Trailblazers... That's Us!

A very old track

There are lots of hikes in Newfoundland these days, many of them old footpaths used for a couple of centuries and now tarted up with board walks & signage. 

I've always like to walk but the very word 'hike' intimidates me.  I have committed to walking for 30 minutes a day so yesterday after Janet & I had studied the map of Fogo Island, we settled on the Oliver's pond trail, deemed to be an easy 1 km walk. As we parked the car we asked a local if we were headed in the right direction and she said it "wasn't that far" and gestured in a loop that would bring us back on the road a few hundred yards from our car. A warm breeze, sunny skies, waves breaking lazily on the rocky shore to our right...what more could one ask on a September day in Newfoundland?

After we had walked for more than an hour, it dawned in us that this was most assuredly not Oliver's pond and we had most certainly walked far more than a kilometre. Furthermore, as beautiful as the coastline is, the lack of any sign of human habitation in any direction was a tiny bit unsettling. We walked and we walked always on a well-worn footpath but with only marshy bogland on one side of us and the vast Atlantic Ocean on the other.

"Maybe we should turn around and go back the way we came?"

"No sirree... there's a path here. It's got to come out somewhere."

We were grateful for the sunshine, told ourselves we had many hours of daylight left and kept on walking.

After 2 hours we saw habitation in the distance. Whew! What a relief! With still lots of walking to do we picked up the pace, encouraged by the prospect of The End. We apologized

 to the people whose garden we crossed to reach the road and we did indeed emerge exactly where the local had said we would.

Never mind the historical Dwyer property, never mind the artist studio, never mind the local storyteller... where's food?

Baked beans and toutons ( fried bread dough that defies description as to its deliciousness...sorry, no picture) plus a mug of tea did me in. I napped in the car while Janet thoughtfully walked to the nearby supermarket and bought salad fixin's.

 We repaired to our tiny cozy cottage built on the landwash in Joe Batt's Arm.Thus ended the day's activities. 

The day before we spent the day on Change Islands, a nearby group of small islands a 20 minute ferry ride from the mainland& a 20 minute ferry ride from Fogo.  We did a bit of a boggy, rough- terrain walk there, then because it was showery  with a cold wind, we drove around admiring the jigsaw puzzle scenes of fishing boats in seaweed strewn coves,ringed 'round with wooden wharves and oxblood fishing sheds. We enjoyed the congenial company of a young family from Trinity that evening at dinner in the inn that provided a delicious meal of fresh cod followed by blueberry pudding with caramel sauce. Young Benjamin (2 1/2) entertained us all at dinner with his amazingly articulate and delightful conversation!

A highlight of our day on Change Islands was to stop by the Newfoundland Pony sanctuary where we visited the 6 or so ponies, some tethered out in lush grass and some in a fenced area. We did not see the woman  responsible for the rescue and care of these lovely creatures but we did leave a donation in the tin provided which she says will help keep these guys in hay over the winter. 

As I write this, we are on the ferry back to the mainland. We will arrive in Farewell shortly and then drive a couple of hours to Eastport.  More very dear friends have dinner prepared for me and I'll enjoy their company this evening.

Tomorrow it's off to Trinity...Mecca for me.