Day 10 – Ferry & Neddies Harbour

I had a sparse breakfast and packed my gear to get to the ferry in time with a stop for the iceberg. The iceberg was impressive, even from a distance to see. I wish I had more time to talk someone (and pay) to get taken closer to it. Apparently it was 20-25m tall and almost 2km long.

I’m glad the weather cleared up enough to see it, see picture from the day before.

Further along in Blanc-Sablon, I made it to the ferry dock, which was a confusing affair. Apparently I had only had a reservation ($10) for the ferry and still needed to get a ticket ($8 on top) which required lining up. Had a short but funny conversation about how often people miss the ferry because of the timezone issue. Even my “reservation” wasn’t clear it was Newfoundland Standard Time.

On boarding, I ran into Reggie, the husband of one of the employees of the Oceanview Resort from the night before. I boarded (ferry decks are slippery things, fortunately they weren’t wet today) and made it to the motorcycle spot at the front of the boat and tied up my wheels. The ride itself just over 2 hours was uneventful (there was some waves) and I ate more breakfast since the oatmeal and coffee that is my standard wasn’t filling enough.

Once over, it was time to head south for a few hours to my hotel at Neddies Harbour. But first, I needed gas, some air for the tires and to burn some extra hours on the journey. The gas was easy, and in stopping and asking about some air for the tires, someone who overhead said to wait a minute, they had a compressor in the back of the truck that they could use to help fill my tires. Gas stations here don’t have the coin operated compressors most in Ontario have.

The fun was exploring some of the parallel gravel/rock paved roads to the main highway that ran between the highway and the ocean and provided access to a few homes but were generally devoid of anything else. I enjoyed the off-road time and stopped a few time to fly (and crash) the drone.

Neddies Harbour, itself inside of Norris Point was a cute little fishing area in a very hilly part of the coastline. The room at Neddies Harbour Inn was an amazing space to relax in after getting through Labrador and the previous night. Dinner at the Black Spruce was likewise well executed and tasty with a plate of local chanterelles in a cream sauce on baguette setting the tone for the rest of the meal.

The proprietor was a chatty individual that told me much about the local culture and coming’s and going’s of the area. It is through and through a seasonal area with most everything shutting down from October to June. She was working 14-15 hour days, but the expectation was she wouldn’t work at all during the off season. She had lots of good advice as they have all had for me and did help coordinate getting a Parks Canada Day-pass for my climb of Gros Morne the next day.

At 7-8 hours expected climbing time I wanted to start early since I still had to ride to my Airbnb after.