Two Lane Adventures: Day 12 of 30 on our 2017 Canadian Maritime Caravan with Yankee RV Tour

On Friday June 16, 2017 we carpooled to the St Barbe Ferry dock, about 1/2 mile from the campground, for our long anticipated ferry ride to Labrador. This Ferry, reminds me of the Cape May – Lewes Ferry, except you can put cars below deck as well as above.

You drive your vehicles on the lower decks of the ship and you drive them off the other end of the ship when you arrive. The 90 minute ferry ride took us via the Strait of Belle Isle ferry from the Viking Trail community of St Barbe, where you board the MV Apollo, to Blanc Sablon on the Labrador-Quebec boundary. In winter, when St Barbe is icebound, the ice-strengthened vessel from Corner Brook must be used.

On this ferry route, you sail the Strait of Belle Isle, nicknamed Iceberg Alley for the numerous icebergs that move along here. Initially, icebergs were a bane for Newfoundland and Labrador trap fishermen. The massive chunks of ice that have broken off of northern glaciers would drift through waters taking whatever fishing gear that lay in its path with it. But with changing times it’s something they have come to embrace, as the beauty of this ice rose just can’t be denied. They are revered so much, that they have a 10-day Iceberg Festival in early June. We saw several, and they were as breathtaking, big and blue, as we had heard!

We departed the Blanc Sablon Port, in Quebec, which is the western terminus of the ferry and drove thru 500 yards of Quebec. Does that mean we can say we were in Quebec?

We crossed into Labrador and headed north to Route 510. Welcome to the "Big Land," Labrador is also known as "the Rock." The first 50 miles of Route 510, as far as Red Bay, are paved, and the remaining stretch to Happy Valley-Goose Bay is gravel. They are starting to paving from Happy-Valley, Goose Bay south toward Red Bay. But, it is a slow and expensive process. They have 80 miles done and it is over 4 million dollars!

L'Anse-au-Clair is the first community that you'll come to in Labrador. It was founded by the French in the early 1700s. It is a scenic fishing out-port with local craft stores. There's also a restored early 20th-century church, which now serves as the Gateway to the Labrador Visitor Center displaying the history and heritage of the area and information on what to see and do. The nearby Jersey Room Hiking Trail leads to an interpretation area on Jerseymen from the Channel Islands who fished here in the 17th century.

L’Anse Amour National Historic Site of Canada overlooks the waters of the Strait of Belle Isle near the small modern community of L’Anse Amour. It is the location of the Maritime Archaic Burial Mound where archaeologists discovered the oldest known funeral monument in North America. The Maritime Archaic people buried a 12-year-old boy here 7,500 years ago with an elaborate reverence that is unique for that era. Aboriginal people lived here as early as 9,000 years ago when it was on the edge of the retreating glaciers. A series of small campsites and burial grounds are all that remain of these early relatives of Paleo-Indian caribou hunters of northeastern North America. The descendants of these early inhabitants of southern Labrador later fished and hunted whales in the Strait of Belle Isle. The numerous species of fish and seabirds along the coast also supported later bands of Inuit and even Newfoundland's Beothuk Indians who made their homes here. Some of the artifacts found at the site have been reproduced and are on display at the Labrador Straits Museum and Craft Shop just a few miles away overlooking L'Anse Amour. The museum features displays on the contribution women have made to the Straits area.

Lighthouses were built to provide a guidepost to mariners at sea, bridging the gap between ships and shore. They worked in isolated areas, amidst harsh weather conditions, to provide safe guidance. A visit to the Point Amour Lighthouse Provincial Historic Site is a must! The Point Armour Lighthouse was first designated a heritage lighthouse under Canada’s Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act in December 2013. One of the iconic symbols of the Labrador Straits, with countless tales passing from generation to generation, particularly of the Wyatt family and their 84-year reign of light keeping. The tour, built in 1857, stands at 109-foot lighthouse, the second tallest and one of the two oldest still working in Canada. The light has been automated since 1995.

The beacon was initially placed there to guide the ships. Nonetheless, the region was still the home of many shipwrecks. The most famous is the HMS Raleigh which went aground near Point Amour on August 8, 1922. The 605 foot, 700 crew British warship, which weighed some 12,000 ton, was steaming from Port Saunders toward Forteau Bay where officers were to partake in some salmon and trout fishing. With the kind of heavy fog that often cloaks the coast obscuring its path, the Raleigh approached its destination, barely missing a massive iceberg in its path. While avoiding the collision with the icy giant, the vessel veered into shallow waters, the rocks of Forteau Bay ripping a 360 foot gash through the belly of the ship, grounding it just 200 yards from shore. Eleven lives were lost and the remaining officers and crew, more than 680 people spent the night scattered about the buildings of the Point Armor Light station.

I love the road signs! But, I should say … the road was rough before we got to this sign! The speed limit was 80 kph, which is 50 mph … you cannot got 50 mph on these roads!

We continued to see icebergs as we headed further north. You cross the Forteau River, that runs into the Atlantic Ocean. In the summer months, trout and salmon anglers will be standing in the many pools, steadies and rattles. The cooler weather we have been not enjoying, has its benefits … it has kept the black-flies at bay! At this time of year, they are taking no prisoners, whenever the air is warm and calm. Where it's cool and breezy, they're not much of a problem. Thank God for the cooler weather!

