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Newfoundland via the Translabrador highway
- Thread starter Rotten_Ronnie
- Start date
stormcat
Well-known member
Along the TCH, the longest stretch between gas stations is around 100 kms, I believe. There isn't much at all in the interior of the island. I.e., not even many roads. There are no KTM dealerships. But Coastal Marine in Mount Pearl used to sell some KTM. Not sure if they still do or not.
We made it to Port Hope Simpson with a couple of mishaps, I had a wee get off mid corner on the gravel at about 70kph 20km north of Manic Cinq and modified my front , bruised my wrist, knee and ego. One of these will never recover. We had another rider high side at low speed crossing an eight inch high berm and bruise a couple of her bits. Another toppled in soft sand trying to get the kickstand down. Yet another had a zero speed tip over when he tried climbing a ditch out from in front of the hvgb sign where we'd all posed with our bikes for "THE" shot. One rider has yet to fall off of the five. Tat2! That means you're not pushing the edge and you can go faster! 
The weather is far colder than I was expecting, so I brought a few super light MX shirts instead of heavier ones.It's working out, I'm enjoying the trip and the team it builds while riding. We saw two bears so far, no Caribou at all! And the Moose were in hiding with them. Cheers for now.
The weather is far colder than I was expecting, so I brought a few super light MX shirts instead of heavier ones.It's working out, I'm enjoying the trip and the team it builds while riding. We saw two bears so far, no Caribou at all! And the Moose were in hiding with them. Cheers for now.Great RR Ronnie, Hope you aren't too sore in ego and wrist.
Thanks for the update. You really do like going South or East....
Thanks for the update. You really do like going South or East....
Heh heh. One of these days I'd love to get out to California and do the PCH and interior BC, but this was the last Eastern Province to scratch off the bucket list and a great ADVRide as well with friends. We conquered the Trans Lab yesterday and rode back onto pavement in Red Bay Labrador, where is was an easy run down to the ferry at Blanc Sablon where we met Paul and Lori who invited us to camp out in their heated Garage in St. Lunaire-Grigoet Newfoundland. We woke up to a home cooked breakfast and then Paul took us out into the bay on his boat where we were able to touch one of the many icebergs in the bay, then we watched his wife lori jigging for cod and come up with three fish in as many minutes, none big enough to keep so they were tossed back.He has a four legged visitor to his property, as moose will come out of the woods and snack on Lori's lilac bushes. In fact we saw two males just off his driveway, then a doe and two calves and the mother crossing the road. Moose were introduced to the island in 1904 as an alternate source of meat, and Newfoundland has the highest moose population in North America as a result. We headed up to L'Anse Aux meadoux to see the Viking settlement and ran into Rob Harris and Jim who are doing the TLH tomorrow on a Yamaha Super tenere and a BMW F800GS counter clockwise. We traded tips over lunch and it was off to find a camping spot until we heard the weather warning for rain. Our tents are still wet from the last rainfall, so we opted for a room for the night. Tomorrow we should be in Gross Morne for a couple of days before heading over to see Tat2 relatives in Badger, then up to Bonavista if we have time before St. John's. Cheers for now from St. Anthony Newfoundland.Re the ego? I'm used to crashing offroad, but a gravel get off was totally my fault for riding as if I were in Ontario on unknown roads in remote Quebec. I learn the hardway. I wonder how many of my students will take their cruisers or sportbikes on the TLH? Should I warn each class?
stormcat
Well-known member
Sounds like you're having a good time!
Rain, yes. Chilly, uh yeah. I hear it's been daytime highs in the mid to high teens there these days. That's normal. There's a good reason why few people in NL own an air conditioner. At least it's always nice for sleeping at night.
Rain, yes. Chilly, uh yeah. I hear it's been daytime highs in the mid to high teens there these days. That's normal. There's a good reason why few people in NL own an air conditioner. At least it's always nice for sleeping at night.
