Author: 2csovercs

Monday 24 August 2026

We’re booked on an Iceberg Watch tour to depart Twillingate at 1pm, with a check in no later than 12.30pm. Twillingate is an island in Notre Dame Bay, off the north eastern shore of Newfoundland. It’s a 4 hour drive so we depart our lovely Trinity Bay accommodation at 8am. No stops, just keep driving.

Then it rains. Actually, it pours

We are alert, but they stay away

No signal so no phone map to guide us. Just the paper one we picked up at the St John’s hotel, and thank Cod for that. It got us there, even if it was a little confused. Look for the red building on Main Street the agent said, the one with the Iceberg and Polar Bear on it. The clock was ticking. No such building found. Eventually we saw a little Iceberg Watch sign on an ice cream shop, painted pink. Shop closed. I’m sitting in the drivers seat, Cherrie is floundering (not codding) around in the rain. She enters a yellow building behind the ice cream parlour and finds a coffee shop which sells the Iceberg Watch tours for the man with the jetty nearby. Tour cancelled due to the rain. And, by the way, there are no icebergs this time of year. So we have a free day in this funny little town, and a refund coming from the travel agent (whether she knows it or not).

There’s really not much to see, since this town is renowned for its views of the North Atlantic. The fog and rain have put paid to that so we have lunch. We each have a lobster roll for lunch. Lobster rolls are big here. They are advertised everywhere. We were not quite sure what a lobster roll is. Is it a roulade? Is it a roll of lobster meat? Turns out it’s lobster meat in a bread roll. Actually quite palatable but I can’t help thinking what a waste of lobster that is. It seems that it is always served with a Caesar salad on the side. I’m sorry, I can’t answer that.

It’s still pouring with rain so we retreat to our B&B, which turns out to be just a B.

After a while it clears a bit so we drive up to the lighthouse. Here it is, shot from the front and the back. Can you tell the difference? We can’t

Nice views from around

Back to the B. We’ll have to find somewhere for B tomorrow. A cod omelette possibly.

Sunday 23 August 2026

A magnificent sunrise over Trinity Bay wakes us. This is worth getting up for, even though it is 5.40am

With such an auspicious start to the day, and with promise of more sunshine, i decide I’d better iron a shirt. I plug in the iron and turn away to get some water when I hear Cherrie yelling. I see flames, literally, spewing from the power point. Being the quick witted soul that I am, I yank the cable from the wall, but not before the evidence remained.

I wear a crushed shirt today

After reporting the incident, and receiving abject apologies, we set off for Trinity. It’s a sweet little town which has taken full advantage of the many tourists

They were bumping in and I felt a need to help. But the walking poles got in the way so I retreated

It’s another beautiful day and the bay is very pretty

We drag ourselves away from Trinity and head north. We pull into Elliston which boasts a puffin colony, some of whom you met in the puffin alert a couple of days ago but our photo editor is insistent that there can never be too many puffins

These puffins, and other birds, ( but who cares?) have chosen a very pretty abode

Elliston is known for another attraction too

Store your root vegetables here, and keep ‘em cool through summer and prevent ‘em freezing through winter. There’s lots of these cellars around, now empty of course. Oh, what I could store in there. Just a bit inconvenient though when one hankers for a Shiraz.

I took a stroll, whilst she took a walk. The yacht in the background has been surveilling us since St Johns. It’s seen us from the Avalon Peninsula and now today. It’s very impressive and there’s been a lot of chat about it on the Newfoundland social pages and it’s apparently privately owned and the largest single masted yacht in the world. No sign of Gina so far

We’re on the Bonavista Peninsula, headed for the cape. En route we drive through the Dungeon Provincial Park which is part of the UNESCO Global Geopark, covering roughly 280 kilometres of coastline and featurimg rocks and fossils dating back over 560 million years. Poor Cherrie is driving and it’s clear that the road hasn’t been upgraded for 550 million years. It’s quite a feat to keep four wheels on the road whilst navigating the immense potholes. And then we come across an unexpected and wonderful sight.

Extensive research undertaken reveals that long ago most towns in Newfoundland shared common land, where everyone’s animals could roam. The Bonavista Community Pastures keeps this tradition alive by local farmers bringing their stock in to graze through summer. What a joy

Onward to Cape Bonavista. This is the very site where John Cabot landed. This is, I think, where he sat to admire the view.

