Icebergs, Newfie Crafts and Music

 Friday, June 2, 2023

Hi Blog!

Yesterday we moved from Port au Choix to the Viking RV Park near Quirpon at the tip of the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. We are just down the road from L'Anse aux Meadows, a Parks Canada Historic Park where the Vikings set up camp as they explored the east coast of Canada. More on the Vikings later.

We had visited this area of Newfoundland in 2018 and were hoping we would have more time this visit to get out and do all the great cliff walks and hikes. However, Mother Nature had other plans. The forecast calls for rain and snow the next couple days. You know what they say: When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping!

On our way to check out the local craft stores, we did a little scouting around Quirpon to see where we catch the boat for our overnight adventure at the Quirpon Lighthouse Inn. More on the Lighthouse later.

The winds are just right to push the sea ice into the coves.

The more sheltered coves, have less ice. Small fishing shacks and boat houses dot the shoreline.

We drove to the end of the road in Little Quirpon and saw a couple icebergs. The long flat one in the photo below is a tabular iceberg. The lumpy one behind it is a non-tabular iceberg. To be an iceberg, the floating chunk of ice has to be at least 16 feet tall. Small bergs between 3 feet and 16 feet are bergy bits. Growlers are 1 to 3 feet tall. The rest is just ice. Icebergs that drift into warmer waters eventually melt. 

The more sheltered coves are mostly free of ice, but are filled with history.

Our first stop was Dark Tickle, famous for their berry products. Newfoundland and Labrador have a wide variety of wild berries, such as low-bush blueberries, partridge berries, blackberries, cloud berries (or bakeapple), raspberry, currants, cranberries and strawberries to name a few.

The manufacturing facility is behind the gift shop. You can watch the berry chefs as they hand-make each batch of jelly, jam or sauce. 

We couldn't resist stopping at the Viking Shop. While it has some of the typical Viking tourist shields and wooden swords, there were also plenty of hand-crafted items. We even met a local artisan who hand carves old whale bone. We couldn't resist coming home with a cute little whale-bone puffin. 

The crafting room is just what you would expect from a Newfie craft shop; it's complete with a warmy wood burner. We wish our RV had one of these.

L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site contains the excavated remains of a complete 11th-century Viking settlement, the earliest evidence of Europeans in North America. Situated at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland, this exceptional archaeological site consists of eight timber-framed turf structures built in the same style as those found in Norse Greenland and Iceland from the same period. The buildings include three dwellings, one forge and four workshops, on a narrow terrace overlooking a peat bog and small brook near the shore of Epaves Bay in the Strait of Belle Isle.

We hadn't planned on stopping at L'Anse aux Meadows this trip because we had visited in 2018, but sitting in a warm Visitor's Center watching a park movie sounded good on a cold, windy, wet day. Perched above the Visitor's Center is a group of Viking scouts, who eyed us with suspicion as if we were Indigenous people who might attack them.

On our way back to camp, we decided to stop and have lunch at Skipper Hot's. This is the place where we were "Screeched In" back in 2018. The Screech-In Ceremony is a Newfoundland tradition where "Come-from-Away’s" earn the prestigious title of honorary Newfoundlanders! 

While the pub was expecting a bus tour to stop by, they still had a few open tables. Because of the bus tour, the local band would be playing. One of the band members had a great ugly stick.

Wait! we know these guys! 

 

These are the same guys that Screeched us in back in 2018. Newfoundland is timeless.

We sat back and ate our Moose Burgers and home fries while listening to some classic Newfie tunes. To join in the fun, just click the link to the Skipper's Hot House Band.

Tonight we attend our first official Iceberg Festival Event, down in Saint Anthony, about a half hour's drive. It's supposed to snow heavily overnight -- as much as 1-3 inches!  I'm sure we'll have more on that later.