| Bound Down for Newfoundland |
| I love lighthouses. I have paintings, photos, cross stitch designs, postcards, of lighthouses all over my home. I wanted to see Ferryland lighthouse as up close as I could get. Vic had been there last year when he did his thing with the TARGA Newfoundland Road Rally. He had warned me that the road to the lighthouse was horrible and it ended a pretty long hike from the actual lighthouse. I didn't understand how bad till we actually got on the road to the lighthouse behind the archelogical site. The road was dirt and rocks and boulders, about as wide as the van, with a couple of grassy places to pull off and get out or turn around in. I was excited to see how close we could get to the lighthouse. Impatient with Vic for driving so slow, I babbled on about the lighthouse and was dismayed at the speed (or lack of it) that the van was traveling. When I finally paid attention to the road, I was horrified that we were actually driving on it and before we reached the first grassy knoll, we had decided that we weren't going to go much farther. The rocks, which covered 85% of the dirt road, were sharp and some looked jagged. As Vic swerved to the side to avoid hitting a huge rock in the road, we heard an ominous sound. "POP!" AS we inched forward to the grassy knoll to turn around, Vic began to feel that something wasn't quite right. He finally pulled over about 25 feet past the "POP" to find the sidewall of the front tire slashed. Great! I won't say it was the worst place to have a flat tire. That would have been the one when we were on a dirt mountain road on the side of a cliff pulling a 12-canoe trailer. The flat was on the cliff side. But this ranked up there! Vic worked on getting the jack and tire stuff out while I offered moral support. I busied myself taking pictures of the lighthouse as I thought this was as close as I was going to get. |
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| Soon two SUVs drove up behind us. Vic and I went back to tell them it was going to be a while. (the tire hadn't come off yet) A man and a woman got out and came up to see if we needed assistance. We chatted for a while about the horrible state of the road. They asked if I had been taking photos of the lighthouse. I expressed my diasappointment at not getting to see the lighthouse up close and personal. Well, Providence was with me. Jill and her friend Sonya ran a catering service from the lighthouse called Lighthouse Picnics! She was on her way with the Searles, Sonya's father-in-law, to return supplies she had taken to use at her booth at the St. John's Folk Festival. Jill's ancestors had been the lighthouse keepers here long ago and she felt she had a connection and a duty to keep some sort of family tradition alive regarding the lighthouse. The government had given her permission to use the grounds around the buildings and set up a small storage area. She was not permited to use the Lighthouse buildings as they had been designated "historic". But the government hadn't been very good at upkeep she said. The buildings were in some need of repair and sprucing up. Then out of the blue she asked, "Would you like to get a ride up there in the jeep since you aren't going anywhere in the van? Needless to say, I was soooo there! After Vic had changed the tire and pulled over onto the grassy area, I was into the jeep and on my way! A jeep was definitely the only way to go up to the lighthouse. As we picked our way carefully down the road, Jill told me about her catering service. They offer two different menus and picnic below the lighthouse in a sheltered area. They have fancy lemon chicken sandwiches and snap peas on hot days and hearty bean soup with homemade bread on cold days. Searles helps out by going berry picking at Cape Race and sharing the loot. We got to the point at the headlands where there was just a thin strip of land with sheer drops on both sides. There was a gate in the middle of the road! She opened the gate and I prayed for no wind gusts as we drove over to the lighthouse. A thick growth of tall shrubs lined the path to my desired spot. Wow! I loved the view from the lighthouse and the wind was something else. I was glad to have my sweatshirt with me. As I was snapping photos we talked about my visit to Newfoundland. I found out she had talked to Fran and Jenny at the Folk Festival! The perennial question was asked, "Do you have relatives in Newfoundland?" No. People always ask this one next - "What made you come visit?" My answer is always the same - "Great Big Sea speaks so fondly of Newfoundland during their concerts that we had to come see for ourselves this magical place." She was surprised I knew about Great Big Sea. Then she told me all about living in Scotland for a few years and how lucky she was to see this Scottish group, Runrig, when GBS was opening for them. She got another surprise when I told confessed to owning 3 Runrig CDs! ANd another when we talked about Bruce Guthro, the new lead singer for Runrig. I have a CD of his too! She had gone to University with Sean McCann and had nothing but nice things to say about him. And as it turns out, the gentleman helping her was her partner's Dad, who was related in some way to Alan Doyle of GBS. Small world. |
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| The loading of the shed took way too little time and before I knew it, we were on our way back to the Colony of Avalon. I thanked the two of them profusely and Vic and I went to explore the archeological treasure before us. We ate at the restaurant right there at the site and perused a menu that included scrunchions, partridgeberry muffins and cod tongues. Vic and I had fish and chips. The family eating next to us had a few Come-From-Aways with them who tried all of the above! I have had cod tongues and partridgeberry muffins and loved both. Scrunchions are another thing entirely, no thanks! |
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| Ferryland Lighthouse from the flat tire vantage |