10 in the morning, 19 in the afternoon, 25 in the sun, although Paul mentioned they'd had a run of rain the past week or two. It's a beautiful place and I've only seen a small portion of it as yet. For whatever reason I can't log into yfrog, picasa or Photobucket, so you'll have to wait for pictures or send me a fb friend request.It's raining at 0630 here, and they're calling for an inch or more of rain, so perhaps we'll make it a late checkout after breakfast. Cheers!Oh, the carriage returns on my blackberry are being ignored when I submit.Sounds like you're having a good time!
stormcat
Well-known member
The real question is, have you tried fresh cod with fries, dressing and gravy yet? It's to die for. Newfoundlanders know how to make fish 'n' chips. And do try cod's tongues. If they're done correctly, they're just like small bites of very tender filet. And if you happen upon it somewhere, have some moose. I've had it in burger, sausage and stew forms. It's like beef, but much smoother tasting. I'd take that over cow any day of the week.
When you're in St. John's, go down to Duckworth Street and have dinner at a place called "Get Stuffed." They do modern twists on comfort foods. Try the meatloaf. Heavenly. People have blogs about it, it's just that good. We were such regulars there that the wait staff didn't even have to ask us what we wanted.
I'm now seriously craving some great NL food!
When you're in St. John's, go down to Duckworth Street and have dinner at a place called "Get Stuffed." They do modern twists on comfort foods. Try the meatloaf. Heavenly. People have blogs about it, it's just that good. We were such regulars there that the wait staff didn't even have to ask us what we wanted.
I'm now seriously craving some great NL food!
redridernl
Well-known member
Fish & Chips with dressing and gravy from Ches's, there are a few locations. She's right about Get Stuffed. Meatloaf might sound a bit dull but it's awesome.
Tat2 has taken on the role of culinary guide, and I'm determined to sample local cuisine when on a trip, so I had Cod tongues and chips my first night in Goose Bay, and have had bologna with every breakfast as well. I'd a lovely mug up at the Alexis hotel in Port Hope Simpson, and later that night had the cod and chips. Heavenly. They now how to do it right!Yesterday morning I'd a side of Toutons to go with breakfast and shared them round as we had breakfast with Rob Harris and Jim Vernon before they had to make the ferry over to Labrador. They should just be waking up in Red Bay this morning, as we stayed in a motel in St. Anthony last night as they received 35 to 40mm of rain. We'd a late lazy checkout at 1300 and made it down the coast in high winds.The winds were so bad that the bikes were tossed around and I'd a very real fear of being blown into oncoming traffic as did we all, even the GS1200 piloted by Dave and Kathy was having difficulty, while Tat2 and I on KLR's felt as if our front tires were being swept out from beneath us. Thankfully the wind abated further down the coast where we stopped for lunch and I sampled some very fine Chowder and rolls before ordering a side of fries, gravy and dressing. The dressing is seasoned breadcrumbs flavoured similarly to bread stuffing you might find in a turkey, sage, savoury, salt and chives or parsley. My first thought was it was very similar to Colonel's spice blend for his chicken. As Tat2 says, "It sticks to your ribs".There are a very small number of restaurants licensed to serve Moose, and we've yet to run across one yet, although I did have Caribou sausage in Red Bay.The mosquitoes want their breakfast and I need the facilities so I'll leave you for now.Penned from my tent in Gros Morne, near Cow's head.
stormcat
Well-known member
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfo...1/07/25/nl-whale-watching-cape-spear-725.html
Looks like you picked the perfect time and year for your NL tour. Record number of whale and dolphin sightings this year. I think it's also been a good year for icebergs as well. It would explain the cooler temps the eastern half of the province has been experiencing.
Looks like you picked the perfect time and year for your NL tour. Record number of whale and dolphin sightings this year. I think it's also been a good year for icebergs as well. It would explain the cooler temps the eastern half of the province has been experiencing.
