After my stay in Deer Lake (A), the small village with 5.000 inhabitants, I decided to make my trip a little bit shorter and combine my drive to Gros Morne National Park with my trip to the very north of the island. No sooner thought than done: After breakfast IÂ left my accommodation and drove to Gros Morne NP.
On my way to this place I had several stopovers to take pictures. The landscape was unbelievable. Finally I arrived at the parking lot of the probably most famous sight of whole Newfoundland: The Western Brook Pond. What’s hidden behind this name is a big fjord which is no more connected to the sea. So now it’s just a big pond. I don’t really know why they call it brook pond, but I think it might the length of this pond might be the reason. It’s such a big pond that you could also call it brook or lake 🙂
There is a possibility to go on a boat trip through this fjord if you go to the jetty at the beginning of the pond. I didn’t do this tour because $40 seemed very pricy to me; I mean the only thing you see is big, big rocks to your right and to your left. But there were indeed other things I was really surprised to find at this place: carnivorous plants! Everyone who got to know me a bit better might know that I was (and am) very fascinated with those curious plants. That was why I even collected some of them over many years. In the marshs in the area in front of the pond I found quite a few of them. Besides the pitcher plant (which is relatively good known in Newfoundland because it’s the floral emblem of Newfoundland & Labrador) I found sundews and even butterwords. This was the first time for me finding carnivorous plants in the nature and it really made my day!
After taking pictures of the pond, the plants and the odd landscape, I decided to leave and to try to reach L’Anse aux Meadows (near St. Anthony, (B)) on this day. And again there was beautiful landscape everywhere on the whole route. The streets seemed to be endless and only a few cars shared the road with me. During my whole trip I never had any signal on my cell because the regular cellphones do only work in St. John’s and area. But when then even my radio signal got lost I sometimes had a strange feeling. Except some tiny villages there was almost nothing all over the island, only awesome views of nature. Another highlight on my way north were „The Arches“: a big rock formed as a triple arch.
I arrived at L’Anse aux Meadows at about 7.30pm. I was very lucky that the sun was still shining and that no rain was coming up. The atmosphere at this place was really incredible because the sunlight was very special this evening. For those who don’t know it yet: L’Anse aux Meadows is the place where the vikings first discovered America over 1000 years ago. After they found the remains in the ground, they reconstructed a whole viking village there which can now be visited by anyone.
When I was sitting near by this village, watching the sun go down over the sea and having some subs for diner, I met again a very nice friend: Mario. He was traveling through Newfoundland and other Canadian provinces only by bike. He invited me to join him for having some pasta and some beer. After that I went to sleep in my accommodation, which was located in a village where today 35 people live.
Nice! 🙂
Did university start yet? How is it?
Many greetz from the very south of good old Germany