Viking Trail; Newfoundland; Prelude to disaster

Episode 16
Miles so far = 1122

After a good nights sleep, I awoke and threw back the curtains to reveal a bright, new, clean and fresh day, as well as the sight of my motorbike on its side in the driveway. That must have been the crash I half heard as I was dropping off to sleep last night. Well it was now in a state of stable equilibrium and any damage was already done, so shower, dressed and breakfast; then I would sort it all out.

 

After I had gone to bed last night another family had arrived. They were expected, but delayed due to a fault with the ferry from Labrador. They had come from Goose Bay, where they lived, to visit with family in St. John’s. I told them I was planning to go to Goose Bay using the same route they had to get here. They advised me to take the ferry from St. Paul's all the way because the road was being graded. What this means is lorry loads of gravel are dumped on the road and it is levelled out and lightly compacted. The obvious reason they do this is to fill the pot holes and ruts, but it is not the main reason. Most of Labrador is tundra, fen and bogs. The only way they can keep the roads viable is if the land under them is frozen solid, the gravel acts like a thermal blanket and keeps the subsurface frozen. For me, they said, 400 miles of loose gravel was going to be one heck of a challenge. Add in the moose and bears and it could turn out to be an exciting trip. I swallowed hard, laughed and went to see what damage had happened to the ‘bike. Thinking to myself, 'Yeah, and that's only the first leg!'

 

The planned route through Labrador, three legs riding and two ferries.

 

When I had parked the bike I had put it quite close to the edge of the gravel driveway, during the night the rain had undermined the gravel and one of the motorcycle stand legs had sunk in to it enough so that a chance gust of wind had done the rest.

 

Once more on the road I was looking forward to seeing with my own eyes the remains of the Viking Settlement at Le Anse aux Meadows. A myth from the old Norse Legends, no one had really believed that the Norsemen had reached America 500 years before Christopher Columbus, until this settlement had been unearthed and hundreds of iron nails, tar, pitch and the remains of a ship repairing harbour complex had been found here. The road crossed  from the west coast to the east across bleak moorland before coming to forests with the odd meadow and field. There were several moose hinds with their calves at various points along the way, but the only bull moose I saw was about a hundred yards away, and there was a deep ravine running alongside the road between he and I. I expect that these ravines; too big, deep and rocky to be called ditches or culverts; were to take away the melt water from the snow drifts that were ploughed away from the road itself in the winter.

 

There was a Provincial Park and Campsite at Pistolet Bay and I soon saw a sign on the roadside that pointed the way up a long gravel track to a neat wooden hut that was the Ranger Station. The Ranger and I exchanged a few happy words and he picked out a camping site for me. I went of to find it along a track that had also recently been graded and found it hard going as the front wheel kept sinking in and then skidding out of the loose gravel.

 By early afternoon I was all set up and so decided that I would go and see the Viking site this afternoon. The driveway out of my camp area was shrouded by low bushes, and riding out onto the main track I surprised a young female moose who was browsing along the roads edge. I'm not sure who was more surprised! Anyway she turned and ambled quickly off in that loosed limbed way they have.

 

The Viking site at L'Anse aux Meadows, ('The Goat Field' in English.) is spread over several acres of rocky moorland that is adjacent to the sea. The visitor centre and museum is approached by a long road that gives you plenty of time to think about this inhospitable location.

 

The Visitor Centre is set low so as not to intrude on the landscape.

 

The inside of the building is lined with the warm hues of pine cladding with exhibits of the many finds from this site, and a fine reconstruction of one of the boats found here. Apparently this was a 'repair yard' for boats that had made the gruelling journey from Norway to Vinland, as the Vikings called America.

 

The modern visitor centre and Museum

 

Outside is a footpath trail to follow that passes many of the salient sites of archaeological interest.

These shallow depressions are all that are left of houses, workshops and forges

 Pride of place is the reconstruction of the turf longhouse that was here.



Inside the longhouse museum staff explain how the Norsemen lived and worked.

 

 

It was all very fascinating and I heard one American Visitor exclaim, 'I'm a teacher and for the last forty years I've been teaching my pupils the wrong thing!' Rather disingenuously I thought to myself 'You should read a little less conservatively sister, I knew about Eric the Red and Vineland when I was a teenager.'

 

 

All together an excellent afternoon, now I looked forward to cooking dinner over an open fire in the nearly deserted campsite at Pistolet Bay. The rains from last night looked as though they may have been a little heavier at this northern tip of Newfoundland, as stones and gravel had been washed to the edge of the road. Coming around the last bend to the campsite, and concentrating on not missing the entrance, I wandered too close to the verge, highsided once, corrected; and was just congratulating myself when I highsided a second time and flew over the handlebars. I remember seeing the boulders in the roadside ravine coming towards me, there was a violent bang as my helmet hit and then blackness...........

 

I'm not the only one to 'highside', this racing motorcyclist did the same as me, but for a different reason.

 

photos courtesy of misc. Internet sites, explanation to follow in later blog.

 



Miles at end of day = 1232
Tomorrow : 'You will never ride a motorcycle again.'