We didn't get far yesterday, we camped at Shallow Bay, had a lazy start and didn't leave the campsite until ten or eleven, got to western brook and hiked in to the lake, but didn't take the lake boat, hiked back out and carried on down the road a bit past Rocky Harbour, but we stopped long enough for me to drop my bike.
I was taking pictures of the coast and saw a rutted track that led onto the bluff so I followed it until it reached a ditch that was a bit too steep for me to try while riding solo, parked the bike, walked a couple hundred metres further on to snap a couple of shots and turned to find that the kickstand had sunk into the soft earth and was now lying on its side. Lol. I was more worried about the gas leaking from the tank than damage to the bike as it's got crash guards front and heavy ammo can panniers on the rear. Getting up was a bit of a chore while fully loaded, but I managed to right it and get it back onto the asphalt and down to Norris Point where we found a Bread & Breakfast run by an older gentleman, Terry's Place. His name was in fact Terry, with a Yamaha V-Star and a dog named Scrubbs. Terry sent us down the road to his relatives restaurant for dinner where I had some lovely pan fried cod, chips and gravy with dressing. We headed back to Terry's and he told me wear I could best view the sunset over western point. I did a wee bit of off roading to get there, but the view and resulting photo's a re spectacular! I'll add some to this thread when I get to my sister's place on PEI next week. Terry cooked us breakfast, and it was then that I said farewell to Kathy and Dave as they'd decided to play tourist with their final days on the island and stay on the Western side and visit Stephenville, Corner Brook, and make their way down to the Ferry at Port Aux Basque. One of my friends elected to stay with them, while wanted to see the East Coast, St. John's, and Bonavista where I have some relatives, so I packed up and hit the highway to meet up with Tat2. The roads south out of Gros Morne were fun and beautiful as I wound my way towards the Trans Canada and turned towards Badger NL. The bad part is I hit reserve at 269 which was a bit unnerving as a fuel search showed 53km to the next station, but badger was 39km away. I backed off on the gas and took it easy, thinking that I MIGHT have to message Tat2 to meet me on the road with a can of gas, but I made it into the Irving station in Badger, and later on sat down to lunch of toutons, beans and bologna at his Aunts. He's unloaded his bike and road about 20 km of the T'railway round trip and said that it was whooped out by the quads and that 1st and 2nd was fast enough to make him nervous in the deep crushed rocks. He said 50 was the best he got going, but when the front sunk into the deeper gravel he felt like moses parting the red sea. A smaller dirt bike would have had a fun rip. Steak dinner after a walk down to the convenience store for beer and we find ourselves yawning as we plan our ride to St. Johns tomorrow where we'll visit Signal Hill, St. John's harbour and Cape Spear. "Trew de air, oer de ocean, for da first the time, ever" Tat2 has been saying the whole trip. After that we overnight in New Harbour on his uncles lawn, then I head up to see what family I have left in Bonavista and he heads south for the Argentia Ferry. I'm booked on Sat from Port Aux Basque where I'll meet up with D, Dave and Kathy.Great write up Ronnie, feel like I am there now. Can't wait for the pictures.
