The Amazing Bonavista Peninsula

 Our next destination was the Bonavista Peninsula.  What became clear to us is that you need a lot more time here than what we had.  First off, the area has what is called The Discovery Trail and includes the UNESCO World Heritage Site called Discovery GEO Park (Discovery Geopark).  While many of the points of interest are easily accessible by car, many require the time and effort to hike into.  Needless to say we sadly had to skip those.  We started our journey along the peninsula by leaving the Trans Canada Highway at Clarenville.  In spite of being a rather small town, it actually services most of the peninsula with its hospital and major stores.  While the villages may have small grocery stores and post offices, anything major cannot be bought unless you go to the larger places hours away.  

Heading north, we passed the road leading to New Bonadventure and Old Bonaventure.  One of them (can't remember which one) was used as the location for the very entertaining 2013 movie, The Grand Seduction.  Our first stop though as we drove up the east side of the peninsula was Trinity.  Four years after Cabot's voyage, Gaspar Corte Real explored Newfoundland's coastal waters and, according to legend, named Trinity because he came across this section of the coast on Trinity Sunday in 1501. Much later Trinity became an important fishing and mercantile community.  It was a charming place to visit and we wandered around there a bit.  I had a very delicious lemon and meringue pie ice cream (never heard of that flavour before) at a little chocolate shop called Aunt Sarah's.  There are many pretty as well as historical buildings in the town as well as plenty of craft shops.  The town is also known for its whale watching tours and theatre.  

After Trinity (not to be confused with Trinity East or Trinity Bay), we drove into Champney's West for a quick look around as my sister knows someone who has a home there.  It is a very pretty little place set in a cove.  

The causeway leading to Champney's

We carried on past English Harbour, not to be confused with British Harbour a bit further south on this road) to Elliston.  On the way, we passed through Port Union which was built in the early 20th century as a model town by William Coaker and the members of his Fishermen's Union Trading Company and the Fishermen's Protective Union.  Our next stop was Elliston.  We went there for two reasons:  its root cellars (part of the UNESCO designation) and the islands between here and Maberly as they provide excellent viewing for puffins without having to go out on a boat.  Elliston is the “Root Cellar Capital of the World”. These traditional food storage systems – used mainly for root vegetables like potatoes and carrots – are built right into the ground, mainly into small hills and banks. The natural humidity and moisture keeps things cool in the summer and prevents freezing in the winter.  Elliston has more than 130 documented root cellars in the small town and surrounding area. Of those, half are still in working condition and used today.  

Inside one of the root cellars

While we could see the islands where the puffins - and many other seabirds were - and also see them flying around in the distance, we didn't walk down to get a closer look having had such amazing views when touring the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve.

Before we got to Bonavista, we took a gravel road that led us to Dungeon Provincial Park and then on to Cape Bonavista lighthouse.  This is not to be missed and we were so lucky that the weather cooperated.  The "dungeon" had its origin as a cavern with two separate openings to the sea. Continuing erosion led to the widening of the cavern until eventually, the roof collapsed inwards.  Wave action has slowly removed rock material from the collapse, leaving the incredible feature you now see. These collapsed sea caves are known as gloups.  Due to the erosion from waves, storms, winds, and tides, the coastline is in a constant state of change, and one day the two arches will likely collapse. 

From there it was a short drive to the lighthouse through some pasture land - cattle grids at the beginning and end of it allowed some horses to run free here.  The two camper vans in front of us blocked the road for about 15 minutes so the passengers in them could throw apples and carrots out for the horses.  That created more traffic congestion than we'd seen so far on the trip!  Also at the tip of the peninsula is a statue of John Cabot as this is where he made landfall in 1497.  

Afterwards, we drove into Bonavista where we located our B&B which would be our home for one night.  Looking at the threatening sky, we decided to drive to the restaurant for dinner (from what we could tell, there was only one option in town) and, luckily so, as it started to rain and by the time we got back, it was "bucketing" down.  We had been so lucky to have wonderful sunshine and warm weather the entire day to see so much spectacular scenery.