St. John’s to Holyrood, NL
Traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq and Beothuk
53 km
Clear skies and winds, 8 ºC
We were up late (yet again) and woke up later than expected and rushed to the St. John’s Native Friendship Centre, something which had been a priority for us but we failed to line things up with them during our brief stint in the city. Many thanks to their communication coordinator for starting her day exercising patience with us.
We were running late for our CBC Radio interview and made it just in the nick of time. Paula, who welcomed us, was great and gave us some insider tips for surviving life on the island. (White pick-up trucks = bad.)
In regards to the weather all she said was, “Living on the Avalon Peninsula is like living on a ship in the ocean.”
We had a good interview and were even caught on tape by an interesting cameraperson whom I’d loved to have quizzed further. We stopped a little bit a ways down the road (to snack!) en route to the Bulk Barn (lentils + rice), when someone opened their front door and called to us, “I just heard you two on the radio!”
There was no shortage of interesting encounters and back roads and topics (resettled communities, tattoos, Lebanese traditions, surveying in Newfoundland, Muskrat Falls, dementia, and … India)
It was a terrific first day and while I likely won’t write much about the relationship dynamics between Jonathon and me (gotta save some goods for the book), he was a total natural and super-impressive all-around as a navigator and cycle touring pardner.
We did get ‘lost’ towards the end of the day, 30ish km short of our projected destination, and turned on a dirt road to stumble into this fascinating community of ATV-ers and dirt bikers. 16 year olds, 14 year olds, and even a 12-year old ripping around these trails and tracks, pulling jumps, burnouts, wheelies.
Not a side of Newfoundland we could have coordinated an encounter with.
We got to our campsite much later than preferred but we’d had a late start, fired up the stove, and settled into bed as soon as we could. The terrain has very quickly confirmed that it isn’t just ONE uphill battle but multiple. Tomorrow might teach us about headwinds (it does) but tonight, we’ll sleep well.
ps. Bonus images:
