Wheelin' and Rockin' with DIanE

Our last stop was in St. John’s and we stayed at a city-run urban campground called Pippy Park. It was literally 10 minutes from downtown and a great park. We were there for 4 nights after a relatively easy drive from Terra Nova.

After we arrived and got connected we went into town and did a bit of a walk about and stopped to eat at an Irish pub. There’s a significant Irish influence in St. John’s.

Our next morning started with a trip to Signal Hill. Now, at times all I want to do is go see the site on my own time and read stuff along the way. Di is more about looking at options, and if there is a free tour to be had, she is all over it. I ended up agreeing to the tour and lucky for me Di likes investigating options. We had an extremely knowledgeable young man who had just finished some sort of dissertation on the harbour of St. John’s and its significant military historical background….and we were the only two with him. It was a fantastic 40 minutes that gave us many insights into the harbour and its history.

After Signal Hill we drove over to Cape Spear and walked around there. Saw some rather large cannons here and another lighthouse.

We then went to Quidi Viddy Brewery for a cold Iceberg, our favourite Newfoundland craft beer we first discovered Gross Morne. Really cool spot overlooking a quaint little inlet.

The next day was a tour day….a Puffin tour day! Actually ended up seeing a number of different birds.

After the Puffin tour it was back to the park for a bit of chill time and then back into town for an awesome dinner at the St. John’s Fish Exchange….lobster for me!!!! Yummm!

Our next day was set around a hike on a portion of the East Coast Trail. The trail is comprised of 270 kilometers of coastal hiking paths. The trail we chose was Brock’s Head…..and it was tough! It was 10km and some very significant climbs and descents….and spectacular views.

Hard to get an idea of the inclines but look at the stairs beside Di and up to the left.

It was the most grueling of all the hikes but so worth it! After the hike it was back to the park for some recouping and relaxing before heading out for another great dinner at The Merchant Tavern.

A comment on the hiking, we knew we would be doing some but we ended up doing more than we thought and enjoyed it more than we thought. It is something we will look to do more of on future travels but also at home. I received some great advice from a couple friends who are hikers…take hiking poles. There is no way we would have been able to do some of the trails we did safely without them.

Our last day was pretty laid back basically touring around parts of downtown St. John’s. Di wanted to hit a few shops and I wanted to check out an iconic record store…Fred’s…been around for 40 years. They had a local who was doing an album release event and we were there for sound check.

We then went by the Jelly Bean houses and the last stop was a local pub with a local musician.

We mad a return visit to the Fish Exchange for dinner and then headed back to the park to get ready for the return journey home.

The next day we had to be at the ferry terminal for 3 o’clock and it was a 90 minute drive from St. Johns. The return ferry was overnight (17 hours) but we had a berth, so it was quite comfortable. Once we disembarked in North Sydney, it was three days driving back home.

This was an amazing trip…the topography and vegetation, the views on the hikes, the tours, the people and food were spectacular. We have already begun discussing going back…magical place.

Thanks for reading…until next time.

E