Northern Peninsula Weekend

This weekend was an eventful one as we flew up to the Northern Peninsula to visit the town of St. Anthony, and the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site of L'Anse aux Meadows!

On Friday morning we hopped on a small plane to make the journey west and north up to St. Anthony on the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. Driving would have taken over 11 hours, so we were grateful for the short flight (and superb service) offered by Provincial Airlines. Arriving around midday, we hopped into a rental car and set off to see the town of St. Anthony.

(click to enlarge)

After a quick fish 'n' chips at the Lightkeeper's Seafood Restaurant, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, we headed into town to check out the Grenfell Heritage Sites. The Grenfell museum and house tell the story of Sir Wilfred Grenfell, an adventurous British doctor who brought healthcare to much of western Newfoundland, and Labrador, in the early 20th Century. To this day, Grenfell is fondly remembered for establishing some of the most cutting edge hospitals in the world in this region, and bringing the plight of locals to the attention of people around the world. The museum, with its introductory video and extensive exhibit were very interesting, and painted a detailed portrait of Newfoundland at the time, and the life of Wilfred Grenfell. His former house, a beautiful wooden building nestled amongst the trees up on the hill, was also fascinating.

Right next to the Grenfell house was the beginning of the Tea House trail which led us uphill to some lookouts over the town. It was a great opportunity to stretch our legs and get our bearings in town before heading back down for a bit of a drive and some dinner. After dinner, we spent half an hour admiring the town from the lighthouse, and watched the sun start to get lower and lower in the sky. 

Unfortunately, on our way back to our B&B that evening, we had a bit of an incident. Actually, a lot of an incident. As we were driving along the road to take us straight out of town, a car coming in the opposite direction decided at the last minute to turn left... right into us.

Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident, but the hassle that ensued was a bit of a blight on our weekend away. Our rental car was no longer fit to drive and we spent the rest of the evening, and the following morning, trying to get in contact with the rental agency. Being in the small and laid back community of St. Anthony, car accidents rarely happen so they weren't set up to deal with such an event. To make things even trickier, it was impossible to reach anyone who might be of assistance until around midday the following day! Luckily, a very helpful RCMP officer (Mountie), originally from Québec, came to the rescue on Friday evening shortly after the incident; he took a detailed accident report, and gave us a ride back to our B&B (after picking up his boss and some drive thru coffee, of course).

Our poor rental car.

Once that whole ordeal was sorted out on Saturday, it was time to get on with our trip! So we hopped in a taxi and we were off. The main event of our trip was yet to come - the UNESCO World Heritage site at L'Anse aux Meadows - and we were determined to make it there no matter what.

L'Anse aux Meadows is an archaeological site on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland. Dated to around 1000 AD, the site is the only accepted evidence of pre-Columbian European settlement in North America. The site itself contains the remains of a Viking camp, believed to have been established by Leif Erricson (son of Erik the Red) as he made his way south from Greenland in search of resources. Based on findings in the area, it is believed that the camp served as a ship repair site, where the Vikings could fix up their boats as they explored the region in search of riches.

In addition to the remains of the Viking settlement, there is a fascinating interpretation centre that tells the tale of how humans colonized the world, thus highlighting the significance of the Vikings' landing in North America. We also joined in on a tour of the site by a local guide who had grown up playing on the "Old Indian Camp", before it was properly identified by Norwegian archaeologists in the 1960s. The tour left us near the remains of the settlement, where we explored some replicas of the buildings that would have stood, currently occupied by a few friendly English-speaking Vikings. 

It was a great visit, and after our misfortune with the rental car, L'Anse aux Meadows really perked us up.

After visiting all that L'Anse aux Meadows had to offer, we grabbed a quick lunch at the nearby Norseman restaurant (which we would thoroughly recommend) and headed back to St. Anthony to spend the evening exploring the local hiking trails. We were rewarded for climbing around 500 steps to the top of the "Daredevil" trail with some astounding views in all directions. Again, thoroughly recommended.

Our time in St. Anthony ended exactly how it started, with us eating more than our fair share of local seafood at the Lightkeeper's Seafood Restaurant. We then wobbled back into the town, grabbed our last taxi of the trip and said farewell to a place that drove us slightly crazy at times, but ended up being one part of a delightful weekend away!

On early Sunday afternoon, we caught our flight back to St. John's with clear skies all around which allowed us to admire the rugged Newfoundland coastline all the way home... Or read our books. We did a bit of both.

Here are some more photos from our weekend on the Northern Peninsula: 

Curious what we were doing this time last year? Well, we drove to Winterton to visit the Wooden Boat Museum and spent a weekend at the cabin dealing with treacherous weather from post-tropical storm Bertha.

And, funnily enough, two years ago we were visiting a (potential) future UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve. The fossils here are of some of the oldest complex life forms found anywhere on Earth!