Rose Blanche Lighthouse


Rose Blanche Municipal Complex - Office, Fire Hall & Municipal Garage


Town of Rose Blanche


Rose Blanche Lighthouse


More Wildflowers


Bakeapple Berries

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 CafĂ©, 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.


Codroy River



Cemetery at Great Codroy


Cape Ray Shoreline & Gulf of St. Lawrence


Wildflowers


Cape Ray Lighthouse

Tuesday - July 24, 2007

The sun was shining at 5:30 this morning but by about 8 it was clouded over and remained like that the rest of the day. We decided to tour Codroy Valley today and had a nice day and enjoyed touring around. We drove out to the lighthouse at Cape Anguille (our pictures of it weren’t good) then drove down to Cape Ray and back into Port aux Basques.

We went into the general store here at Codroy, and it was quite interesting as it had a little bit of everything from souvenirs, to groceries to a liquor store but the prices were quite high and there wasn’t one bit of fresh fruit or veggies. We found a Price Chopper in Port aux Basques so will stop tomorrow and stock up before heading on to Stephenville on Thursday.

We had noticed two RV’s from Ontario come in this morning about 10 and set up just behind us a bit. When we got back this afternoon one of the trucks came by and the fellow waved and I thought both he and the truck license looked familiar (the license is personalized), then a couple of minutes later he came back and said your Carolyn aren’t you. It turned out to be Frank McColeman from the Elora area and he and Nancy were here with another couple, Bob & Bonnie Daigle from Guelph/Eramosa. Frank asked us over for a drink so we had a great visit and got lots of helpful hints for things to see and do. They have been on the island for 3 weeks and are taking the ferry back tomorrow morning so had lots to tell us. It was great seeing them, small world. I hadn’t seen Nancy and Frank in quite a number of years, then ran into them last summer at Green Acres so it was nice to meet up with them again.


Port aux Basques Harbour


Windmills & Lighthouse at Sydney

Monday - July 23, 2007

We are now in Newfoundland and what little we have seen is beautiful. We are set up at a really nice campground about 45 km from Port aux Basques, on one side is a river and the other side is mountains - so pretty. It seems weird to be1-1/2 hours ahead of home, the half hour is so strange! Bonus, there is wi-fi here and she gave us a spot where we could be sure to hook up with no problem. John has just got the satellite TV up and working so we are all set.

Today was a nice warm sunny day and it is supposed to be like this for a couple of days at least so here’s hoping.

The ferry ride was good but seemed long, this was only 6 hours so can't wait for the 14 hour one coming back! It was really hot in the sun on deck and cool in the shade so we took turns sitting inside and out. After lunch we found a couple of nice comfortable chairs and dozed for a bit and I bought a book and read to help pass the time.

We were at the front of the boat going on so we were the first one off which was a bonus. Getting the trailer parked on the ferry was fun, the first thing they did when we got on was push in our mirrors, then John couldn't see the trailer behind and where it was in relation to the obstacles on either side so we put them out again. We were parking between a wall and a transport truck, with about a foot clearance on either side, then when we got to the front John had to turn a bit to miss a large post, lots of fun but he did very well and we managed to get off and on without any scratches. There was a fellow directing us but he could only see one side of the trailer at a time so when he was watching one side we were worrying about the other!


Louisbourg Lighthouse


Fortress Waterfront


View of Lighthouse from House in Fortress


Chapel in King's Bastion


Little Girls Bowling


Woman Accused of Stealing & Sentenced to 2 Hours of Public Humility in Town Square Then to be Deported Back to France


John & I in Front of King's Bastion


Garden in Fortress

Sunday - July 22, 2007

Wow, we haven’t seen so much rain in a long time. It rained all evening and all night then it was off and on for most of this morning. We finally decided that we wouldn’t melt if we got wet so headed for Fortress Louisbourg and lo and behold the rain stopped shortly before we got there, and then about 2 the sun came out and it got quite warm. It was only about 15C when we left here but it was about 22C when we got through at the fortress, so we were happy that it had turned into such a nice afternoon.

When we got to the Visitors Centre we found out that you have to take a bus to the fortress as the centre is quite a long ways from the actual fortress. They had interesting displays in the Visitors Centre that you could look at on the way to the bus. We took a quick look on the way there then spent longer looking at them on the way out. The fortress was very interesting and surprisingly enough it really wasn’t very busy so we didn’t have to battle any crowds to see things. We bought a loaf of rye bread at the bakery so it will be interesting to see what it tastes like – it is very heavy so I don’t know what it will be like, we were thankful we didn’t buy it until on the way out.

After the fortress we toured around the town of Louisbourg then drove out to the lighthouse. The ocean was rolling in real good so it was quite pretty and the fog horn was blaring away so it was also noisy. We then went into Sydney to Swiss Chalet for dinner – thanks Kel, Tim and kids, we really enjoyed it.

John is now hooking up the trailer as we have to be out of here about 7:30 tomorrow morning and I have got as much done inside as I can so we can be ready to roll quite quickly in the morning. We will probably wait and have breakfast when we get to the dock as we will have at least an hour to wait before boarding. This morning I went online to check our reservation and it kept rejecting my reservation number and password so I got a little panicky and called Marine Atlantic. All was well, they still have our reservation for the morning and she said the reservation program was giving them problems, so I got panicky for nothing.

Tonight we had a nice sunset, the first we have seen in quite a while.