Continuing our 2010 trip to the maritimes. All photos will look much better if you click and enlarge them.
June 20-22,v2010; 4200 km. Port aux Chois to L’Anse aux meadows.
We wanted to stop at the visitors centre at Port aux Chois to look at the archaeological exhibits, but it was raining so we decided to stop on our way back. There are also several trails and an excavation of a Paleo Dorset Site. For now here is a photo of the lighthouse.
Click on the photo below and you should be able to see that these are lobster traps; there are thousands of them along the highway. These are spare lobster traps that the fishermen stack so that they can go and get when their traps break, or swell up. There are not behind a fence or a locked gate, just sitting in the open. Not being stolen.
Just like a Newfoundlander can leave spare traps around, they can also leave their cut wood along the side of the road. Every family gets a permit to log their wood for heating for the year. They can cut 7 cords or a 100 logs. Usually, several families get together and have a logging bee. Log, split, and stack the wood by the side of the road. In the winter you would bring the wood back on a sled, usually parked next to the wood stack. Lots of work, but it’s free. Only elbow grease. Again, no fences or locks.
The landscape is changing. Villages are more rugged and remote. Most of them were not accessible by road until the 1960s. The only way in and out was by boat in the summer, and dog sleds in the winter.
Some of these harbours are very busy when the fishing boats are in.
Root cellar built into the hill and covered with sod.
L’Anse Aux Meadows
The terrain is beautiful; coves and mountains, meadows, rivers, ponds, ocean, rocks, cliffs, beaches. Icebergs drift gracefully into coves, trails on moss covered hills, tiny villages with friendly, genuine people, wildlife, history, art. This place is truly amazing!
Yay! First iceberg. Now we need to find some moose!
We stayed on the outskirts of the village. The Wifi didn’t go as far as our cabin. Me and a neighbour sitting by the office with our laptop.
Wildlife at the cabin. Close, but not moose…similar ears.
This is very special. It took us some time to figure out that the only radio station we were getting was a TV station. On the radio. We listened to soccer, Jeopardy, and some children shows. How bizarre is that?
The Viking Settlement
First day of winter. Sorry, I meant first day of summer… A beautiful hike towards the site of L’Anse aux Meadows where traces of viking houses were discovered in the 1960s. This is the earliest evidence of European presence in America, more than a thousand years ago.
From a distance, this statue greets you to the site.
This is one of the reconstructed structures. The site is from AD1000, a viking base camp and not a permanent village. The walls are made of sod/moss bricks and were 6 feet wide.
In 1978 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
These are the mounds that remained after the village was burnt down and abandoned. About 25% of the site was excavated, and some of the structures were reconstructed.
On the trail we passed by an active archaic period archaeological excavation. The lone girl excavator wasn’t getting much work done with all the tourists stopping and asking questions. I wonder if she is getting the usual “are you digging for gold/dinosaurs?” probably.
The interior of the reconstructed structure was quite cozy and warm and the interpreters were really into it, playing their part rather convincingly.
Norstead is a reconstruction of a trading site, which is what L’anse aux meadows would have been if it wasn’t abandoned after a few years.
On the hill you can see one of the costumed interpreters, Lambi.
That was his ‘viking’ name., and we got the impression that he really thinks that he is a viking. Too many drugs in the 60s maybe? He was very engaging though.
A picturesque view from one of the structures.
Some of the flora. No lupines here – more about that later.
The hike back.
Finally, moose! This is the first little herd of three that we kept running into. They look pretty shabby. scarred, and mange stricken. They just move along, eating everything in their path.
Next, we will visit Hay Cove.
What beautiful country! It’s interesting to know that the history has been traced back so far.
Yeah, and even farther to about 10,000 before present times!
This looked like a wonderful trip! You had it all – beautiful scenery, water, moose, people in character and an iceberg! This is a tour Id love to do one day. I remember a tourism campaign a few years ago specifically highlighting the Viking experience. I can see how it’s very appealing.
I also imagine the wifi situation has improved in 10 years. What will we do without our wifi?! ????
It was an amazing trip, and I hope to repeat it with no time constraints this time. The wifi situation may have improved, but I wouldn’t count on it. It is after all almost the end of the world 🙂
The Vikings didn’t have wifi so you get the real experience!
Haha, I suppose!
Interesting place to visit but I am guessing you wouldn’t want you live there. Or I wouldn’t want to.
