The next day was another driving day, as we moved from the Twillingate area over to the Bonavista peninsula. With an eye on the worsening weather forecast, we cancelled plans to camp for two more nights near Clarenville, and instead booked a sweet little room at the Seaport Inn in Port Union. While further to drive today, it was much better situated anyway for the sights to see in the days following.
After grabbing coffee and some colourful local culture at the Summerford gas station, we headed back down the 340 before cutting east, to follow Route 330 along the shore and around through Musgrave Harbour, Lumsden and New-Wes-Valley. We stopped to tour the scenic village of Newtown, dubbed the "Venice of Newfoundland".
We drove through proper "RDF" (Rain-Drizzle-Fog) all day, regaining the Trans-Canada at Gambo. We skipped plans to visit scenic Salvage, since we wouldn't have seen much anyway. After a foggy but beautiful run through Terra Nova National Park, we took Route 230 and cut across the Bonavista peninsula to Port Union.
Along the way, a woman in an SUV made a nearly ill-fated decision to pass several RV's as they laboured up a steep hill - when there was clearly not the time and space to do so. As I slammed on the breaks and headed for the right shoulder to avoid a head-on collision.....Jane offered the woman an emphatic "double bird" displayed prominently in the windshield. At least we could laugh about it after!
After checking in to our room early, we grabbed sandwiches to go for lunch from the on-site restaurant, Carl's Fireside Lounge. With a bit of a break in the weather, we drove the short distance to nearby Elliston to check out a puffin colony. The road got a little rough towards the end, but it was worth it. Not only is it the "Root Cellar Capital of the World", but there is a large puffin colony easily accessible after a short but wet walk.
The main colony was on an island just off the end of the point, and even more birds were bobbing in the waters around. Once the other people left, we stood back a bit, quietly - and several pairs of puffins fluttered over to our side of the divide and started checking out the cliffs for nesting sites right in front of us.
Walking back in the "misting" rain, we opted for the "scenic loop" to Maberly, a little further up the road, where we had to wait for two young fox pups to get off the "road", which had deteriorated significantly by the end of the line. Returning to Elliston, we stopped at the gift shop and grabbed some Mummers and a puffin for the wall.
Wet and tired, we called it a day early to enjoy the motel room, and got hooked on Umbrella Academy on Netflix. We checked in on the cats using the home cameras, and also returned to the Inn restaurant for dinner, Jane opting for pan fried cod with scrunchions, while I went for the pork chop dinner.
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