The first European settlers on the Southern Labrador Coast came from England, the island of Jersey in the English Channel near France, and Newfoundland, and in the mid-19th century most arrivals were from Dorset, Devon and Somerset. After that, settlers tended to be Newfoundlanders moving north, such as those who eventually settled at L'Anse-au-Loup – Captstan Island, West St. Modeste and further north in Lodge Bay in what were at first only temporary summer fishing stations.

During the month of August, Forteau is the home of the annual Labrador Straits Bakeapple Folk Festival. The event is named for the golden-colored berries, also called cloudberries, which grow in abundance along this coast. They are a great delicacy when prepared as jams, jellies or sauces. The festival has lots of berry picking, but the fun also includes baking contests, traditional music, dance, song and storytelling. A variety of distinct craft items are sold during the festival. They range from caribou skin mittens and rug work to tapestries, carvings and colorful embroidered clothing.

At the end of the paved section of Route 510 you'll find Red Bay. Red Bay is a natural harbor residing in the bay that gives it its name, both names in reference to the red granite cliffs of the region. Because of the sheltered harbor it was used during World War II as a mooring site for naval vessels. In the bay are Penney Island and Saddle Island, which were used by the Basques for their whaling operations. Before we toured the Museum and Interpretive Center, we had to deliver our gifts and eat lunch.

For the last 30 years, Yankee RV Tour Caravaneers, have brought staples to a village leader in Red Bay. Marilyn and her husband Bim, have helped the members of the most remote Inuit villages in Labrador. She collects items that are donated and shares them with the villages she visits. Rod, our caravan Wagonmaster, and owner of Yankee RV Tours, provides us a list of items she needs.

Marilyn is a unique, strong, dedicated woman … she has had more foster children than we can count, she helps anyone in need and works hard to pass her Inuit heritage onto the next generation. She owns a restaurant that is open in Red Bay, during the warm months, The Whaler Restaurant. This is where we had lunch and left our gifts. We had every car and the beds of three pick-up trucks full of boxes and bags. We had to make a fireman’s chain to get all of the boxes into the restaurant.

Red Bay is a fishing village and former site of several Basque whaling stations on the southern coast of Labrador. Between 1530 and the early 17th century, Red Bay, known as Balea Baya (Whale Bay), was a major Basque whaling area. The site is home to three Basque whaling galleons and four small chalupas used in the capture of whales. The discovery of these vessels makes Red Bay one of the most precious underwater archaeological sites in the Americas. Red Bay has been designated a National Historic Site of Canada, and since 2013 it is one of seventeen Canadian sites added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Sailors from southern France and northern Spain sent 15 whaleships and 600 men a season to the remote outpost on the Strait of Belle Isle to try to catch the right whale and bowhead whales that populated the waters there. In 1565, a ship, believed to be the San Juan, sank in the waters off Red Bay during a storm. Other, smaller vessels, such as chalupas, have also been recovered from the waters. Another galleon was found 25–35 feet below water in 2004. It was the fourth trans-oceanic ship to have been found in the area. A cemetery on nearby Saddle Island holds the remains of 140 whalers. Many of the people buried there are thought to have died from drowning and exposure. Historians believe that a decline in whale stocks eventually led to the abandonment of the whaling stations in Red Bay. Today, we visited the interpretive center to learn the history. The Red Bay National Historic Site Interpretative Center introduces you to this site, the world's first industrial-scale whale fishery. Archaeologists have uncovered an astounding number of tools and personal effects that confirm European habitation of this coast during the 16th and 17th centuries. Many of these are now conserved in the Interpretation Center. A Basque chalupa recovered from the waters of the bay and on display in the museum. It is over 400 year old, reconstructed, whaling chapula! The museum showcases extensive exhibits featuring actual artifacts from years of archaeology work including actual Basque clothing, eating and drinking utensils.

There is a large rusty shipwreck visible from the the Interpretation Center. It is the remains of the ship the Bernier that grounded in 1966 in the Red Bay Harbor by Saddle Island.

There is still plenty of snow outside of Red Bay. We took this picture along the roadside, this is left over from the highway department’s snow blower. Standing in front of it, gives you an idea of how large this bank still is!

But, the snow is still in many more areas, than just along the banks of the road.

On our way back down Route 510, we stopped at the wooden bridge over the Pinware River. It is amazing that midway, the treed scenery ends briefly at the bridge over the stunning Pinware River gorge. The Pinware River, stocked with a healthy supply of salmon traveling upstream to spawn.

Did I mention the awesome waterfalls that leap from the sides of the Pinware Gorge?

As the road cuts east, you get views of the large ponds or lakes, carved by glaciers and where hills dip down to the coast.

At County Cat Pond there are a few “summer” homes sit in a mostly uninhabited landscape. More ponds are visible as the road as the route cuts through a glacial landscape scattered with boulders. The unusually large number of boulders – glacial erratics, as they're called. A glacial erratic is a piece of rock that differs from the size and type of rock native to the area in which it rests. "Erratics" take their name from the Latin word errare (to wander), and are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundreds of miles. Erratics can range in size from pebbles to large boulder. Erratics provide an important tool in characterizing the directions of glacier flows. Erratic distributions and glacial till properties allow for identification of the source rock from which they derive, which confirms the flow direction, particularly when the erratic source outcrop is unique to a limited locality. Erratic materials may be transported by multiple glacier flows prior to their deposition, which can complicate the reconstruction of the glacial flow.

Did I mention the rough roads? They had ample signage indicating the roads were rough, but it was a mute point ... because most of the entire stretch we drove was rough!