Text and photos by Mary L. Peachin
October, 2013 Vol. 18 No.1
Howling wind, pouring rain and choppy waves hampered our departure from Newfoundland’s Quirpon Island Lighthouse Inn. Owner Ed English’s large zodiac to shuttle guests to and from the island was being repaired so he substituted a small fishing outboard boat. This meant a longer trip with fewer guests on board. On the day of our departure, twenty two guests were returning to destinations scattered around Newfoundland or beyond.
The Inn, located on the northernmost tip of uninhabited QuirponIsland, is less than two miles from the Viking Trail’s L’ Anse aux Meadows, a museum showcase for the Vikings.
After visiting the former settlement of Norse explorer Leif Ericson, sometimes spelled Eriksson, we shuttled to the port for our approximately forty minute shuttle. Landing on a simple dock, we then hiked about a half mile hike up the hill to the registered lighthouse and Inn. Guests with fragile stomachs can choose an alternative to the boat ride by hiking three miles from Grandmother’s Cove, which is only a calm fifteen boat ride across the bay.
The following day our six Freewheeling Adventure guests and two guides had flights and a ferry to catch so our departure might be described as hairy. With uncooperative weather conditions and needing to be the first guests to off the island to make our flights, four Freewheeling guests hiked to Grandmother’s Bay. But, that was the end of the trip, let’s go to the beginning.
Our six day Black Diamond Freewheeling Adventures’ Newfoundland bicycling journey, one known to locals as riding “The Rock,” began in the village of Deer Lake, an airport gateway. Beyond Margaret MacDonald’s Lake View Bed and Breakfast hospitality, the best area attraction was Newfoundland Insectariums’ collection of great butterflies, tarantulas, beetles, and bees, In route to Norris Point and Neddie’s Harbour Inn, our guides Dan and Riley whipped together one of many delicious picnics as we viewed Bonne Bay.
The Norris Point Neddie’s Harbour Inn purchased by Swiss citizens Bettina Lori and Herbert Schumacher, has been renovated from being a former senior home to a modern inn with hand crafted Newfoundland birch, a design that appears similar to furniture found at IKEA.
M.V. Emm-Cat catamaran’s two hour tour through the two arms of BonneBay, motors around a sapphire blue fiord that merges into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. White sided dolphin and a moose eating saplings were a few sightings. The highlight was the magnificent view of Gros Morne Mountain where Freewheeling’s hard core cyclists were making an eight hour climb through the forest followed by hand over hand rock scree. They were rewarded with a wonderful view of the RockyHarbour area.
Bonne Bay Marine Station’s (www.bonnebay.ca) guide David Forsey emphasized how precise Captain James Cook charted the adjacent glaciated fiords carved 15,000 years ago. Located at the Southern boundary for Arctic creatures, the aquarium displays include eel pouts, snow crab, stripped and Atlantic wolfish and a blue lobster.
The next day we took a small ferry from the BonneBay landing to WoodyPoint. Cycling to the Discovery Centre, Kim Thompson provided an introduction to Gros Morne, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. WoodyPoint is a small village featuring a single street dotted with a few coffee shops, bar, and art gallery.
Heading from the Discovery Centre to Trout Lake, we rode along the barren Tablelands. Located between Gros Morne National Park’s Trout River and Woody Point, ultramafic rock or peridotite illustrates a unique landscape, one thought to have originated during a glacial plate collision in the earth’s mantle about several hundred million years ago. Overlooking Trout Pond, Dan and Riley put together another picnic lunch. This time they served Trout Lake bakery’s homemade pea soup with warm bread.
The two plus mile walk to Western Brook Pond along a dirt trail has boarded walkways covering bogs and marshes. Approximately 9,000 years ago, Western Brook Pond became landlocked. Because of this enclosure, it is not considered a fiord.
Newfoundlanders originally call it a pond because they didn’t know the word “lake.” Its waters are home to land-locked salmon, brook trout, and arctic char. The surrounding peaks with waterfalls are the northern end of the Appalachian Mountains.
Following a pasta salad, fine cheeses, and smoked salmon picnic, we rode thirty miles to Portland Creek, a small village with a population of seventy seven residents.
We shared the two lane Trans Canada Highway 430, The Viking Trail, as it is Newfoundland’s only route. Small patches of fenced land, some with scarecrows served locals for vegetable gardens. Highway lanes are wide, with no shoulders, and drivers and truckers were polite giving us wide berth. It was unbelievable to spend much of our riding time with the added benefit of a strong tailwind. The road was edged by fields of wild flowers dominated by brightly colored fireweed.
Entente Cordiale, a small inn named for the treaty between the United Kingdom and France over Egypt and Morocco, overlooks the Gulf. Nineteen years old, it has five rooms with an attached suite.
The next day’s lunch was next to the highway adjacent to summer stored lobster traps and a field of lupine. We casually dined along the highway eating seafood chowder, Montreal beef, pickled herring, and fine cheeses. The expedited lunch was because the day was a long one for cycling. The distance was 180 miles, and yes, Ontarian Claire Coire rode the entire route from Portland Creek to Tuckamore Lodge.
Main Brook’s Tuckamore lodge is better known for its hunting and fishing. We spent a single night there before heading to the region settled by the Vikings.
L’Anse aux Meadows, a National Historic Site and UNESCO World Heritage Site, dates back 1,000 years ago when Leif Ericson or Eriksson’s Norse expedition from Greenland landed in Newfoundland, a region they called Vinland. The group, estimated to number between sixty and ninety landed in Strait Belle Isle not far from Labrador. Here, they built sturdy turf buildings for winter camping. They then explored as far away as New Brunswick.
During their North Atlantic voyages, they encountered aboriginals including Innu, Beothuk, Mi’kmaq as well as small colonies on Greenland and Iceland. In 1960, a local fisherman led Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad to an “an old Indian camp”. The site turned out to be the 11th century ruins of Eriksson’s Norse building combined with some ancient Viking relics.
Getting to our accommodations at the lighthouse on Quirpon Lighthouse Inn (pronounced like Harpoon) Island was its own adventure. The innkeeper’s twelve passenger zodiac was out of commission so he was operating a six passenger outboard to shuttle guests the forty or so minute ride through Iceberg Alley. Stopping at a primitive rubber dock, we then hiked fifteen minutes up a wet, gravel road. In addition to the lighthouse the innkeeper’s home has six guest rooms plus a dining room for twelve. A second house offers an additional five guest rooms, plus a sitting room. No television or Wi-Fi.
Our late afternoon was spent in a glass fronted building built to view whales. While bountiful most of the time only a single minke was sighted. There is a population of twelve red foxes. The alpha female was scrawny from feeding her spring litter of seven.
The Inn, located on Quirpon offers a unique island experience of staying in a 1922 lightkeeper’s home on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland.
Our final night we enjoyed one last meal of tasty Atlantic cod. While we were in Iceberg Alley, where whales and icebergs congregated, and at the tip of North America, we evidently arrived too late in the season to see either.
Traveling with Freewheeling is all about adventure and while only one 
person was successful riding the 180 mile day, we all got to bicycle our limits, hike, and take scenic boat rides. The trip was fascinating and introduced us to a different region of Canada.
If you go: freewheeling.ca