Today began with a beautiful sunrise in Port aux Basques.
We then turned a two hour travel day into an eight hour trip. We first set off to visit the Rose Blanche lighthouse east of Port aux Basques along Newfoundland’s southwest coast. The GPS had no problem locating the lighthouse and calculating a route. However, “Penny” had no idea how to get us out of the town and onto the appropriate highway. We followed her instructions twice and ended up in dead-ends on both attempts. Next we drove to the Trans Canada Highway at which time she computed a new and different route that actually worked.
The road was narrow and not in the best of repair but turned out to be a view of a gorgeous coastline and low rocky hills. After about an hour we saw the first signs directing us to the lighthouse. As we followed the directions the road became more and more narrow and less and less hospitable. The final few hundred metres were on gravel but as we came over the final hilltop to a parking lot the view was spectacular but there was no visible lighthouse although we had seen it in the distance only a few moments previous.
When we got out of the car there were two women sitting on the porch and a man leaning against a fence. One of the women announced that they were in the process of closing the site but we were free to walk to the lighthouse. They politely opened the washrooms for us, having not yet winterized the water supply, then we set out up the hill on foot. It was worth the trip but the photos really don’t do it justice.
Our last excursion of the day took us off the Trans Canada Highway past Stephenville and out to Cape St George. This was apparently an area developed by French settlers and is quite pretty although not nearly as rugged as the southwest coast. The southern route to the cape was quite populated. The southern shore appeared to offer numerous hiking trails through much less populated areas. After completing the loop we stopped to pick up a few groceries for the next few day’s lunches then set out for Corner Brook.
