Newfoundland's French Shore

The forecast for today was lots of rain and chilly weather, so we picked a day's activities that could withstand wet conditions.  We decided to drive down the French Shore of Newfoundland, south from St. Anthony.  We had two destinations:  the Underground Salmon Pools, and the beautiful little town of Conche.  This was a full day's drive, but well worth it.

UNDERGROUND SALMON POOLS

The underground salmon pools are sections of the Beaver Brook River, as it flows toward Bide Arm and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean near Roddickton, Newfoundland.  These are the only known place in the world where salmon migrate upstream through an underground river cave to reach their spawning grounds.

While it was difficult to locate the site, we finally found the sign, and a well-paved gravel road into the trailhead:

The pools are located on the property of a family that operates a logging business along the French Coast.  The family has groomed the trails and posted signage to help visitors find the pools.

The path weaves its way through young spruce forest:

Toward the end of the trail, we had to fight our way through a downed spruce tree to reach a view of the pools, but Kathy felt the effort was well worth it:

Our trail crossed Brose's Bridge, which in turn spanned Beaver Brook --

-- and offered us excellent views of a salmon and trout stream that we ached to wade and fish:

Eventually, our path led us to a viewing point where we could see the underground cavity out of which Beaver Brook flows and into which the Atlantic salmon would have to swim to move upstream:

We hiked further upstream and found the other end of the underground pools, where the stream flowed in, and the salmon would migrate out and upstream:

This was a very unique hike, and a unique view of salmon migration.  We were glad we found the site.

CONCHE

For over a hundred years, the village of Conche and its neighboring community, Crouse, were two of the busiest French fishing harboors on the French Shore; in the late 1700s there were over 2,000 French fishermen and shore crews working ou of the two harbors.  The English-speaking roots of the communities were first put down in the early 1800s when the French, who only had rights under a treaty with Britain to fish in this area, but not to settle, hired local English and Irish "guardians" - or caretakers - to look after their fishing premises during the off season.  After the French gave up their fishing rights in 1904, the settlers turned to locally harvesting cod and salmon. Progress came slowly, but it was steady during the early 20th Century due to the prolific fishery in this area.  However, as the cod and salmon became fished out, Canada imposed a Cod Moratorium in 1992 that ended commercial cod fishing on the French Shore.  Locals still hold on, plying their trade through individual fishing efforts, logging, some mining, and increasing tourism activities.

Our first view of Conche came as we drove over the last ridge of the Appalachian chain - the Long Range Mountains - toward the Atlantic Coast.  We saw a beautiful iceberg floating in the Conche harbor below us:

We continued our drive down into the harbor, passing some active fishing docks --

-- and old Casey's Store, which had been a cod processing plant during the heyday of the fishery

The local historical society has preserved Casey's Store and has added a whimsical sculpture made from fishermen's boots marching across the processing loft:

Here is a view of Conche from Harbour Drive as we drove into town:

We spotted the old harbor light (on the left in the photo below), paired with its modern simple replacement (on the right), and couldn't help tracking down a vantage point for a good photo of the two, kept company as they were by a flock of gulls:

Driving further around town, we encountered the site of a 1942 wreck of a U.S. bomber that crashed as it attempted to fly from Gander, Newfoundland to Britain to aid in the war effort:

Our primary goal in Conche was the French Shore Interpretation Center, which we finally found by following a tour bus into town:

The interpretation center is well curated and presents a complete history of the French Shore in general, and Conche in particular.  The most interesting exhibit in the Center is the display of the world-famous Frency Shore Tapestry.  Designed by artist Jean-Claude Roy in the style of Bayeux tapestries and woven by local women, this amazing 222-foot work tells the compelling history of the French Shore:

We weren't allowed to photograph the tapestry, so the photo above has been "borrowed" from the internet.  But we were allowed to take a photo of one of a number of additional embroidery panels that supporters of the Center are working on --

-- as well as the work station where the panels are being produced:

The French Shore Interpretation Center was much more extensive and interesting than we expected, and we lingered awhile to absorb what it had to tell us about local history.  By the time we were finished at the Center, it was getting late and we needed to hop back on the road to get home in time for supper.