Day 19--Wreckhouse Wrecks

Day 19—Wednesday, June 30
Port aux Basques to Corner Brook, NL
224 mi

Got up this morning to fierce cold wind and rain. We decided NOT to camp on the bike ride. Suz is a novice cyclist on an veteran's trip, and with weather conditions this fierce, it will be a real trial to get some rest on a cold, windy, rainy campground . . . to say nothing of the vicious blackflies that are everywhere and drawing blood. So, we sat down with our itinerary and booked ourselves into motels and B&B’s and cabins for the 10-day duration of the ride.

It was pouring so hard this morning when we checked out of the Radio Station Inn at 10 o’clock that water was flowing down the steep driveway like a mini falls. We were soaked before we could get from the Inn to the car. 

Before we left, Alex stopped in and we said good-bye. He told us where to find a used book store in town and also told us to be sure to stop at the Welcome Center. We did both. I bought a Newfoundland flower field guide at the book store, and we both stocked up on Canada Day flags, pins, and stickers, as well as maps of NL.

Obviously an Internet photo of  the  Port aux Basques Visitor's Center; we had yet to see this much blue sky

Somebody liked to whittle

Church in Port aux Basques through the rain splattered windshield

At the welcome Center, we were told to go to Codroy to visit the Museum and Interpretative Center there and also to bird the valley as it had piping plovers and other species of interest. 

Everyone told us to drive carefully because of the wind, which was 98 kph (60mph) at Wreckhouse. A trucker entered the Visitor’s Center to get the latest wind report and was told not to drive the TCH through Wreckhouse. Of course it is the only route, so he had to cool his heels. The fierce wind had blown over a semi which, when we passed, lay in the ditch, wheels to the sky like an upended turtle (middle photo below). When we got past Wreck House, we encountered a line of trucks and RVs waiting for the winds to calm a bit before they attempted that section of the TCH. I was very nervous about the bikes on the back of our Volvo, but miraculously, they made it without being blown to Greenland. Below are a couple of Internet pix of Wreckhouse wrecks blown off the road.

We stopped at the recommended museum but it was a $7 entry fee and nothing but a tin building and deserted putt-putt course. We decided we’d rather see live than stuffed animals, so continued on to the Interpretative Center where the girl (she looked 12 but claimed to be 41) told us how to find the piping plover nesting beaches.

When we got to the beach, we got out and walked it for only a very short stretch because the wind was fierce. It was very tough walking against it and cold at our backs. We decided that the plovers would all be hunkered down out of sight, anyway.

The wind at Wreck House whipping the surface of the water

This was to be the piping plover  nesting beach but the wind was too strong to walk it; we figured the birds would be taking shelter also

Little one-lane bridge to the piping plover nesting beach

A lightened photo of  the bridge from the piping plover beach

After this we drove to the point and the Anguille Lighthouse which is now an inn. We walked around the Holy Trinity Anglican Church and its cemetery.

Anguille  Lighthouse, now an inn

Suz battling the wind and trying to stay warm while walking among the white tombstones

Detail of one of the church's tombstones

Then with the clouds lowering and the wind roaring, we scooted up the TCH to Corner Brook and our B&B, Belle’s Inn, run by Gordon and his two teenagers who live in the back. He’s nice but a bit flaky.

Belle's Inn B & B in Corner Brook

Not having to camp, meant not having to take all of our gear on the ride with us, so we sifted and sorted. I reduced things to my backpack and fanny pack and left the rest in the car. Suz whittled her things down considerably also. She was feeling rocky, so took a couple of muscle relaxants for a migraine and then became woozy and nauseated. After we got our gear to the room, we grocery shopped for dinner, picking up deli salads, corn on the cob, and a few other odds and ends in Dominion Grocery—lots of fresh produce! Corner Brook is NL’s western mecca for food and other necessities.

After dinner I sat at the d.r table and worked on my journal. Suz tried to use her computer but gave up and went up to the room to shower and to rest. This B & B, like the Radio Station Inn, is a large house that we have (almost) solely to ourselves. While there are a couple of other guests, they and we make our own meals and share the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Occasionally Gordon or one of his kids appears and grabs a box of cereal or the salt or some other item they need but don't have on their side of the house.