Now, if any of you are as ignorant as me (which I realise is unlikely), John Cabot was the explorer who, in his quest to find a shortcut to Asia, was the first European to sail the coast of North America. He claimed Canada for England, since Henry VII had funded the trip. My research didn’t extend as to whether Cabot ever found Asia, or indeed what became of him, but he’s a big hero here. It tickles my fancy that John Cabot was, in fact, Italian. Born Giovanni Caboto, he anglicised his name when he went to live in England and beg the King for some exploration money. When he reached North America and first saw the rocky cape after weeks at sea, he shouted ‘O Buon Vista’. That phrase, too, was anglicised and so this cape, the town, and the entire peninsula, is now and forever Bonavista

Amazingly, at 3pm we found somewhere to eat in the town of Bonavista. How much salad is too much salad? The servings are ridiculously enormous and we both filled up and still left some. At least we didn’t need dinner.

Back at our accommodation there was a new iron in the room and a note of apology, with instructions that we can plug this iron safely into any outlet. Deeming it too early in the holiday to tempt fate, we remain crushed.

Sunday 22 August 2026

Today as we wave farewell to St Johns, we are thankful for its welcome, hospitality and friendliness. We have loved our three days here. And that’s the cod honest truth.

We are now headed to Trinity and we’re going to take all day to get there, despite it being a little less than a three hour drive.

We plan some diversions.

We are more at ease with driving now. The turns are not as traumatic, although there is a tendency to trim the toe nails of anyone who might be unfortunate enough to be standing no the pavement as we drive by. Fortunately the highways we plan to follow are devoid of pavements.

We head SW, following Conception Bay

Despite the glorious view, a barefoot walk along the beach holds no allure

Turning west we head towards Brigus, but before we reach town we spy an appealing wharf and stop for a look. We come across two couples with picnic gear waiting at the end of the wharf and wonder why on earth are they are there. Is that really picnic food or are they going to drop drugs into the water for a subversive submersive pick up? All too soon it become apparent when a leisure boat appears and throttles towards them. They board. Via a vertical ladder

Lucky it’s not me going down that ladder, eh?

We proceed into the absolutely gorgeous town of Brigus, which captures us immediately.

Cherrie, being Cherrie, finds a Heritage Garden

Next we move on to a town like no other.

Full of tourists

And it’s called

And do they play on the name

The origin of the name is uncertain. It’s been documented since 1711 and the name likely comes from an old nautical term for a wooden oar peg, known as a dildo. Believe it. Or not.

It’s lunchtime and we’re hungry. But it seems that unless you join a long queue at the Dildo Brewery there’s slim pickings in the food department. In fact, there’s no pickings. We took advantage of the only option we could find. Cherrie had a vanilla milkshake and I had a pack of corn chips.

We pull out of Dildo, bound for Trinity Bay on the Bonavista Peninsula. Amazingly, we stay on the right side of the road

And finally reach the town of Trinity. It’s late afternoon and we’re weary. Trinity looks lovely with its narrow streets and historic buildings, but we have neither the energy nor inclination to hang about. That’s for tomorrow. So we move on to our B&B in Port Rexton

The milkshake and corn chips, and the tiny yoghurt pot we had for breakfast have done nothing to sate the appetite and so we seek assistance with regard to an eating house. This proves to be a bit of a problem. There don’t seem to be many within close proximity, but we are encouraged to telephone the Brightside Bistro, which had shown no availability on it’s website, and beg for a table on the patio, which is not included on the website. For good reason as we learn. However they find us a table at 6.30pm and we drive the 15 minutes down the rough road to it.

We patiently wait at the ‘please wait to be seated sign’, and wait a bit longer before our very presence frightens the living daylights out of someone who emerges from the kitchen. She finds our booking and takes us to Cindy who will look after us this evening. Cindy will look after us once she has finished with the Spray n Wipe, when she leads us to our table. On the patio. Her voice causes painful feedback in my hearing aids. Cherrie experiences the same. Cherrie does not wear hearing aids. There’s not a lot of choice on the menu, so I order the cod bowl. Cherrie has drawn the line and goes for the special of the day. Lamb shanks, with veges

Enough said.

Sunday 23 August 2026

We found a puffin viewing platform on our outing today, more of which you’ll learn about in a future post. But Cherrie is overexcited at her close encounter with a puffin today, also called Billy. She wants you to share her excitement