Labrador Coast

In the late 60's, the Canadian government offered a relocation plan to entice coastal--that is to say, pretty much ALL--Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to move from their tiny, remote, fishing enclaves into larger towns where it would be more economically feasible to provide federal services such as roads, medical attention, etc. For better or worse, everywhere I've been lately probably looks as it does (and very different from what it did more than 50 years ago) because of the relocations...and no where more so than coastal Labrador.

Even with all its residents better condensed into "larger" villages, this place feels pretty much empty, though. In a really great, if intimidating, way. This tourism ad says it perfectly, I think.

And the quiet and calm is complete. This is more of a place to be in, rather than to visit. If you're looking for things to do, there are ice bergs to photograph,

More lighthouses to drive to (always more lighthouses--this one at Point L'Amour, the tallest lighthouse in Atlantic Canada, I read somewhere),

A pair of museums at Red Bay commemorating the history of Basque whale hunters traveling to this town and using it as a base for becoming the biggest whale oil producers of 400 years ago (though the visit to Saddle Island, the third part of the site, wasn't possible due to them not wanting to disturb nesting eider ducks),

And turning off the pavement (which I wouldn't see again for hundreds of miles) toward Mary's Harbour, with its access to Battle Harbour, the centerpiece of coastal Labrador tourism and the former capital of the region due to its fishing commerce.

But it turns out that Battle Harbour is opening late this year, and they're raising the prices and requiring an overnight stay at a nice B&B, making it unrealistic to visit for riff-raff like me, anyway. So instead I drove on, past picturesque enclaves here and there...

...and especially to St. Lewis, where the apologetic Battle Harbour ferry employee who turned me away from that site told me I should go for iceberg viewing. A sign at the town entrance told me the name of the road leading to a walking trail for iceberg viewing, and in a town with three or four roads, it wasn't hard to find the one that led steeply uphill, past the town dump (now plagued by black bears) to the Deep Creek Trail, an amazing hike to an amazing sight.

And then, finally content with my iceberg viewing and fully saturated with the chilly, windy, rainy weather of the coastal regions I'd been exploring for the past several weeks, it was time to fill the gas tank to the brim and point the car westward, inland for the long, long, long, long, long drive across Labrador and into Quebec, not knowing what to expect but knowing that it would certainly be an adventure.