21st - 24th May 2016
Trails, tales and
tunes - A 5 WOW week !
I have already
had a number of 5 WOW days – Days that are very special in terms of scenery,
people, or experiences. But this week
has been a first – A 5 WOW week, with every day in that week being full of WOWs
too !! From the moment I met Gavin
French last week in Cheticamp, culminating in the 5 days I have just spent with
the Hickey family in Norris Point, it has been a week of adventures, incredible
scenery, incredibly friendly and welcoming people, and to top it off, stunning
weather. I left this morning after an
amazing week, with lots of new friends, and completely exhausted – But with a
big smile on my face. To Gavin (and his
Dad Fred, although I know he will NEVER read this !!), to Robbie, Kristen, and
their tiny Clare, to Ben and Marie, Robbie’s Mum and Dad, and to all the rest
of their family and relatives who made me so welcome, THANK YOU. Words are insufficient.
This is how the
week earned its 5 WOW status !!
After our
adventures on Friday just getting to Norris Point, on Saturday morning a group
of us plus children and two dogs drove up the road and went on a walk alongside
the ocean at Baker’s Brook. It was again
a lovely sunny day, although it is cold in the wind. After the walk we stopped
at a seafood place to buy some fresh snow crab, but unfortunately they were
sold out – And their crab season is now over so unlikely to get more ! They had lots of fresh lobster, but we didn’t
get any of them. We did manage to get some frozen ones instead, as well as some
mussels and scallops, and took them home to cook.
Robert was bbqing
some hamburgers on the verandah, while Robbie got his big broiler fired up and
got the mussels steamed first. I have
never eaten mussels before but did try some this time (Yes, I did, Janet !),
and they actually weren’t too bad ! But
I can’t say they were my favourites. Meanwhile Robbie had the crab being
steamed, and when that was ready, we dove in, and it was good – Apparently not
as good as fresh, but still good !
Sunset that
evening was beautiful, lighting up the hill on the other side of the bay, but
also the sky behind us. We then went up
to the Town Hall to go to one of the nightly concerts, but unfortunately we
couldn’t all get in. As we had had a
late light last night, I was happy to give it a miss, and went home.
The next morning,
Saturday, after we had all breakfasted, I took myself for a walk round the
headland where someone had seen whales earlier.
I couldn’t see any then so had a good walk round the town. On the way home I bumped into Kristen who was
taking Clare for a walk, and we passed Gavin’s yacht Water Dog that was moored
in an inlet. After that, I took myself
on another walk over a nearby hill called Burnt Hill, so named after a fire
many years ago destroyed most of the vegetation. I was now feeling very stiff
after the digging in the snow on Friday, so although it wasn’t a difficult
walk, I took my time completing it. But
lovely views over the various arms and bays around Norris Point, and I was
certain I saw some whale activity in the distance, but couldn’t be sure.
We then went down
to the little harbour just 50 metres down the road from the house, to the Cat
Stop bar (where the Catamaran stops ?!) where
they have various musical groups playing throughout the day as part of the 10
day long Trails, Tales, and Tunes festival.
Today we saw two very talented young musicians, Emily and Thomas Conway
who most impressed me. We also saw
Daniel Paine who was unbelievable on his accordion – how he hits all the right
buttons at the speed he plays is a mystery !
Later in the evening we went back down to the
Cat Stop where The Catch were playing, and I enjoyed them – I don’t get to hear
a lot of live music anymore and I thought they were excellent. There was a very scenic full moon reflecting on the water outside the bar,
and then it was about midnight before we got back to the house and went to bed.
For Monday my
plan was to go for a walk in the morning and then set off towards St John in
the east in the afternoon. But when I
woke up it was a beautiful sunny day and Gavin texted me to suggest a sail in
the afternoon. This was too good an
opportunity to miss, so instead of a walk I had a lazy morning. I should add
that there is a LOT of activity going on around here – Ben is doing a lot of
work on the house to get it completed so they can live her full time, and his
brother Bruce came over today and they were working hard all day.
After some lunch,
we set off to find Gavin down at the dock, and when we arrived, he came in to
get us in Water Puppy, the dinghy to his yacht Water Dog ! Once aboard, it quickly becomes apparent how
beneficial a Cat is in this regard – there were 7 adults, a 4 year old, and a
baby, and there was plenty of space for all.
We were quickly underway, and a second benefit of a Cat over a mono
quickly became evident – with one engine / prop in each hull, you can turn the
yacht on a sixpence. We motored out of
the little bay, and as soon as we had some wind, Gavin had the main sail up and
we were off – Advantage number 3 for the Cat – One puff of wind and she just
accelerates, while the hull stays totally flat and stable so glasses of wine or
cans of beer are (relatively) safe.
Brilliant.
Meanwhile, 10
week old Clare (or is she now 11 weeks after surviving a 5 wow week !), was
totally unimpressed, and lay on her back totally oblivious to everything, even
the attention bestowed on her by Gavin’s 4 year old daughter, Amelia. We sailed around on East Arm for a couple of
hours – It was a beautiful sunny day, but the wind still had a bite, so it was
jackets all round if you wanted to be on deck. With the steep sides to the
inlet, the wind was sometimes fickle, but Gavin had everything under control
and we just enjoyed a relaxing couple of hours before we headed back towards
Norris Point.
Suddenly someone
spied a whale – So we all rushed on deck while Gavin headed towards the area,
and soon we were seeing them all over the place. Finally one surfaced RIGHT in front of us,
may be 30 metres ahead, with its mouth wide open, and small caplin fish clearly
visible trying to escape the whale’s mouth. We learned to watch the seagulls
that couple spot the caplin rising to the surface ahead of the
Gavin sets off on
his round the world sail with his wife Val and 3 children in 2 or 3 weeks time,
and I wish him all the best. I am so excited for them because I know what a
fantastic adventure they are about to embark on, and what fun they are going to
have over the next few years. Enjoy ! I
am just so pleased to have been able to help by sanding some of your hull, and
now sharing in a great whale adventure.
Once back at the
anchorage, Gavin took us ashore and we headed back to the house. Ben and his brother Bruce had been hard at
work all day on the house renovations, while Robbie and Kristen were off to a
nearby friend’s house for the evening. I decided that I had had enough
excitement for one day / week, so I opted to stay at home with Ben, Marie, and
Bruce, and we shared some good Chilean red while eating a steak Ben had bbq’d,
and then sat in armchairs and slowly fell asleep !
My (further
revised) plan is to leave tomorrow morning and generally head east towards St
John. I have been given lots of ideas of
places to go and things to see in Newfoundland, so will just wander round this
beautiful place for a week or so. I am
really looking forward to it, because this Province is truly stunning – And the
inhabitants are pretty friendly too. I
love it.
Rest of the pics are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/6288021083828903729?authkey=Gv1sRgCLKCrYqkrtiRGQ
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