Thanks
Thanks
Yesterday Tat2 and I left his Aunts place in Badger and made tracks for St. Johns, but the four and a half hour ride seemed to take forever. We stopped for gas and I realized I'd left my wallet at his Aunt's house and back I went (1.5 kilometres), stopped at the roadside to don rain gear and rode ten kiometres before finding that I'd left my camelbak insecured on top of my canoe bags and it had parted ways with me, so back I went, all the while entertaining visions of pickup and trailer running it over, burst seams and a dark blot of water to mark it's passing only to find it unharmed at the roadside not far from where we'd stopped. We stopped at Gambo, at the overlook and took a few pictures, and who should pull up trailering his bike back to St. Johns but Brian, a Honda CBF1000 rider that we'd met in Rocky Harbour a couple of days ago. There was talk about where to find a Jiggs dinner and an emergency screech in for I've "Come from away" to their beautiful island. The fog and rain closed in once past Clarenville and we rode without music and at times closeted in by the fog so we slowed down to 80 on the TCH East and at the previous pee break I'd donned a highvis vest that I take along for conditions exactly like that so the townies rushing home from vacation don't run me down on the road. The road winds it's way through Terra Nova, then the Avalon Peninsula, up and down hills to our exit of 41A into Mount Pearl and on into St Johns harbour area where we got turned around looking for the road to Cape Spear and ended up back tracking along the highway to an exit three kilometers up the road and took town streets back the way we came until we finally sorted out exactly where Garmin was asking us to make that all-important right turn, leading you away from downtown St. Johns to the South then finally turning East once you crest the hill in the fog to see the park sign. Unfortunately, as we heard from the locals, we'd chosen the one day this week NOT to see the sights, as that fog obscured most of the coastline and had left us cold and miserable, but we were still elated enough to walk out along the boardwalk, ignore the numerous "Danger" signs and get some shots out on the rocks. Credit me with enough intelligence to stand only on the dry rocks well back from the crashing surf. If you had visions of me dipping my tire into the surf, I imagine it could be done with a 150 foot rope, but the rim would have some back up all twisted and broken. A helicopter flew overhead, but for the fog it was invisible. We mounted the bikes again, after deciding that at 1700 we weren't going to see anything from Signal hill, or much of Petty Harbour, and Brian had sent an email saying that I could replace my scratched clear visor at one of the three dealerships on Topsail road (their Yonge Street) that runs from St. Johns through Mount Pearl and on into Paradise where I found that 1745 is fifteen minutes too late for any of them to be open, although I did meet with someone turning the key at the Kawasaki dealer who, if I was around tomorrow, offered to bring in the visor from his RF1100 to see if it would fit for the trip home. I thanked him kindly and said I was on my way west this evening to New Harbour. How can you top generosity like that?!We had dinner after refuelling at the Kozy Kitchen in Paradise, where I'd a Pineapple Crush and a fisherman's platter of two pieces of battered cod, fries, dressing, gravy, onions and peas before donning our rain gear and heading for New Harbour where Tat2 had directions like "turn left at the bridge, and if you end up in the Atlantic and see whales, you've missed us". Well, we missed them, but as soon as we came to a stop, a couple of guys asked where we were to, and soon sorted out that it was Carl we were looking for and needed to go back a ways and turn right when we passed the camper van. Success! Tat2 had his family reunion and I'd a nice hot cuppa and some great conversation before bed. Today Tat2 is leaving for the ferry while I pack up and get a move on to see Bonavista to search out some distantly related family in the area, then I'll head back to Port Aux Basque to meet up with my party who have been enjoying the West coast. Rain and fog and a high of 13 so I'd best get moving before that system hits, as. Port Aux Basque is 884 kilometres from St. Johns. Perhaps I'll camp in Corner Brook or Stephenville tomorrow before riding a section of the Trailway.Oh, check out CMGOnline for the latest from Editor 'Arris and Jim who suffered a setback on the TLH. Cheers from New Harbour (up the road from Dildo NFLD)
