IBM? What's that?
Getting off the ferry? No, getting on. This is Newfoundland & Labrador. They do everything backwards. Day 19: L'Anse au Loup ~ Cartwright (419km)
As I write this, I'm in a small, 4-bed cabin whose joints and corners are quietly creaking with the side to side motion of our overnight ferry, the MV Sir Robert Bond, bound for Happy Valley - Goose Bay from Cartwright, both in Labrador. Tucked away inside the ship in a small cabin, it's easy to start feeling a little uneasy over how trapped you are if something should go wrong, but fortunately we're not that far from the exit and what's better is that we have no other cabinmates. There aren't a whole lot of passengers on the ship tonight, perhaps a hundred or so, but then again, it's not a huge ferry either. In fact, it's more of a cargo ferry that also does a little bit of passenger service on the side, and it shows on the inner decks.
We got to Cartwright after a 330km, 4 hour drive on Highway 510, stage 2 of the Trans-Labrador Highway (TLH), which was completed just 4 or 5 years ago. It's gravel road all the way to Cartwright from its starting point in Red Bay and connects the two towns, both with a population of roughly 600 people. In between is 300+ kilometres of vast wilderness, completely uninhabited save for two or three extremely small communities. The views as you crest a hill and look out over 360 degrees of pristine forest and lakes are simply amazing. That said, after 300km of the same thing, it does start to lose a little of its punch.
It's by no means a heavily travelled road. Most tourists, if they get to Labrador at all, cross from Newfoundland and go as far as Red Bay before turning around and heading back. On the four-hour trip we encountered only a couple dozen other cars and trucks, and fortunately (or unfortunately) only one of them showered us with rocks and sand, leaving a small windshield chip. The road is in incredibly good condition, wide with virtually no potholes, and although it's loose gravel for most of the way, as long as you are careful in the corners and don't try to break speed records, the driving is fairly quick and easy. We're happy to report that the Silver Moose handled this first stretch without any problems.
This morning after a quick breakfast, we were on the road under cloudless skies, heading for the Basque Whaling National Historic Site at Red Bay. The displays and movie at the interpretive centre taught us so many fascinating things about the Basque people and all the whaling activity that went on in eastern Canada half a century before Champlain even showed up. Walking around and seeing all the recovered artifacts and looking at old maps that clearly have the east coast and the Maritimes fairly well mapped out, you're slowly left wondering why Cartier and Champlain got all the credit for "discovering" things here for the Europeans when Basque whalers and other French fishermen had been up and down the coast for almost a century before them.
After lunch at the neighbouring "Whalers Restaurant", we were looking for the town's public internet station to upload yesterday's blog update. Our server at the restaurant gave us directions but said that it was closed on the weekends. I was a little disappointed, because you know that I live for keeping you all updated, but as we were heading for the door she added, "But I heard that if you pull up really close and turn on your laptop, you can pick up the wireless network." Unfortunately, I told her, my battery was shot and I could only work when plugged in. So we headed off for gas, but as we passed the internet place, I noticed a socket on the outside of the building. So we pulled up, I plugged in my laptop, fired it up, connected, and got the update uploaded. A bit ridiculous, but all's well that ends well.
So here we are now steaming for Happy Valley - Goose Bay. When we dock in the morning we'll have an hour or so to look around before continuing onto Churchill Falls via the next stretch of the TLH. It's 280km to Churchill Falls and another 210km from there to Labrador City, where we plan to spend tomorrow night. On the ferry tonight we got talking with a boyfriend/girlfriend couple returning home to Lab City from Newfoundland. She told us we talked "slow and all proper," and not quickly like they do in Newfoundland & Labrador. She went on and on for so long about how great their accent is that I didn't have the heart to tell her that I'd take slow and proper over twangy and goofy anyday.
They were nice people, no doubt about it, and definitely at home in middle-of-nowhere Labrador. When she asked what we did, Andrew said that he worked for IBM.
We got to Cartwright after a 330km, 4 hour drive on Highway 510, stage 2 of the Trans-Labrador Highway (TLH), which was completed just 4 or 5 years ago. It's gravel road all the way to Cartwright from its starting point in Red Bay and connects the two towns, both with a population of roughly 600 people. In between is 300+ kilometres of vast wilderness, completely uninhabited save for two or three extremely small communities. The views as you crest a hill and look out over 360 degrees of pristine forest and lakes are simply amazing. That said, after 300km of the same thing, it does start to lose a little of its punch.
It's by no means a heavily travelled road. Most tourists, if they get to Labrador at all, cross from Newfoundland and go as far as Red Bay before turning around and heading back. On the four-hour trip we encountered only a couple dozen other cars and trucks, and fortunately (or unfortunately) only one of them showered us with rocks and sand, leaving a small windshield chip. The road is in incredibly good condition, wide with virtually no potholes, and although it's loose gravel for most of the way, as long as you are careful in the corners and don't try to break speed records, the driving is fairly quick and easy. We're happy to report that the Silver Moose handled this first stretch without any problems.
This morning after a quick breakfast, we were on the road under cloudless skies, heading for the Basque Whaling National Historic Site at Red Bay. The displays and movie at the interpretive centre taught us so many fascinating things about the Basque people and all the whaling activity that went on in eastern Canada half a century before Champlain even showed up. Walking around and seeing all the recovered artifacts and looking at old maps that clearly have the east coast and the Maritimes fairly well mapped out, you're slowly left wondering why Cartier and Champlain got all the credit for "discovering" things here for the Europeans when Basque whalers and other French fishermen had been up and down the coast for almost a century before them.
After lunch at the neighbouring "Whalers Restaurant", we were looking for the town's public internet station to upload yesterday's blog update. Our server at the restaurant gave us directions but said that it was closed on the weekends. I was a little disappointed, because you know that I live for keeping you all updated, but as we were heading for the door she added, "But I heard that if you pull up really close and turn on your laptop, you can pick up the wireless network." Unfortunately, I told her, my battery was shot and I could only work when plugged in. So we headed off for gas, but as we passed the internet place, I noticed a socket on the outside of the building. So we pulled up, I plugged in my laptop, fired it up, connected, and got the update uploaded. A bit ridiculous, but all's well that ends well.
So here we are now steaming for Happy Valley - Goose Bay. When we dock in the morning we'll have an hour or so to look around before continuing onto Churchill Falls via the next stretch of the TLH. It's 280km to Churchill Falls and another 210km from there to Labrador City, where we plan to spend tomorrow night. On the ferry tonight we got talking with a boyfriend/girlfriend couple returning home to Lab City from Newfoundland. She told us we talked "slow and all proper," and not quickly like they do in Newfoundland & Labrador. She went on and on for so long about how great their accent is that I didn't have the heart to tell her that I'd take slow and proper over twangy and goofy anyday.
They were nice people, no doubt about it, and definitely at home in middle-of-nowhere Labrador. When she asked what we did, Andrew said that he worked for IBM.
posted by CHRIS at 10:43 p.m.
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