Ah Oui! Quebec, tres jolie...

A french speaking city complete with chateau, Chateau Frontenac.
 
Architecturally influenced by French chateaux and Scottish castles but only 100 years old with the last extension being added as late as the 1990's!
 
It has never been a chateau only a hotel for the rich, now with 600 rooms.

 

 

A skyline of spires competing for the accolade of the tallest.

Labrador

This aptly named gemstone, Labradorite, is mined here and used in jewellery making, along with Porcupine spines amongst other things. The Porcupine spines make excellent dangly earrings!

We have seen wood sleds like this one many times on the road side, waiting for winter, often still with a Snowmobile attached.

Piles of wood are stacked with precision in available spaces or clearings and fill large sheds by houses.

When the temperature drops to at least -25c, in the winter, even in cities such as Quebec, a great deal of wood must be gathered and consumed.

Forestry is still a major industry in this region.

At Northwest River, a small town off the Labrador Highway we visited an Interpretation centre where we were given a fascinating tour from a woman whose father was British and mother was Inuit (or Eskimo - her grandmother was quite happy to be called Eskimo but today the correct term is Inuit).

 She described life as told to her by her family. Stories of hunting and a harsh life in the winter.

 The canoe in the picture was amazingly made of seal skin.

Our Bear friend with his nose in the bin. Luckily not our van bin.












This pretty scene is not a winter one but the ground is covered with a yellow lichen, soft to walk on and the food of choice for caribou.

We stayed the night here. Not so many trees for the bears to hide in!




It did feel rather Christmassy!

Early viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows

At the top of Gros Morne Peninsula, Newfoundland, we stopped at St Anthony to see a few more offshore icebergs and at L'Anse aux Meadows, an early Viking site.

A viking house made of peat sods

Evidence shows the Vikings, maybe the son of Eric the Red, in 1000 AD approx. settled here for ten years or so gathering timber to take back to Greenland where they were settling. There is evidence of smelting and forging bog iron.






A reconstruction illustrated their life, again with knowlegable costumed guides and warming log fires.
It was very wet, windy and cold in the Peat bogs.

Gros Morne National Park

Gros Morne National Park sits at the bottom of the Gros Morne Peninsula, the last piece of Newfoundland we will cover before taking the ferry to Labrador. 

 

It is as beautiful as rumoured and is of interest to geologists as the ancient sea bed sits on the surface in the Tablelands area. It is a World Heritage site for this unusual area.

 The Tablelands are nearly barren contrasting the rest of the Peninsula.

More Pitcher Plants here illustrating their name.

The Old Loft restaurant in Rocky Harbour was recommended to us by a young couple we met a few weeks back. (Hi!)
We tried the suggested Moose pie which had melt in the mouth pastry. Makes a change from meals 'chez van'.

The next recommendation from a fellow traveller was to 'do' Western Brook Pond. A pond is a lake here unless it is a pond. Both are on the map. Very confusing!
This pond is called a Fjord, although it is not really a Fjord as it is fresh water and Fjords must be saltwater. But its 700 metre deep sides made it act like an inland fjord . The water is so pure that little lives in it and there is an obvious lack of bird or wildlife.

Western Brook Pond

Bay Bulls

 

Strange name but the O'Brien's whale and puffin watching tour was great fun. We saw many Humpback whales, cliffs crowded with seabird and puffin colonies and a couple of traditional songs on the boat for entertainment. I have never seen such a concentration of birds on cliffs and in the air.

There she blows!

Icebergs! 

On Wednesday 5th July, I was excited to see this iceberg way off shore as we drove along the East Central coast of Newfoundland, near Deadmans Bay. Can you see it? Iceberg.com couldn't pick it up with its satellite, so it was a nice surprise.

Iceberg fragments

Thursday. It is hot, nearly 30c and we have driven to look at Iceberg fragments that a Visitor Centre told us about. They are a long way off from our view point but we head on to try to get nearer, trying to better yesterday's distant berg.

Driving down a steep dirt road to a beach we spot them again. By chance a local resident offers to take us out to have a look in his small boat. We hastily throw on warmer clothes and are treated to a special trip!

They have 9/10th of their size under the water, so although fragments,

 they are still massive. Alarmingly, we travel over the sunken areas. I hope they don't suddenly decide to turn over! They are creaking and dripping.

 The sun softened lines make me want to follow the shape with my hands.

Our skipper grabbed a piece to enjoy in a gin and tonic.

Heavy hand needed?

A special Gin and tonic! 

And a wonderful place to spend the night.

Louisbourg, Nova Scotia

 

I enjoyed our visit to this reconstruction of a town and fortress. We walked back into the 1800's with staff in period dress and in character. 50 buildings to walk around all actively being used as they would have been in the past with the scent of roasting beef, baking bread etc.












This scoundrel who had stolen some wine offered me the job of wet nurse to his servant's children. It is quite a well paid job but I don't think so!

One of the team of gardeners had worked at Louisbourg for the last 25 years and had created this pretty french garden with chives.

Wild camping in Newfoundland

We took a 6 hour ferry to Newfoundland into Port aux Basques. It was a calm crossing, thank goodness!

We have managed to camp freely for many days now. Often near or on beaches. These small fishing boats in Sheaves Bay, Newfoundland were winched up over simple log ramps to beach them after the days work.

The houses, generally detached and well maintained, don't always have garden decorations to our taste!

We took a trip on this stormy looking sea in Twillingate to whale and iceberg watch. No icebergs here this year but a short visit from a Minke whale, so, we were happy.

At our overnight spot in Sleepy Cove I fancied swimming after a hot hike up to the lighthouse but as it was a very icy Atlantic I settled fo beach combing.
We had a lovely evening around the campfire with new friends.