A Not So Unexpected Encounter

En route to Terra Nova the next day...

 

Stopping at Port Blandford to let the horses rest and graze, these lovely ladies plied me with tea and sandwiches ......

 

...and this elderly couple below gave me a packet of biscuits and a donation for the charity.  To remind everyone, the charity I am supporting is ChallengeAid

Then it was a long and lonely trudge to Terra Nova.   But was it quite so lonely?   Albert spies something far ahead on the rail bed......

.......my first moose! ......

A young bull, and hopefully I won't encounter too many more, as Albert has a distinct dislike of moose and refused to take another step until it had disappeared into the forest.
At Terra Nova I had been invited to stay with Walter and Eileen LeDrew at their lovely old 'cabin' (actually Eileen's former family home) which had a large grassy garden for the horses....

 Walter and Eileen on the porch with all my baggage ...

 

 

 

Wet weather

Fortified by Marg's cooking, I had meant to start riding again on Wednesday May 21st, but after bidding farewell to Ed and Marg a combination of car and mobile phone trouble and persistent rain persuaded me to delay another day, particularly as I wanted to try the pack saddle out on Lady in dry conditions. The ponies had enjoyed a restful break at Prides Farm with the Wattons and Patricia's son Levi very public spiritedly gave up his room to me for the night.  Thank you Kelley and family for the warm welcome and the glorious hand knitted socks and gloves which are too good to wear!   Here are Kelley and her mother with sister Patricia and baby Alex. 

 I was dreading crossing the Highway back to the T'Railway, but happily the Brown family who sold Albert to me helped out by trailering the ponies back across the highway and I was able to rejoin the rail bed in safety.  Many thanks for all your help Terry and Charlene.
It was a relatively short but pleasant ride to Clarenville, where I had found a spot to tie the horses on a quiet residential road and Kelley and Adam dropped off some hay for me.
The pack saddle seemed stable, so the next day Friday May 23rd I loaded up the saddle bags, covered it all with a tarpaulin and made a rather pathetic attempt to rope it all up with a diamond hitch - somehow not the same as the one I managed in Kazakhstan!  And then it was off again along the rail bed..

 ...but it was not long before the heavens opened again, and persistent rain followed me all the way to Thorburn Lake.  Fortunately for me, Mark and Corinna Steffanelli had generously offered me the use of their luxurious cabin overlooking the lake..... and the ponies had ample grazing.....

 

I was pleased that Lady had coped well with the pack, it had stayed stable, and the bags were dry in spite of the rain - but my lower half was soaking wet and I was thoroughly glad of the opportunity to dry my wet clothes and have a hot shower and warm bed.  And the neighbours sent son Ben round with a delicious cod supper!    A big thanks to Mark and Corinna and hope not too much damage has been done to the lawn - the ponies hardly raised their heads all evening!

What a Lovely View

I have spent the last few days in the Trinity Bay area resting, sightseeing and planning the next stage, which has included making a few feed drops ahead.  I have been fortunate enough to be able to stay with Carol's relatives Ed and Margeret Beckett in the peaceful little harbour community of Dunfield.  They run a welcoming bed and breakfast business The Rolling Hills in a lovely traditional clapboard house - highly recommended if you are ever in the Trinity Bay area. 

They also have a couple of comfortable holiday homes in quiet village locations for rent.

 

Before coming to Newfoundland I had read Berenice Morgan's Random Passage books which depict the struggles of a pioneering family in an outport community.  Marg took me for a pilgrimage to the film set just up the road - they have tried to authentically recreate an outport settlement of the period.

By a 'fish flake' where the cod would have been laid out to dry... 

 Marg by the wharf...

 On Sunday I had a quick jaunt down to Bonavista at the end of the peninsula - this is where it is claimed that John Cabot first made landfall in 1497 when he 'discovered' North America, exclaiming "What a lovely view".
Essential landmarks to visit were the old lighthouse and the statue of the great man himself, appropriately facing landward rather than out to sea...

 But a clue to the more memorable part of the trip can be seen in the background - Bonavista Bay was dotted with literally hundreds of icebergs and their smaller counterparts, growlers....

....beautiful but a sad reminder of the effects of global warming.

The weather has been glorious, and Carol and I were able to hold a very civilised planning meeting basking in the sun with a glass of red wine overlooking Trinity Bay ....

..this was outside the house of Brenda MacIntyre who also very kindly let me stay in one of her superb holiday units -in this case the Boathouse which has the same stunning view. She has a real eye for interior design.......

 

Pride Farm

On Friday I decided to push on all the way to Pride Farm at Hillview near Clarenville, where the horses were to have a couple of days rest while I had a look round the Bonavista Peninsula and planned the next stage.
I switched horses to Albert, who tramps across the stones without a care in the world.

En route hazards -Lady is across the grill, but will Albert follow? 

