The Grand Codroy RV Park in Doyles, NL, was our first
campground in Newfoundland, but it
will be very hard to beat! First of all,
extremely friendly owners and this sign really tells owners Alice and Dennis
Keeping's philosophy—“We've Enjoyed your Visit—Thank You for Coming!” This
property has been in the family for many years, was sold by her parents to form
a Provincial Park and eventually sold back to them and many improvements have
been made.
The sites are very large and are full hookups. In one direction, you see the snowy mountains and our rig and in the other, a beautiful sunset and the river just below the campsites
There is a laundromat, group meeting room, a terrific
craft shop and an “Inspirational Hiking Trail” that winds down through the woods and little bridges over creeks. We enjoyed Alice's inspirational signs that
pop up every couple minutes on the trail.
Here's a collage of the best ones!
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| My favorite is “Seniors are Recycled Teenagers!” |
Outside the park, we saw the
Newfoundland/Labrador flag along with the Canadian flag.
Then we started exploring outside the campground starting
with Chap's Garage.
Chap is a nice
guy who is still hung up in the 1950s and 60s.
He has a gigantic collection of items from those years in his garage and
all over his property. The highlight is his
beautifully restored early 60s Ford Fairlane with the license plate “4EVR
COOL.” Inside he has a real Wurlitzer
jukebox with all 50s & 60s hits—very nostalgic! Hundreds of other things including Elvis,
trains and a hearse and casket!
Next we drove to the tiny village and port of Codroy
dominated by the Holy Trinity Anglican Church built in 1917 sitting on the highest hill with its graveyard in
front with many fishermen's graves, some with boats carved into the
tombstone.
There is an active fish plant
and several fish boats in the small harbour including the large FV Atlantic
Choice. We liked the massive head of a Newfoundland dog on the bow
of FV Shirley Ann D. III.
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| Our rig in front of a fish boat |
Here is an
picturesque overall shot with a fish boat, Codroy village and Holy Trinity
Church on the hill.
The Grand Codroy Wildlife Museum is excellent with over
300 expertly mounted birds and animals of Newfoundland. Only Fishers and us found the place down a
long gravel road! Here are 7 photos of animals we saw in their typical
habitats. They are: Timber wolf and
Canada lynx, bull moose, black bear,
beaver, harp seal and baby (whitecoat), ringneck pheasant and an ivory
gull. We enjoyed our visit!
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| We hope we see a real one one of these days!! |
Cape Anguille Lighthouse was next with a bed and breakfast of the same name in one of the
large houses. The Lighthouse was built
in 1908 and is automated now as are all of the coastal lights.
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| Nick Fisher took this shot of us at the Anguille lighthouse |
We had a bus tour led by campground owner Alice Keeping
for most of the day on May 10. Alice is
a very knowledgeable local historian and was a great tour guide.
We started in the Codroy Valley with Precious
Blood Roman Catholic Church built in
1917 by local shipwrights and its nautical heritage is visible inside. Alice said the wood was called “var” and is a
type of fir. Our pictures show the
interior from the back, the altar which is interesting with the angels and the
interior from the choir loft, a little different viewpoint. Very beautiful interior!
The bus then drove us to Cape Ray Lighthouse built in 1871 of locally quarried granite
stone. More history here—in 1856 an underwater telegraph line came ashore here
to connect Newfoundland to the North American continent. A Dorset Palaeo-eskimo village was here from
about 1800 years ago up to 500 years ago when the people disappeared. Many artifacts have been recovered. These were hunter gathers who harvested
seals, walruses, salmon and caribou from this base.
After the lighthouse, we went to Sea Shore restaurant in
Margaree for a big lunch of the best
seafood chowder ever, codfish cakes, potatoes, cole slaw and for dessert,
figgidy duff, a Newfoundland dessert a little like bread pudding, made with
blueberries, bread and a molasses sauce that is terrific!
Remember this is 5/10 and there is still ice
on many of the lakes (called ponds here!)
Onward to Rose Blanche (White Rock) Lighthouse set on a high granite point called “The
Neck”. It's a spectacular hike out to the light and
the rocks here are very weathered and very picturesque! This lighthouse is also built of thick
granite blocks quarried from local rock and seems built to last! The upper
light structure itself is very interesting.
Here's a shot of us and the light, taken by Alice!
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| The town of Rose Blanche |
We could see a large waterfall from the bus and Alice
decided to stop and let us get more exercise!
The Barachois Waterfall trail
is about 1 KM up and down over the hills.
The ground is covered with low mosses, many dwarf trees, pitcher plants
and ladyslipper orchids (out of season!)
This is called a Maritime Barrens landscape and is very common in
Newfoundland.
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| After the snow melts the pitcher plants look like this |
Heading back, we passed Isle aux Morts or the Isle of the
Dead. This village is located close
to the areas where hundreds of shipwrecks have occurred and much loss of live,
thus the name. Alice told us the story
of the 1828 wreck of the brig Dispatch here when a local man, George Harvey,
his 17 year old daughter Ann and their Newfoundland dog, Hairyman, rescued 160
men, women and children from the sea.
They rescued over 25 people a few years later from another shipwreck! Don't you like their dog's name? Another claim to fame is 2 astrolabes, old
navigational instruments were found here by a local diver. They are dated 1617 and 1628 and were made in
Portugal. Today, besides fishing, Isle
aux Morts has a large heavy marine shipyard.
Our last stop was Channel-Port Aux Basques, the town where the ferry from Nova Scotia
brought us to Newfoundland. The bus went
through very quickly but we saw a reproduction astrolabe in a park, the
imposing town hall, a town view with St, James Anglican Church on the left and
then, due to popular request, we stopped for 20 minutes at a large indoor
shopping mall with a drugstore and Foodland, a large grocery store where we all
replenished our RV larders!
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| A copy of an astrolobe is displayed in Port aux Basques |
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| Port aux Basques with the St. James Anglican Church |
Back to Grand Codroy RV Park after a wonderful day, we
thanked Alice and went into the
Craft Shop to check out the goods.
Maryke found a great nautical blue and white striped double knit watch
cap and Lin spotted the “Ugly Sticks,” a Newfoundland “musical instrument”
composed of a 4-5' long stick, a round wood top with a happy or sad painted
face and a watch cap on top, things attached that rattle, like a bunch of
bottle caps, when shaken and of course, a rain boot on the bottom for thumping
loudly on the floor. The idea is tapping
or stomping out
the rhythm and shaking for additional noisemaking! A little chanting doesn't hurt either! Lin is looking for a cowbell for additional
sound effects! YouTube has many videos
of Ugly Sticks in action! Lin is looking
forward to a concert performance in the near future as soon as he gets the hang
of the thing! Maybe with the Washington
Land Yacht Harbor Band—what do you think, Vic? Maryke of course is “not
amused!”
Here's a photo of Ugly Sticks
in the Crafts Shop (Lin's is the lefthand happy-faced one--he is called "Uggy") and then Dennis,
the owner demonstrating my Ugly Stick with Alice in the background!! The final photograph of the day is a
beautiful sunset from the campground
with a nice reflection in the Grand Codroy River. A beautiful and extremely friendly place to
spend a few days!
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