Farewell to Newfoundland

Lobster Drive

After a pancake breakfast we get everyone and everything loaded into the van and drive out of Gros Morne back to Deer lake. We drop off Bill and Janice at the airport and then deliver Ian and Debbie to the Insectorium. The latter will spend a further two days in Newfoundland. With some regret we say our farewells. It’s been a great trip.

Carolyn and I the drive the 150 miles back down to Port-aux-Basques in order to catch our 2pm ferry. I manage to write two letters whilst hurtling down the road, pick up some stamps in Corner Brook and have my letters taken of me by a friendly lady who says she passes a postbox on the way home in the evening. Fair enough.

The ferry leaves on time and I drag myself out on deck to watch Newfoundland recede into the distance. I imagine I won’t be coming back. We arrive in North Sydney, Nova Scotia at about 8pm local time and drive as far as the small town of Aberdeen and stay at a fairly ratty motel. We have no dinner either but make do with some cheese and biscuits and the left over beer.

The following day we drive all day. Or rather Carolyn does. We start off with breakfast at a Tim Hortons. Sad. We blast through New Brunswick ignoring the miles of pine forest and the Moose signs. Moose. Huh! Seen those. At the US border we are pulled over and interrogated. Carolyn coughs up 10 dollars for some obscure tax and we are on our way.

The drive through northern Maine is the same as New Brunswick but we amuse ourselves by going a little off-track after Bangor whilst we try and locate the coastal route. We get down to Belfast, Maine and have a Lobster supper at Young’s Lobster Pound. I’m amazed that the lobster is served with a packet of crisps! We also negotiate the buying of 12 Lobsters to take home. Eventually we are persuaded to buy them half-cooked rather than live. They will last longer this way. The fellow that deals with is very friendly and helpful. I think he’s the son of the owner. He’s also a dead-ringer for Wayne Rooney.

Further down the road we find a motel in Camden. This makes me smile as it was 18 years ago when I rode my bicycle this way that I stopped off here and had my first taste of Maine Lobster. Happy Days.

The next day we complete our drive back to the canoe base at Sunderland, Vermont. We start however with a superb All American Breakfast at a great diner in Camden.

When we finally got home, in the early afternoon, we had driven 3060 miles total over the whole trip. Of course I hadn’t done any driving at all.

That evening Carolyn and Jim invited some friends around and we had our lobster dinner. Jack and Nicky came down as did Paul and his girlfriend, Liesl (I think!). This was a fine way to end a trip.