Wednesday, August 16, 2023
Hi Blog!
After yesterday's wayward hike on the Lighthouse Trail from Fortune to the Fortune Head Lighthouse, we felt we needed a little break from hiking. All the high stepping through the overgrown foliage left us with tired legs. We decided to spend today exploring the southern coast of the Burin Peninsula.
We left Fortune and headed southwest and then east on Highway 220. As soon as we left town, the landscape opened up. We passed mile after mile of rolling hills, spruce groves and green hills. Off in the distance we noticed St. Pierre Island:
We were amazed to actually see the Town of St. Pierre. We spotted the cell tower over the town, where we climbed up to an overlook giving us a view of the village and harbor. We could also see the Galantry Lighthouse we hiked to, as well. Because of the fog on our voyage, we had never realized just how close to Newfoundland we were on our way to St. Pierre and Miquelon.
We continued our drive down the coast, enjoying the wonderful weather. Our first stop was the town of Lamaline, where we hoped to visit Allan's Island Lighthouse. As we made our way out to the island, this boat just asked to be photographed.
Even though we put the coordinates for the lighthouse into our GPS, it decided we needed to see this Grotto. We stopped and paid our respects, and then did an about-face and made our way back to Lighthouse Road.
Just off the entrance to the harbor at Lamaline are a collection of dangerous shoals and islets that are purportedly the reason for the community's name. Lamaline is a corruption of “La Maligne,” a French term meaning "the malignant," "the evil," or "the wicked."
A lighthouse has stood on this site since 1879. There have been several different versions. This square tower was built in 2004. It is an active lighthouse and is manned by the current lightkeeper. A fence surrounding the property protects the light and provides the lightkeeper's family with a little privacy from pharofiles like us.
On our way out of town, we stopped at the Lamaline Heritage Museum, housed in a traditional Newfoundland 'biscuit box' home that is more than 100 years old. We always enjoy stopping at these little museums. They are usually staffed by local high school or college students. It's a great way for the community to preserve its past, while providing summer employment for the next generation.
The museum is full of photos and artifacts ranging from the Tidal Wave of 1929 to the American Naval Base of World War II.
The various rooms of the house have different themes. There is one room designated to remembering all the service men from the area. Another room contains information about the first inhabitants of Newfoundland, the Beothuk.
The kitchen is full of all the things you would expect to find in a 100 year old kitchen.
We don't often think of Newfoundland as having tsunamis, but on November 18, 1929 a tsunami struck Newfoundland's Burin Peninsula and caused considerable loss of life and property. Giant waves hit the coast at 40 km/hr, flooding dozens of communities and washing entire homes out to sea. The disaster killed 28 people and left hundreds more homeless or destitute. It was the most destructive earthquake-related event in Newfoundland and Labrador's history and occurred at the beginning of a worldwide depression.
Just outside of Lamaline is the beautiful Salmonier River. We stopped to admire the waterfall.
Our Jeep, Dusty, was so excited to do a little four wheeling. Back Road had several RV camps along the right of way, many of which were only recently developed during Covid.
We turned off Back Road and followed a multi-use trail to Sandy Beach. We were greeted by waves of sea grass and expansive views.
While we expected to see a sandy beach, we were amazed at the sheer size of the beach and the fact that no one else was here!
We did eventually have to share the beach with two other groups, but we still managed to find these amazing unspoiled views. The only reason this beach isn't swamped with beachgoers is that the water is freezing cold. The beauty of this place rivals anything we have seen in New Zealand, which we consider to have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
Seriously, doesn't this look like just the kind of place a Hobbit would have an abode?
Despite the rough road at the start of the trip to Lawn, we decided to keep going on Back Road to see if conditions would improve. We knew we could always turn around. After leaving the cutoff to Sandy Cove, the road conditions improved tremendously.
We found a little community in a place called Roundabout. It is so small, we almost didn't see it on our map.
As we passed through town, we saw a beautiful pink sand beach. We were not sure we would be able to make it down to the beach from the road. Just as we were about to give up our search, we saw a small trailhead sign for Lance aux Barque Beach/Strand.
The trail was steep, but well marked.
While the trail was steep and long, it wasn't long before Dave reached the beach. However, he lost Kathy on the hillside as she discovered it was covered in blueberry bushes! Can you see tiny Kathy on the hillside picking blueberries?
While there were a couple houses up on the hill overlooking the beach, we had the place to ourselves. We found a plastic tub and filled it up with various plastic articles that had washed up on the beach - just doing our part to keep the beach nice for the next visitors.
While not the end of the blog, it is the end of the pretty pictures. We leave you with another view of the pink sands of Lance aux Barque Beach/Strand
The Back Road eventually led back to Highway 220 just before Lawn. We were hoping to find lunch in Lawn, by Mr. Leo's was closed. We ended up driving all the way to St. Lawrence for lunch. Once we move over to the town of Burin this coming Saturday, we plan to come back to St. Lawrence and explore further.
We have two more days here in Fortune and hope to do a little exploring around Fortune and Grand Bank. Until then, stay thirsty my friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.