The fog and rain closed in once past Clarenville and we rode without music and at times closeted in by the fog so we slowed down to 80 on the TCH East and at the previous pee break I'd donned a highvis vest that I take along for conditions exactly like that so the townies rushing home from vacation don't run me down on the road. The road winds it's way through Terra Nova, then the Avalon Peninsula, up and down hills to our exit of 41A into Mount Pearl and on into St Johns harbour area where we got turned around looking for the road to Cape Spear and ended up back tracking along the highway to an exit three kilometers up the road and took town streets back the way we came until we finally sorted out exactly where Garmin was asking us to make that all-important right turn, leading you away from downtown St. Johns to the South then finally turning East once you crest the hill in the fog to see the park sign. Unfortunately, as we heard from the locals, we'd chosen the one day this week NOT to see the sights, as that fog obscured most of the coastline and had left us cold and miserable, but we were still elated enough to walk out along the boardwalk, ignore the numerous "Danger" signs and get some shots out on the rocks. Credit me with enough intelligence to stand only on the dry rocks well back from the crashing surf. If you had visions of me dipping my tire into the surf, I imagine it could be done with a 150 foot rope, but the rim would have some back up all twisted and broken. A helicopter flew overhead, but for the fog it was invisible. We mounted the bikes again, after deciding that at 1700 we weren't going to see anything from Signal hill, or much of Petty Harbour, and Brian had sent an email saying that I could replace my scratched clear visor at one of the three dealerships on Topsail road (their Yonge Street) that runs from St. Johns through Mount Pearl and on into Paradise where I found that 1745 is fifteen minutes too late for any of them to be open, although I did meet with someone turning the key at the Kawasaki dealer who, if I was around tomorrow, offered to bring in the visor from his RF1100 to see if it would fit for the trip home. I thanked him kindly and said I was on my way west this evening to New Harbour. How can you top generosity like that?!We had dinner after refuelling at the Kozy Kitchen in Paradise, where I'd a Pineapple Crush and a fisherman's platter of two pieces of battered cod, fries, dressing, gravy, onions and peas before donning our rain gear and heading for New Harbour where Tat2 had directions like "turn left at the bridge, and if you end up in the Atlantic and see whales, you've missed us". Well, we missed them, but as soon as we came to a stop, a couple of guys asked where we were to, and soon sorted out that it was Carl we were looking for and needed to go back a ways and turn right when we passed the camper van. Success! Tat2 had his family reunion and I'd a nice hot cuppa and some great conversation before bed. Today Tat2 is leaving for the ferry while I pack up and get a move on to see Bonavista to search out some distantly related family in the area, then I'll head back to Port Aux Basque to meet up with my party who have been enjoying the West coast. Rain and fog and a high of 13 so I'd best get moving before that system hits, as. Port Aux Basque is 884 kilometres from St. Johns. Perhaps I'll camp in Corner Brook or Stephenville tomorrow before riding a section of the Trailway.Oh, check out CMGOnline for the latest from Editor 'Arris and Jim who suffered a setback on the TLH. Cheers from New Harbour (up the road from Dildo NFLD)
I had a cuppa tea and a bowl of cereal with Tat2 before loading my gear on the bike just as it began to rain. I said my goodbyes and hit the road, but I didn't get very far as a sign said "Dildo" with an arrow, so I went down and snapped some pictures of the harbour and town before heading southwest back to the TCH west, but on the way I saw an EAGLE!!! Just sitting on a rock just in the bay, about twenty metres from shore. I made a quick U-turn to go back, and found my aftermarket muffler startled it into flight before I could get anything. I have one crappy cellphone pic of it winging it's way across the harbour as far from my ISD2 Supertrap as it could get. Once on the Trans Canada it was a bit of a slog until I reached the Clarenville area where I turned off the TCH bound for Bonavista. Once out of the town the road became highly entertaining for almost the entire hour it took to get up to the tip of the Peninsula. You pass through towns with names like Trinity Bay, places I'd heard of in stories and songs, and now was seeing in person. The landscape varies incredibly, from rocky lichen covered tundra, to mixed forest, and rocky coastline. I found myself stopping again and again to capture as much as I could with my camera. Bonavista was a bit of an anticlimax, as with many large towns out this way, it's more of a sprawl than a built up city, so the two and three story buildings are the tallest ones you'll see, but the homes are tightly packed together, with few trees, and cover the rolling hills.It was lunchtime and the cereal I had that morning was long gone so I was on the lookout for a local restaurant when I spied a rider on a Honda 250R so I pulled in beside him and we talked the universal language of bikes. What displacement, how do you like the abs etc etc. Cory, a fisherman who'd caught his government allowed qouta yesterday offered to show me the way to Cabot's Landing out on Cape Bonavista, so I followed him out, set the kickstand down, threw on a sweater to take the chill out of the cooler ocean breeze. Cory pointed out some whales in the bay, but I was unable to make them out, confusing a rock in the heaving swell for a minute before giving up. I did see Puffins though, perched on rocks, paddling in the more protected nooks and coves, and winging their way from stony perch to stony perch. The lighthouse on the Cape began to sound it's fog horn, and I watched a bank of fog slowly begin to obscure a grassy island where Cabot had landed sheep and goats to graze on. Newfoundlanders