Day 12 - a trail and back to the start

We didn’t hear a bear or a moose in the dark night at Terra Nova. Today is a nothing day in terms of plans - we just need to make our way back to Pippy Park (the first campsite we stayed at).

The Terra Nova campsite claimed to have a restaurant, snack bar, shop (and even theatre) on site, but as we are a week earlier than peak season, nothing was open. So we set off in search of breakfast. We found the most amazing motel that was also a restaurant about ten minutes along the TCH (Trans Canada Highway). It was a real throwback to the 1980s with blue floral wallpaper and orange pine wall cladding. What a wonderful welcome from the hostess - she was so friendly. In fact, that will be one of the overriding memories of this holiday - just how kind and genuinely friendly the Newfoundlanders are. Everyone in a shop, gas station, restaurant, camp site, park - all so happy to see you and interested in where you’re from and why you are visiting. The kindest people on earth.

We were leaving behind the drizzle and rain and driving into sunshine. Just as we started along the highway Andrew spotted a big brown bear wandering along by the side of the road. He was huge and looked so lovely (especially from the safety of the van).

We had our eye on trails called the Salmon Trail and the Dunphy Trail to walk. We stopped at the Salmon Trail only to find it was only 1km long, so we were back at the van in ten minutes! We couldn’t get into the (two) parking spaces at Dunphys so had to drive on. Oliver noted another called Butter Pot Hill trail. The start of this trail was in a campsite, which was beautiful. There a lot of annoying black flies buzzing around in the trails, which means although the campsites look great, you can’t sit outside from dusk unless you want to be bombarded!

We walked for an hour, through pine trees and beautiful ponds with clear water, not seeing another person. It was just us and some birds (and the occasional frog).

The views from the top were spectacular. Well worth the climb. We stopped at a bench and two Canada Jays came to see what we up to. They got so close to us. We walked the hour back and got in the van - tired but happy.

We drove the next 80 minutes chatting and listening to music and laughing at the road signs with funny names, until we arrived back at Pippy Park. We were given our pitch and then I went for a shower and the boys stayed in the van. We then left again to go a diner called Bigs as they were showing the Canada vs Qatar football match.

It was called Bigs for a reason - everything was HUGE. You even needed two hands to pick up the glass of water. We had a great meal and Canada won 6 v 0.

This is the first time we have driven in the dark. We had been told that moose get attracted to car headlights, so can easily get into trouble on the road, so it was best not to drive at night. This was just a short distance and it was fine.

It’s nice to be back at Pippy Park.