Wednesday, - July 25, 2007

We woke up to sunshine this morning which was nice for a change, a good day for touring. We headed out to Rose Blanche, which is a small community on the southwest coast about 45 km from Port aux Basque and what a pretty drive it was, very hilly with fantastic views of the ocean. The whole way there was very mountainous and I can’t believe how many lakes, ponds and rivers there are – water, water everywhere!!

Rose Blanche is noted for its lighthouse which was built in 1871 out of granite from a nearby quarry – very quaint and different. It was used as a lighthouse until the 1940’s when it was abandoned and fell into disrepair. The lighthouse had stone steps within the tower wall and these steps kept the building from completely collapsing, it was restored and reopened to the public in 1999 and we had a very interesting tour with lots of information and stories and a lovely view of the town and ocean.

After touring the lighthouse we went into town and what a riot that was, the streets are not named, are only about one car width wide and climb up and down and twist and turn like crazy, at one point we crested the top of a hill and couldn’t see down the other side!! We finally found the Friendly Fisherman’s Café, which had been recommended to us by quite a few people, and we had an excellent meal - I had fish and chips (cod) and John had fish cakes, and what huge portions they serve.

On the way back we stopped into the little harbour towns of Burnt Islands, Isle aux Morts and Margaree/Fox Roost. All these towns are built around a harbour and the houses cling to the side of the hills and the roads go up, down and all around. We simply cannot understand how they can drive these roads in winter, it would certainly be a challenge!

We stopped at Price Chopper on the way home and picked up a few groceries and at Port aux Basque we ran into fog and it was foggy all the way back, so we were glad it had been so nice where we were.

When we got back there was an Airstream like our old ’88 beside us and the people came over for a chat, they are from Trois Riviere and have been touring the island for about 3 weeks so had lots of places to tell us about and things to see. We have yet to hear anyone say anything bad about Newfoundland, everyone has just loved it and are so enthusiastic about telling others what to see and do and certainly from the little bit we have seen we can understand why everyone loves it.

I did some laundry and we had a very light dinner – a couple of crackers and cheese and John finished the rye bread from Louisbourg, and it is now the end of another great day.