still use similar islands for their sheep, as there are no predators and they don't like to swim, so it makes ideal pasture for them. Cory shook my hand and said farewell after recommending a local restaurant just down the road, the Dairy King, where you could have anything from burgers to scallops. A bacon mushroom melt with fries, dressing and gravy hit the spot, although I noticed that the mushrooms were canned. Perhaps they don't have access to the fresh foods that we do in Ontario, and it's certainly shown in the dearth of farmland I've seen on the island. In Onterrible, when the trees disappear you usually will see cultivated land with fences, tractors, and barns, but for the most part all I've seen are lobster traps, fishing boats and the odd small sheep or dairy farm apart from a few vegetable plots.After lunch I donned my rain gear once more and set off towards the Trans Canada Highway once more to head as far west as I could. The weather turned from foggy drizzle into a harder, cold rain, and by the time I got to the lookout over Gambo, I was cold, damp and miserable, wondering if I'd ever see the sun again. Just after my brief stop in Gambo, I felt water between my legs. My rainpants had sprung a leak right at the crotch and I was subjected to wet balls for the rest of the trip. Gander passed in a wet, cold blur. My heated grips were on high, vinyl rain gloves on, overtop "waterproof" (HAH!) snowmobile gloves and my hands were almost cold, but not quite. Was that a light blue edge to the cloud in the distant horizon?! Was I finally going to leave this rain behind?! Hallelujah! The Sun!!! The roads were drying up and my gear began to dry out so I stopped for fuel in Badger and took the time to don a base layer after shedding my rain gear, as the day was getting on. Just a note about the rain gear I'm using. The Kimpex overboots keep the rain off your boots, but will allow water in over the course of a few hours or longer. I've promised myself to wear my waterproof Alpinestar web gortex next go around. I wore a pair of motorcycle ankleboots that are very comfortable for riding and walking in, but aren't waterproof by any stretch of the imagination. Still, they'd be on my feet for three weeks... My problem with these is my boots will sometimes slip off the rubber soles, and at one point while trying to mount the bike, my boot slipped off the rubber sole, the peg, and I nearly faceplanted into the seat. I was careful with mounts and dismounts afterwards. I rate them a 5/10. They'll perform in a downpour, but there has to be something better. I bought an MSR hydroshell pullover at Royal Distributing at the suggestion of my good friend Willie who rode more off road than anything, and he said his friends used them as they fold up into a small pouch that can be worn on a belt. It has surprisingly good neck and wrist gaiters, is light and can be stowed in a tankbag. It rocks!!! It gets damp on the inside, but not enough to wet my riding jacket as badly as some others I've tried. It's been brilliant! 9/10My venerable Teknic rainpants are a bit snug when worn over my riding pants, and the velcro closures at the cuffs are useless, leaving large wings that flap as I ride along. You might as well use duct tape or cyclists bands in it's stead around your ankles, and the suspenders need to be crossed over your head else they'll slip off and you'll be constantly trying to "shift your bra strap" through three layers of clothing. They do their job, but don't breathe, so if you ride out of the rain need to be removed or else you'll be as wet on the inside as you are on the outside. I tore off both ankle straps through wear and tear, and as mentioned the seam at the crotch gave up, but they are four years old. 7/10 FXR Snowmobile gloves with "Hypora" waterproof lining? Yeah, maybe for thirty minutes. Bring vinyl gloves, they stop the wind and keep your hands dry but for sweat and can be worn under your favourite gloves, and for messy roadside repairs. They saved my bacon this trip. The gloves are a bit thick, awkward, warm and dry until they soak through, although great for riding in temps around the 0 mark, they suck when wet. No wonder they were on sale. 4/10Two days of riding in the cold rain will make you obsessive about gear that works. After Badger, the sun began to sink in the west, and with all the moose warnings, I let a tractor trailer pass me, and got in behind him until we hit Deer Lake where stopped for a meal of Liver and onions and chatted with the staff about her trip from Brampton to "Back home" last week and the two days in montreal she'd spent. While standing in the parking lot, her friend ran out with a tourist brochure to assist me in finding a room for the night. What a lovely gesture! I found a motel for the night. "Found" isn't the best word to use in this case. The GPS told me it was there, and driving around in circles at night did nothing to help matters. Corner Brook has hillsides, one way streets, rivers and a harbour. I had to pull out my crackberry and use google maps to show me that the gps was out by 700 metres and I'd have to crest a hill before the hotel was visible. A room! Who cares that Hotel Corner Brook was just this side of a dive?! It was warm, dry and had a vacancy after the five others I'd tried were full. I laid out my gear to dry, had a shower and crawled into bed.