I don’t know. The landscape in most parts of Newfoundland is stunning. Waking up to this every day can be very rewarding even with the setbacks of remote life on an island.
Me, I need to be closer to a grocery store and a wine store and perhaps my favourite burrito place.
Haha, I think that wine is not a problem. The rest is a bit more iffy 🙂
Always wanted to visit this place. Not sure if we will get there, so thanks for taking us there. Allan
Thanks for coming along, Allan! I do hope you get to go one day. The Northern Peninsula is an incredibly beautiful place!
We saw neither moose nor iceberg. Didn’t care about not seeing moose as we have plenty but I really wanted to see icebergs. This is a very harsh part of Newfoundland, it would be tough to live there in the winter I think. Maggie
We see moose in Ontario too. Mostly in Algonquin Park. The moose in Newfoundland were somehow different and kind of shared the landscape with us in a way that the Ontario moose don’t. It was very interesting to see. YOu are correct, it’s extremely harsh during the winter!
Great tour. Thank you. I’m so impressed by the Viking history. It’s a good thing they preserved what was left.
The viking history is really interesting, and the little that can be confirmed archaeologically in North America is fascinating! Thanks for joining us!
Fascinating stuff. When I see crab pots and stacked wood left without a care of theft, I’m left wondering if it’s the expectation of trust or because it’s a remote area that allows this to work. Unfortunately, where we live, thieves take fishermen’s crab pots.
The remote location must play part in this, but I think that it’s also an expression of a sense of community, shared heritage, and necessity. Do you call lobster traps crab pots?
Glad you finally saw your moose!
We were pleased!
Lovely tour of this part of Canada. I’ve heard of Port aux Chois and L’Anse aux Meadows from other bloggers who’ve been there, and they interest me in wanting to go someday! Your throwbacks are great– keep them coming!
Thanks, Rebecca! I hope you get to go some day!
that sounded like the villages used to be quite remote, but I do love how much everyone trusted each other.
I also love that Viking impersonator, and I was happy to hear that he seemed to enjoy his job so much!
There was a lot to love in that special place!
there seemed to be!
I’m so envious that you saw an iceberg and a few moose during your visit to Newfoundland. Perhaps we should have driven all the way to L’Anse aux Meadows. I guess this means we’ll just have to go back.
Haha, I think we will have to go back too!
I’m so glad you’re sharing these adventures with us. I’d never get to know anything about the places I’ve not been to. Thanks. Muriel
I’m glad we were able to take you with us on our blast from the past journey. There are a few more chapters to come!
Apart from all the amazing and interesting photographs your post has just consumed an hour and a half as I flip through pages of the internet and Wiki to investigate the weather and the confluence of the warm gulf stream and the cold Labrador current. This old Geography teacher can’t help himself. The fact that Port Aux Chois is 800kilometres closer to the Pole than the southern most part of Australia is makes me realise just how temperate Australia is in comparison.
I hope that it was a good hour and a half and I need to thank you for all of the additional information that you just came up with! I try to include photos and a few teasers that will make whoever is reading this want to go n google it, or if possible, visit in person. My job is done here 🙂
And well done it is too.
Not surprised to see moose (we have them here in the Colorado Rockies), but an iceberg! I thought they’d be much farther north. How engaging to have “actors” play the Vikings to inform about the preservation and history of the area.
I was surprised when I heard about moose in the rockies, I always associated them with the Algonquin Park type of landscape. The viking village was amazing to visit; engaging and educational. Thanks for visiting with us!
L’Anse aux Meadows was an historic site we saw last year . We saw a moose along the highway..tried to take a photo but hw ran away. Looks like had great time visiting this area.
Anita
We did have a lot of fun ad we hope to go again! Thanks for coming along!
I hope to visit sometime. The logging is interesting. Always fun to see moose
I hope you get to go, it’s a very interesting and beautiful place.
What a wonderful trip you had! With some bonuses, the iceberg and the moose????
We never had a chance to see a moose neither in Maritimes, nor in West, until last summer, up north in Ontario, near Nipigon. What a blast!
We still have to visit NL, hopefully soon!
Christie
It was a wonderful trip! I hope you get to visit!
L’Anse aux Meadows, one of the most fascinating places in Canada, one of those tipping points in history from where the population of the Americas could have been radically different.
That’s very true. If they stayed, north america would have looked very different.