Moose, Merlin, Cod cakes and Halibut
Today was the start of the Port au Choix Cod Festival and the first event was a fish cakes and beans brunch at the French Bread Oven. It didn't start until 11am, so we left the Lion's Club campground and went back to the Historic Site Visitor Center for a short morning walk.
As we were standing outside the visitor center, a moose went striding down the road and then off into the barrens on the opposite side of the road. We sort of expected caribou, but no one had mentioned moose. The barrens do not seem to be moose habitat, but there a a large expanse of tuckamore (low scrub pine forest and wetlands) in the direction she was heading ... a bit more to a moose's taste.
We took a trail leading into the inland barrens but not where the moose was going. It was easy walking and there were a fair number of birds calling, but the highlight of the walk was a clear view of a Merlin on a small tree calling away. That was our turn around signal and we headed back to Speedy and on to brunch.
The French Bread Oven is out near the trail we walked yesterday. It is a working reproduction of a wood-fired domed oven from the 18th century. French fishermen were allowed to fish Newfoundland waters from temporary camps each year. Ovens similar to the one in Port au Choix were evidently built at these sites. There are seven of these reproduction ovens at sites in Newfoundland.
They normally bake rolls every afternoon in the oven and serve them with butter and jam and tea or coffee in a small cafe next to the oven, but today they were serving fish cakes and beans with a roll starting at 11am as part of the Cod Festival. The fish cakes were from salt cod and the baked beans were home-made. Both were quite tasty. The coffee was a bit weak and the rolls were a bit disappointing. They said they were the same as baked in the oven, but seemed a bit more commercial.
While waiting for brunch we chatted with the appropriately costumed baker who was firing up the oven for this afternoon's bake. He explained the way the oven was built and how it was fired slowly using various woods each day. He also veered off into his family history once he found out we were from Boston. Evidently his ancestors emigrated from Boston to the North Coast of Quebec back in the 1700's to fish. I didn't ask if they were Royalists during the Revolution.
After our early lunch we headed south towards Gros Morne National Park. We knew that all the campgrounds were booked for tonight (it's Friday, the bane of no reservation camping). We thought we might boondock at the Arches Provincial Park just north of the National Park. It is not a camping park, but has a parking lot right on the water overlooking the eponymous sea arches for which the park is named. Overnight parking is allowed here but we found the parking lot was much smaller than we expected and it was very busy, so we moved on.
At a couple of the national park campgrounds, we tried the approach of asking for a site and when informed that they were all booked, asking about overflow sites, but it didn't work. They evidently have overflow sites but only book them in emergencies. We asked what an emergency was and were told that if someone comes in late in the evening and they are full, they will let them stay one night. We considered just hanging out elsewhere in the park and coming back at 8pm, but that would be too late for dinner and a restful evening.
We continued on, stopping briefly at the wharf in Rocky Harbour where a group of fishermen were unloading some rather large halibut from a small fishing boat. The fish were large enough that they were using a crane to lift them from the boat to a truck. The fish were being weighed and there seemed to be an official counter standing by. Canadian fishing is very closely monitored.
We decided to try a stop at the Water's Edge campground right on the water in Shoal Brook. It is on the road to Trout River. We had seen it when we stayed at the national park campground at Trout River the last time we were in Newfoundland. It seemed interesting although directly between the water and the road. Unfortunately, all their waterfront electrical sites were taken, but they had space in an overflow parking lot across the street. It still had a view and was pretty comfortable and quiet (considering that two large RVs pulled in on either side of us).
Tomorrow we are off to Springdale, a new place for us, stopping at a local municipal park and going into the town for laundry and provisions. They also have a couple of trails that we might explore.
Ellen's photos from today.
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