Once on the Trans Canada it was a bit of a slog until I reached the Clarenville area where I turned off the TCH bound for Bonavista. Once out of the town the road became highly entertaining for almost the entire hour it took to get up to the tip of the Peninsula. You pass through towns with names like Trinity Bay, places I'd heard of in stories and songs, and now was seeing in person. The landscape varies incredibly, from rocky lichen covered tundra, to mixed forest, and rocky coastline. I found myself stopping again and again to capture as much as I could with my camera. Bonavista was a bit of an anticlimax, as with many large towns out this way, it's more of a sprawl than a built up city, so the two and three story buildings are the tallest ones you'll see, but the homes are tightly packed together, with few trees, and cover the rolling hills.It was lunchtime and the cereal I had that morning was long gone so I was on the lookout for a local restaurant when I spied a rider on a Honda 250R so I pulled in beside him and we talked the universal language of bikes. What displacement, how do you like the abs etc etc. Cory, a fisherman who'd caught his government allowed qouta yesterday offered to show me the way to Cabot's Landing out on Cape Bonavista, so I followed him out, set the kickstand down, threw on a sweater to take the chill out of the cooler ocean breeze. Cory pointed out some whales in the bay, but I was unable to make them out, confusing a rock in the heaving swell for a minute before giving up. I did see Puffins though, perched on rocks, paddling in the more protected nooks and coves, and winging their way from stony perch to stony perch. The lighthouse on the Cape began to sound it's fog horn, and I watched a bank of fog slowly begin to obscure a grassy island where Cabot had landed sheep and goats to graze on. Newfoundlanders still use similar islands for their sheep, as there are no predators and they don't like to swim, so it makes ideal pasture for them. Cory shook my hand and said farewell after recommending a local restaurant just down the road, the Dairy King, where you could have anything from burgers to scallops. A bacon mushroom melt with fries, dressing and gravy hit the spot, although I noticed that the mushrooms were canned. Perhaps they don't have access to the fresh foods that we do in Ontario, and it's certainly shown in the dearth of farmland I've seen on the island. In Onterrible, when the trees disappear you usually will see cultivated land with fences, tractors, and barns, but for the most part all I've seen are lobster traps, fishing boats and the odd small sheep or dairy farm apart from a few vegetable plots.After lunch I donned my rain gear once more and set off towards the Trans Canada Highway once more to head as far west as I could. The weather turned from foggy drizzle into a harder, cold rain, and by the time I got to the lookout over Gambo, I was cold, damp and miserable, wondering if I'd ever see the sun again. Just after my brief stop in Gambo, I felt water between my legs. My rainpants had sprung a leak right at the crotch and I was subjected to wet balls for the rest of the trip. Gander passed in a wet, cold blur. My heated grips were on high, vinyl rain gloves on, overtop "waterproof" (HAH!) snowmobile gloves and my hands were almost cold, but not quite. Was that a light blue edge to the cloud in the distant horizon?! Was I finally going to leave this rain behind?! Hallelujah! The Sun!!! The roads were drying up and my gear began to dry out so I stopped for fuel in Badger and took the time to don a base layer after shedding my rain gear, as the day was getting on. Just a note about the rain gear I'm using. The Kimpex overboots keep the rain off your boots, but will allow water in over the course of a few hours or longer. I've promised myself to wear my waterproof Alpinestar web gortex next go around. I wore a pair of motorcycle ankleboots that are very comfortable for riding and walking