Yes he did, but took the most enormous leap
Rest stop at Goobies where Lady and Albert soon attracted an appreciative audience..

Albert has taken easily to hobbles, and it means I can leave him loose to graze while Lady is tethered. They also prevent him getting his leg over the rope when he is tied up.
To get to Kelley Watton's equine facility at Pride Farm, we had to negotiate a stretch of the Trans Canada Highway which was a bit more traumatic than I had visualised.  Happily Don Watton and Kelley's boyfriend Adam came to our aid - here Don guides us along a stretch of the old Cabot Highway.....

...unfortunately the section of the Trans Canada Highway that we subsequently braved was not so peaceful, but we survived unscathed thanks to Adam following us in his truck with lights flashing.

A night under the stars

Cabot came to move the truck to Arnold's Cove on Wednesday morning while I loaded Lady up with enough gear for an overnight stop, being as Albert had rejected the pack rig.  Setting off from Long Harbour Station with two sleeping bags slung over the pommel and the rest in a couple of small saddle bags...

 

More stunning countryside......

 

Old school buses make handy cabins ..........

 

I had left a feed drop under a bush at Tickle Harbour Station several days before and to my relief it had not been scoffed by moose in the meantime.  The horses were tied to a bushy tree in a sheltered hollow and I made up a nest from two sleeping bags wrapped in a tarpaulin .... 

....very cosy even though my water bottles froze solid overnight. 

Long but scenic ride up to Arnold's Cove on Thursday, though stretches of the rail bed were quite stony so I had to get off and lead.  Only passed one person on an ATV the whole two days.

 

 

 

 

The horses had kept me awake squabbling overnight, so I arrived at Arnold's Cove absolutely exhausted.  But the horses had ample grass courtesy of Dexter Lockyer, and sister Wilma revived me with a bottle of iceberg beer at the Tanker Inn. Not only that, but she took me into her home where I was treated to a supper of canned moose with a glass of wine before I crashed into bed. It was a pity that I was so zombified as she was in one of the families relocated from the island outports in the 1970s and I would have loved to have heard more about her early life on Woody Island.   Wilma with her two sheltie dogs......

 



An Escape

On Monday 12th I said farewell to the lovely March family and their pack of chihuahuas - here they are below L to R Hannah Josh, Rob, Diane, Julia.(no Beth or Amy)

Then it was a short ride along the rail bed to Placentia Junction .....

 ....where we were staying with Anne Marie Power in her tranquil house in the woods  .....

The house behind belongs to her parents.  I had another comfortable bed and Anne Marie produced supper while the horses relaxed on the lawn.

A slight panic in the morning as Lady had managed to escape her tether overnight and both her and Albert had disappeared.   As horses invariably retrace their steps, Anne Marie and I jumped into my truck to scout unsuccessfully along the railbed to Whitbourne, but we returned to see two innocent little heads peering round the side of the neighbour's house!  They had sensibly stayed where the grass was greenest, and the neighbour on the other side told us they had spent most of the night rummaging in his garden.

Set off for Long Harbour Station, but soon ran into problems as it appears that Albert has decided that being a pack horse is beneath his dignity. I am not sure whether the saddle pad or the cinches are irritating but he has taken major exception to the pack rig. He had started being difficult after about two hours travel the day before, fidgeting and kicking out, but after only a mile he now started trying to barge Lady off the track. In the end I had to abandon the rig by the track to be collected later.  After that it was an uneventful ride to Long Harbour Station where I had left the truck with hay and feed at Fred Martin's cabin.

  The horses were tied in the wood with hay while Fred and I chatted over a cup of tea in the little cabin he is gradually doing up.

An unequivocal message in Placentia Junction......... 

 

 

A Pioneer in High Heels

Freezing rain was forecast for Sunday, so I decided to stay on a day in Whitbourne as the March family have a solid barn which Lady and Albert were able to share for a couple of nights with Robert's Clydesdale mare and foal (another) Lady and Ella while the rain fell.

 

Saturday night I went out to Bay Roberts to stay with Byron and Lynne Hierlihy in their lovely home. I particularly wanted to visit Harbour Grace from where Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, set off in 1932 on her ground breaking flight - quite literally as she crash landed on arrival in Ireland.  This flight is sometimes confused with a previous flight she made in 1928 as a passenger with  Wilmer Stultz from Trepassey on the southern tip of the Avalon peninsula to Burry Port in South Wales, not all that distant from where I live.
So on Sunday morning Byron kindly drove me over to Harbour Grace pose beside the statue of the pioneering aviator. Amazingly she is sporting high heels....

 The plane behind is not the one she piloted across the Atlantic (she used a single engine Lockheed Vega), but an old passenger/freight plane which used to ply back and forth to Labrador.
A view from the pretty settlement of Harbour Grace out across the bay, and what can we see in the distance?....

