlanders use to haul wood so that an exhausted Suz could have a seat

At the gravel pit, Suz discovered that her plastic raincoat had ripped. She tried to mend it--to no avail--with the electrical tape I carry. After working on it for several minutes, she had a large, crosshatched patch devised. However, when she stepped away from the coat, it blew into some shrubs, leaving the patch behind. My $2 raincoat gave up the ghost yesterday. They are designed for one wear, I think.

A better view of the roadside gardens; in this photo one can see how close to the road they were

Workhorse sled

The roadsides are yellow with buttercups. We saw a caribou sign but no sign of caribou. They lie on the low tundra and are difficult to spot. We also passed a place where the wind had scoured the rocks of all topsoil. It looked like a dry rocky lake in all directions. Someone had constructed a Inuksuk there out of the rocks (see yellow circle in photo below). Inuksuk means “likeness of person” and was first used by the Inuit to mark trails and food caches, and to locate nearby settlements, and good places to hunt or fish.

Not too far before our turn to the cabin, I was soaring along with the wind when Andrew stopped the van ahead. He got out to see if we needed anything. As I sailed past giving him the thumb’s up, he shouted that we were way ahead of most of the other riders. No wonder. We were trying to put some miles behind us, had started early, and had a strong tailwind, making us almost as strong as the younger riders.

When we turned onto 437 to Raleigh, however, we got a taste of what the day would have been like with a strong headwind. It was like putting on the brakes, and our muscles immediately began screaming! It probably took us as long to cover these last hilly 10 miles as to cover 20 miles with the tailwind. Nonetheless, we finally arrived in Raleigh, another tiny town, at 2:30 pm. We stopped at the grocery where we registered for our cabin. I bought a can of chicken noodle soup and ate it cold with a couple of Triscuits and cream cheese for dinner. Two pb&j-plus-banana sandwiches was really too much on the road, even for an 80-mile day. 

Our cabin was small but nice with knotty pine interior and a super shower which I did not want to get out of. We are at the foot of Ha Ha Bay near the Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve. There was a loon swimming placidly at water’s edge. Cold, gray, and raw out, however, and very windy. Probably in the low fifties or high forties. We were glad not to be camping. A couple of other riders opted for a cabin here, too.

Suz and the bikes before "lucky" Cabin 7

Gary and Ed blew in at 7, quickly shutting the cabin door and glad for the warmth. Tomorrow we’ll bike past our motel in St Lunaire, continue on to L’Anse aux Meadows, and then return to the motel. Only 34 miles total if we take no side trips.