This year we went back to Bonavista for our staycation, thanks to winning a silent auction for a two night stay at By Da Bay Inn in Plate Cove West. It was a good way to finish up a week of vacation, especially coming back on a Sunday and having Monday off! The weather was fine, except for a rainstorm overnight on Friday. The sun was warm, the sky was (mostly) blue with just enough white fluffy clouds to make a good comparison.
We traveled so many side roads to small towns, that by the end of the trip they were all looking much the same and it was harder to find a unique photo to take. There were many wharves hovering over and rising above the sea; some were brightly painted and deliberately cheerful, while others were merely functional and sometimes looked a little worn for wear. After reviewing the more than 400 photos from my flash card, I opted to let some of those just live on in my memory, rather than devote electronic space to it.
This trip could almost be defined by birds. We saw a ton of birds. On Friday, along the road in Bellevue near a small pebble beach, there was a small brown bird that had somehow learned how to hover much like a hummingbird. It held itself suspended just to the left of some shrubs when we first spotted it, before darting here and there among the shrubs, looking for tasty bugs to snack on. I was unable to capture a good still image of it before it darted away again. That is one of the images I will keep only in my mind.
We drove out on Random Island to another town, Aspey Brook I believe, and stopping at the end of the line to turn around we were treated with a flash and a glimpse of a white headed eagle, darting away. I tracked it with my camera and only succeeded in capturing a distant blurry figure between the boughs of a tree as it fled the scene.
The next morning after breakfast, we headed north on our planned loop around the top of the Peninsula. Each little offshoot from route 235 we drove down led to another little town, docks and wharves around a bay, some with beaches, some with cliffs. Some with new houses replacing the old, others abandoning the old houses to their meadows and rebuilding further down the road.
From Knights Cove to Amherst Cove to Birchy Cove the road dipped in and out of the communities. Churches were much in evidence, some were single church towns, others had two or even three different denominations. Many of them had their own graveyards; the ones with a mix of old and new headstones were better maintained than many of the older ones, tall grasses and fallen down fences indicated neglect. We wondered where the families were, if they had all died off and left no one to pay their respects, or if they had moved away to better fortunes, leaving their homes behind to suffer a similar fate.
Arriving in Bonavista, we were finally able to have the lunch we couldn’t find on last year’s visit several months after the first Covid lockdown. We arrived at PK’s Takeout at the end of the lunch rush, and had the dining room to ourselves to finish eating. We chatted with our helpful waitress about the upcoming filming in Newfoundland of the next Peter Pan movie and different things to see in the area. She was from Spillars Cove and she suggested we drive out there – previous diners had told her they had mistakenly drove past Spillars Cove looking for Elliston, but it had ended up being the best part of their trip. She said she didn’t even know about the scenery there, even though she had lived there all her life. It really is true that people are seldom tourists in their own country.
On the way to the Bonavista lighthouse next, we passed a farm and of course, we stopped for pictures of the horses and barns. Onwards sat the large, square and squat lighthouse, red and white striped against the blue sky like a dream of primary colours. Inukshuks were scattered across the rocky cliffs, erected by hikers and visitors. Perhaps they were inspired, or maybe overwhelmed, by the wide open horizon and yearned to anchor themselves against the scene before them. Large or small, they were monuments to the passage of people and time.
From there it was on to the aforementioned Spillars Cove through the Dungeon Provincial Park, where we walked across the top of the sea arches, and I admired the contrast of wild roses growing on the cliff, pink against the darker backdrop of rock face and water. In Spillars Cover we spotted a lily pond, sea stacks, and more seabirds (including a family of puffins). The puffins favour the high cliff tops where people can’t reach them, so these photos were taken from a distance.
Leaving there, we headed back in the general direction of the hotel. Down the highway to Catalina, where a very quiet two lane road led across the peninsula to join the highway just below Amherst Cove. Turning left, we took the road leading through Kings Cove and Duntara, to Keels. In King’s Cove were a church and squid jigger boats. It was getting towards supper, so based on the information we had from the hotel owners, we made our way towards Keels, where there was a small cafe overlooking the harbour. Keels is an old settlement, which has been used for fishing for over 400 years. Being late in the day when we arrived, supplies were low at the cafe so we settled on pea soup for supper. It was quite dusk when we left, so we drove a little past the store where we could see the cottages of summertime visitors, still boarded up, whose owners were unable or unwilling to come yet this year due to Covid travel restrictions.
The next day was time to head home. Heading back down the highway, we came to Summerville. There was the usual wharf, but at the end of the road some old houses inspired us to get out and walk Buddy a bit along the path leading behind them. Found blueberries, raspberries and saskatoons to munch on. And an old wooden white cross – no idea if anyone is buried there, or if it was meant to mark the place where someone had died. Respects paid, and moved on.
The trip back was intended to pass through as many of the little towns as possible. The names were intriguing, hinting at connections with other parts of the world – Lethbridge led us up a small dead-end road towards Brooklyn and Portland. There were a couple of interesting houses, and quite a contrast in their condition. What determines whether a house will be well-cared for, or even embellished, and whether it will be abandoned and forlorn. There were actually many of the latter, and it made my heart a bit sad because you could tell they would have had stories to tell if they could talk. I can only assume it comes down to money and the ability to make a living in these relatively isolated communities.
We drove for about an hour down this highway, and noticed that the land seemed quite suitable for farming. On one stretch there were even a few vineyards. In Jamestown, we spotted a particularly interesting looking church. I may have already said, but most of the little towns had churches and graveyards for at least two denominations. Funny how people maintain distinctions/separations from each other through their lives and even after their deaths. We turned around rather than continuing on to Winter Brook, since we were both getting a bit tired of driving by that point and wanted to make it home by supper.
We took one last loop road before heading back to the Trans-Canada, passing through Blundon’s Siding, Bloomfield, Musgravetown, Bunyan’s Cove and to Port Blandford. In Port Blandford we stopped to look at the old T’Railway bridge, saw the nearby heritage display. Haven’t seen a train bridge that big since I was last in Ontario. Good image to mark the end of the trip.
There are always pictures that don’t seem to fit into the narrative, but that I really love for one reason or another – so sharing them here, in random order…