Then it was back to the March household for my first and very delicious Jiggs Dinner -  a traditional Newfoundland and Labrador Sunday dinner - and if you want to know it is made follow the link.

We land on Mars

On Friday I strapped the pack saddle on to Albert and we set off again along the T'Railway, this time heading inland away from the coast through wood and bogland interspersed with secluded lakes..

 It was not long before we reached Avondale, where there is a museum in the old railway station, unfortunately closed this early in the season.  But there was a convenient patch of grass outside where I was able to tether Lady and hobble Albert for a short rest...

Riding along an old section of preserved rail track..........

I had arranged a feed drop with Bruce White in Mahers, or Mars as it is pronounced by the initiated.  So that is how I ended up in a very lively cabin party with the Martians below - as you can see, not a green face among them ....

A Bruce Sandwich.

LtoR. Bruce 2, Lorna, Thora, Henry, a rather squashed Wanda, Terry, Steven, Bruce 1 (aka White and cabin owner)   And once again my truck was unslept in as I was persuaded to take advantage of the very comfy couch by the woodburner.

 

I had a bit of trouble with the saddle pad slipping round on the way to Mahers, but the following morning Lloyd Downey from the cabin next door dug out a spanner and helped adjust the pack saddle to a wider fitting which has helped stabilise it.

En route to Whitbourne where the horses are corralled with Robert and Diane March...

 



 

Moose Bourgignon

I am rapidly learning to enjoy moose eaten in a variety of different ways. The temptation of moose bourgignon after my first day's riding with both Lady and Albert was too much to keep me away from a last return visit to Cabot and Deirdre's house on Thursday evening. Most acceptable washed down with a glass of red wine.
 I am gradually breaking the ponies in to the idea of horse packing, and on this first day along the coastal trail to Holyrood I just ponied Albert without a pack saddle.  The horses were stalled in a secure barn overnight courtesy of George and Mary Gushue ......

...and I returned late from my moose supper to find I had a warm bedroom waiting for me in the house, rather than the night in the back of the truck that I had been expecting!  Not only that, but Mary had prepared supper for me. Full of moose, I was not able to take advantage of the supper, but I was able to tuck into the hearty breakfast which awaited the next morning.....

Many thanks for the warm Newfoundland welcome!



We start from Cape Spear!

Quite a hectic and eventful week.  A great excitement when I saw my first iceberg in Conception Bay .....

 

Secondly and more important, after many dashed hopes but with vital support from Carol Osmond and Byron Hierlihy, on Sunday May 4th I actually managed to achieve my initial ambition of making a start from Cape Spear. 

I welcomed a new addition to the team last week in Lady, a 10 year old chestnut mare to replace Mace.  She is about three-quarters Newfoundland pony, her sire being the registered Newfoundland pony Billy, and her maternal grandmother also a Newfoundland.  Apart from a year out as a riding pony, she has spent the last eight years with Sylvester Taylor as a work horse, pulling a cart, sledge, mowing machine and plough, and even pulling the hearse at six funerals!   

 She desperately needed reshoeing, but local farrier Katrina Butler came to the rescue and found time in her busy schedule (nine o'clock at night!) to come and fit some so I could get on my way without delay. On Saturday Kelly and Herb Power-Kean trailered Lady to CBS to join Albert, and kindly left their trailer so Byron could then trailer her up to Cape Spear the following day.  So here I am with Lady at Cape Spear - note the iceberg (my second one!) in the background......

......and another photo with the people that made it happen -Cabot on the left, and Carol and Byron on the right.  Myself and Lady centre stage with Tammy Webber who came to support.

 I rode on along the roads to Embarr Stables in Goulds, where Carol Goodman had kindly provided very comfortable equine bed and breakfast for Lady.  I was able to return to my even more comfortable accommodation nearby in St John's where I have been taken in by Cabot and Deirdre who have been totally spoiling me. Not only do I have a cosy room and power shower at my disposal, but they have been plying me with the most delicious meals including lobster and salt cod, and building me up for the rigours of the trail ahead.
On Monday it was a long ride back to Stephanie Coates' barn at CBS, made longer by the fact that Lady decided to prat around for over an hour in the morning, shrieking, prancing and even lashing out at a car. With my creaky 65 year old bones there was no way I could get on her and she freaked out at the traffic passing overhead where I needed to cross under the highway.  I had given up on her and was trudging back to the stables with serious thoughts of trading her in for something quieter when she suddenly relaxed, I was able to get on, and off we set. When we reached the old rail bed which forms the T'Railway across the island, it was a lovely quiet ride through woods and past lakes (or ponds as they are called here - a lake is something altogether far more serious).    Lady looking a bit wet and fed up at Manuels..............

 ...but in fact she enjoyed the walk, and was even presented with an apple when I stopped for a coffee and bagel at a Drive Thru Coffee Shop - or Ride Thru in this case!