in, but aren't waterproof by any stretch of the imagination. Still, they'd be on my feet for three weeks... My problem with these is my boots will sometimes slip off the rubber soles, and at one point while trying to mount the bike, my boot slipped off the rubber sole, the peg, and I nearly faceplanted into the seat. I was careful with mounts and dismounts afterwards. I rate them a 5/10. They'll perform in a downpour, but there has to be something better. I bought an MSR hydroshell pullover at Royal Distributing at the suggestion of my good friend Willie who rode more off road than anything, and he said his friends used them as they fold up into a small pouch that can be worn on a belt. It has surprisingly good neck and wrist gaiters, is light and can be stowed in a tankbag. It rocks!!! It gets damp on the inside, but not enough to wet my riding jacket as badly as some others I've tried. It's been brilliant! 9/10My venerable Teknic rainpants are a bit snug when worn over my riding pants, and the velcro closures at the cuffs are useless, leaving large wings that flap as I ride along. You might as well use duct tape or cyclists bands in it's stead around your ankles, and the suspenders need to be crossed over your head else they'll slip off and you'll be constantly trying to "shift your bra strap" through three layers of clothing. They do their job, but don't breathe, so if you ride out of the rain need to be removed or else you'll be as wet on the inside as you are on the outside. I tore off both ankle straps through wear and tear, and as mentioned the seam at the crotch gave up, but they are four years old. 7/10 FXR Snowmobile gloves with "Hypora" waterproof lining? Yeah, maybe for thirty minutes. Bring vinyl gloves, they stop the wind and keep your hands dry but for sweat and can be worn under your favourite gloves, and for messy roadside repairs. They saved my bacon this trip. The gloves are a bit thick, awkward, warm and dry until they soak through, although great for riding in temps around the 0 mark, they suck when wet. No wonder they were on sale. 4/10Two days of riding in the cold rain will make you obsessive about gear that works. After Badger, the sun began to sink in the west, and with all the moose warnings, I let a tractor trailer pass me, and got in behind him until we hit Deer Lake where stopped for a meal of Liver and onions and chatted with the staff about her trip from Brampton to "Back home" last week and the two days in montreal she'd spent. While standing in the parking lot, her friend ran out with a tourist brochure to assist me in finding a room for the night. What a lovely gesture! I found a motel for the night. "Found" isn't the best word to use in this case. The GPS told me it was there, and driving around in circles at night did nothing to help matters. Corner Brook has hillsides, one way streets, rivers and a harbour. I had to pull out my crackberry and use google maps to show me that the gps was out by 700 metres and I'd have to crest a hill before the hotel was visible. A room! Who cares that Hotel Corner Brook was just this side of a dive?! It was warm, dry and had a vacancy after the five others I'd tried were full. I laid out my gear to dry, had a shower and crawled into bed.Great update. I can feel the rain pour out on my keyboard over here. Nothing like a road trip to test out rain gear. Glad some of it worked. You are meeting some nice folks on the road. People out there are great, and friendly. Wishing you some sun and warm weather.
You'll love it! I'm just crossing the border into Maine now and about to lose signal.Have a safe journey!
Hey Ron, I have really enjoyed reading your posts! I'm excited as well becaue i'm heading out that way tomorrow morning
Hey R Squared, you can't leave us hanging like that. Wondering what you've been up to. Glad you are doing okay. Time for another post. Will start whining about pictures soon...
Stay safe.
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