0522 Fogo and back to mainland to Dead Man's Bay

27^th May 2016

Icebergs, eagles, and blue blue skies.

It was 1.5 deg C when I woke up in the morning, and the wind was still bitingly cold, but guess what ?  There was a clear blue sky !!  I packed up fairly quickly so as to make the most of the day, and set of round the corner to the old Gun Battery to see if the big iceberg was still stuck there, and what it looked like in the sunshine.  Answer was Yes it was still there, and there were two or three more floating past outside the rocks.  The whole scene was just so much brighter in the sunshine today than it had been yesterday.

As I left Fogo, some fishermen, surrounded by gulls looking for scraps, were in one of the harbours checking their lobster pots, and I passed a big rock on which lots of crab pots were stacked – Presumably since it is the end of the crab season they will be repaired and then stored for next year.  I then continues on eastward across the island towards Tilting, supposedly another scenic fishing village.  On the way I passed an inlet where 2 bald eagles were sitting on a rock, although when I stopped near them one of them took off. 

Then it was in to Tilting – There were a couple of other villages en route, but I decided to check them out on the way back.  Tilting was found in about 1730 and most people are descendants of the original Irish settlers.  When you speak to locals, it is just like being in Ireland, the accent is so strong !  In the sunshine, the village is so pretty, with all the fishing huts and wooden pontoons out to deeper water everywhere, and the colourful wooden houses set anywhere where there is shelter from the wild weather. 

Root cellars and Cabbage cellars are a big thing here – Interestingly as they were in Norway, where they had very similar potato cellars underground outside.  And apart from the cellars, they also have “house launching” – They move their wooden houses much like they do in Australia, although as these are much smaller, they are sometimes moved on boats across the water.  So if you have a good house, you can still keep the house but move to a new neighbourhood !  I passed a guy chopping his wood for next winter – Every house has big piles of neatly stacked wood outside, and they get the lengths all the same by using a trestle that holds 8 or 10 longer logs at a time.  Using a chain saw they can then cut all the logs at once, and also cut in between the equally spaced yokes on the trestle, meaning they can cut a lot of wood in a short time, and all equal lengths.  Clever. 

At the end of one road I decided to follow a trail called Turpin’s Trail.  On the way into town I had seen a sign that told of a certain Michael Turpin who in 1809, together with a friend, was chased by Beothuk Indians, and ran over a big rock in town, now called Turpin’s Rock because his headless body was later found by a search party !  The trail goes up past a house that was originally built in about 1780, and was last lived in in 2012 !  Walking up the trail, I passed an Irish RC cemetery which is apparently the oldest

outside of Ireland itself. Walking up over the rocky hill, the waves were crashing on the rocks despite it being a calm and sunny day (although the cold wind, as always, was blowing !).  In the distance was yet another iceberg that had been blown off course into an inlet, while on the headland is one of 2 or 3 buildings along the coast that are built as Artist’s Retreats for the summer, and they have an “Artist in residence” during the summer, for people to come and participate.  This one was certainly built right on the edge of the ocean and with just the single large window facing out to sea must get some incredible views, especially when there is a storm ! 

I then left Tilting and headed back westwards to the next little fishing village called Joe Batt’s Arm, among the Barr’d Islands.  Once again so very scenic just nestling there on the rocks, with the colourful little houses and the fishing huts seeming to be clinging on to the rocks for dear life, in case the next wave should wash them away.  They obviously have a good sense of humour here with one little boat manned by 3 “fishermen”, looking for all the world like they were out in the ocean !

After Joe Batt’s Arm, there wasn’t a great deal more to see on Fogo Island – Lots of walks, but I reckon I had done enough walking yesterday – So I headed back to the ferry at Stag Harbour.  When I arrived at about 1.15 pm I was horrified to find a line longer than the one on the way over 2 days ago, and that had taken some 6 hours before I got on the boat !  I went wandering and talking to people, and some near the front had got there at 8 am !  I also found a number of people were actually getting their cars in the queue for the following morning’s ferry, so not all were trying to get on.  One ferry left, but then 90 minutes later returned and I just managed to get on the back of it, so by 3 pm I was leaving Fogo, still in clear sunshine. 

On the ferry I met a guy called John who was driving a brand new Cadillac SUV – I had noticed  lot of Cadillacs on the island today, and many were waving at me or taking photos – It turned out that today was the release of the new model Cadillacs and they had done the press release on Fogo !  John was part of the Logistics Team who had got all the cars up here, booked accommodation, and arranged everything else so the car were ready for the press when they flew in.  Apparently last week when they arrived to start setting up, the weather was so bad that when they tried to climb

Brimstone Head (that I climbed yesterday) they were prevented from reaching the top because the wind was so strong !   But getting all those Cadillacs over to Fogo also partly explained why all the ferries have been so full recently !

Shortly after leaving harbour I noticed a bald eagle flying overhead, and saw it settle in a tree top on an island.  Hard to spot, but great when you do see these beautiful birds out and flying around out here.  Once landed in Farewell (really !), I headed down the highway with a lot of idyllic bays and inlets beside me most of the way.  This really is a stunning place, especially in the sunshine – Did I say that already ?!!  After turning SE at Musgrave Harbour I then drove along the

wildest coastline, with increasing numbers of (often very large) icebergs floating along down the coast.  I passed a couple of supposed camp sites but they were “trailer parks” filled with big caravans and 5^th wheels that people leave there year round, and use more as holiday houses.  So I avoided them, but at about 5 pm I passed this big flat grassy area right beside the ocean, and there were just 2 or 3 old motorhomes / caravans parked there, but no one there.  So I decided I could just merge

right into the scenery and no one would even notice an extra van there – And it was probably one of the most delightful wild camping sights I have been in for a while – Well, at least a week since I was at Cape St George !!  Icebergs wight beside me, the sea crashing onto the rocks beside me – All I hope was that they didn’t have Bay of Fundy style 18 ft tidal ranges !!  Just a perfect spot at the end of another glorious day. The forecast was for rain overnight and tomorrow, so I put up the fly sheet over the pop top – As it turned out, it was a “good move” !!

Pics are here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/6290177367199799297?authkey=Gv1sRgCMz-naaFlMn7kwE