Day 15 - Shoal Brook to Terra Nova

Another Accidental Travel Day

It was a pleasant night at Water's Edge and a sunny start with a great view, even if we were boxed in by two Class Cs on either side that came in late.

While having coffee and breakfast, we watched a touring cyclist who was camped behind us pack up to leave. He was an "ultralight" touring cyclist with only a low tarp tent. All of his gear, including the tent, sleeping bag, air mattress and clothes fit into a rear rack trunk bag, another bag fit in the center of the bike between the tubes, a bedroll was strapped to the handlebars and a single pannier completed his kit. We watched as he headed off to climb more hills as we a very hilly part of the island. Aside from the hills he was climbing, I was envious of his setup. When I was touring, I had a trunk bag, a handlebar bag, two panniers and a trailer.

After great showers at the campground, some of the nicest we have come across, we were off. Our intended destination was Springdale, a nice-sounding town on Hall's Bay, an inlet on the north side of central Newfoundland. We were planning to stop at their municipal campground and do laundry in town. But first we needed a fuel stop. The best place was at Deer Lake where the western coastal road joins Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) 1, which goes across the province as well as the breadth of Canada ending somewhere on the west coast. As we have in the past, we were confused by the traffic pattern and ended up going around in circles to get to a gas station. The rerouting did bring us past a Tim Horton's and it was time for coffee. Ellen likes their coffee.

It was a chance to try a Double Double instead of my usual latte. The Double Double is not officially on the menu but every regular patron of Tim Horton's knows what it is and there are many. Ellen found it referred to in Louise Penny's Three Pines mysteries. Inspector Gamache only drinks Double Doubles when he is on a case. It was not described in the books, so it was a coffee mystery for me to solve.

What is it? It is a brewed coffee with two creams and two sugars. A medium might be a bit too sweet so I ordered a large, dark roast, double double and it was just right. This is a good alternative to a large latte which many servers seem to do badly.

We finally found a gas station, filled up and were on our was east on the TCH to Springdale. We arrived at the park near lunch time and were a bit disappointed. It was pretty good sized, but was filled with rows of seasonal trailers. Not actually on the river and not very appealing. It was time to go into Springdale and find Dave's Computer Repair and Laundromat.

Springdale is a former mining town. We noticed the tailings rising above the town as we drove in. While those mines are no longer active, there are active projects in the area, mostly copper, and Springdale is a technical and services hub. It seemed rather dusty on the main street, but it was completely torn up and being reconstructed. 

The laundromat should be reconstructed. It is down an alley and in a basement. When we opened the door, the place was almost completely dark and there was no one to be found. There were a couple of washers and dryers in the back of the store but the odor of mold and mildew was very strong. Ellen had already turned heel and said no laundry for us. 

After another provisioning stop at the local Foodland, we were off to try the King's Point municipal campground further up in the next bay over. It too was almost completely filled with seasonal trailers but it had a good view over the bay. We stopped there for lunch to ponder our next move.

We decided to just go on to Terra Nova National Park, which was going to be our next stop anyway, even though it was 270 km away (about three hours drive). We tried to make a reservation, but missed the cutoff time for same-day reservations by 20 minutes. The reservation website showed availability in all of the campground loops, so we decided to chance it and off we went.

Three hours later, we arrived at the Newman Sound Campground. We asked for a site for three nights to find none. In fact, there were only a few unserviced sites for tonight. We told them we were happy to change sites to stay the three days and he was able to find a good electric site for Sunday and Monday.

We are now in a very nice site, #138, in the no-generator loop after a long unplanned drive. We were welcomed by a Swainson's Thrush who hopped around the edge of the site for a while.