Travel With The Thayers: #46 Holyrood

#46 Holyrood

August 23, 2019

Blue Fin RV turned out to be quite large. They had many of those sites that appear to be leased annually. This is our view.

We explored the little village of Holyrood. A nice boardwalk surrounds the bay. One part includes a lovely mural.

A fisherman on the shore was cleaning squid. Apparently the bay is full of them for the first time in many years, and the boats were fishing for them with something called a jig.

We had dinner nearby at the Station Diner which happens to have delicious Bumble Berry Pie. (Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries) Very Tasty!!!

At some time during our stay Jay and Derrille hiked up to the cross. Here are some photos of Holyrood from the top of the hill. They also walked around the bay.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

The wind was blowing and the rain was sprinkling, so our first job was a drive to Bay Roberts to get the Stauss’ new window wiper blades for their car. From there we drove up the east side of the peninsula. (The opposite side from Dildo and Hearts Contents...same peninsula) We passed through little communities of houses, but saw no services until close to the end. We ate lunch overlooking this bay. It was too cold to get out of the car.

We circled around the top and back down to Bay Roberts. Since this was our 51^st Anniversary we went to dinner at Jungle Jim’s, a chain in Newfoundland with good food. To celebrate we stopped at Tim Horton’s for dessert!

Sunday, August 25, 2019

It rained hard during the night and was quite cold. Needed to turn on the furnaces! Still cold in the morning, but sunny! The guys have been walking most mornings so we leave a bit later.

According to the tour book, Maryvale had a heritage house with gift shop and food, and a lovely garden. Wrong! The house is closing, the lady needs to retire. When I asked about the gift shop, the girls looked confused. Apparently that hasn’t been in for a few years, and the garden paths were blocked. We did have a great chat with the owner’s daughter.

Just beyond the house, at the end of the road we found Turk’s Gut. What a beautiful spot!

A little marina with small boats moored in the narrow cove.

We chuckled at this. Although it may not be funny. Water is precious on the island, and we have seen other spouts like this with people filling jugs.

One man was fishing for Flounder. The water is so clear, you can watch the fish take the bait and be pulled in.

At Brigus (pop. 723) we discovered a quaint village.

Some historic buildings occupy downtown, but they were too old and musty for me to explore.

The big visitor draw is “the tunnel” which was built for Capt. Abraham Barlett to provide an easy access to his wharf that projected into deep water. It only took 4 months to build, which was remarkable since the holes for the blasting charges had to be drilled by hand.

The view at the end of the tunnel.

We drove around the bay and were awed by the huge homes. The breakwater looks like someone made a large investment.

Check out this healthy garden!

Views from the other side of the bay.

This photo shows where the tunnel comes out of the rock above the bay. See the man and the railing? It is more difficult in the wider view.

A surprise was the local car show in town while we were there. It was almost over by the time we got there. Where do all of these cars come from to meet in this tiny town?

Brigus is designed for walking. We were told some trails go right through private yards, if you know the way. The streets in Brigus are about 1 ½ lanes wide. Negotiating the streets was sometimes a scary event.

A park sits down on the bay and several families were taking advantage of the nice day. I thought I had photos, but I can’t find them.

These houses sit on a channel that leads directly out to the bay.

From Brigus the next town is called Cupids, a 400 year old village.

We toured the Legacy Center that told of their history. This center commemorates the 400^th anniversary of the first English settlement in Canada in Cupids in 1610 by Governor John Guy and 38 colonists.

Being so old it figures that many “firsts” happened here.

I liked the “people tunnel” that displayed prominent Cupid residents on each side of the display. Then on a canopy above it listed all the names of community families.

I also liked the hat display. It also talked about a general store where young people liked to hang out.

Apparently you can’t have an old school room, without Sally, Dick and Jane! When I was teaching with those books 50 years ago, I never thought about them becoming antiques!

This giant 1910 Union Jack flag was raised for the 300^th anniversary of Cupids. The first one they hung with a durable pole, but a big wind storm blew it over. This flag staff has been re-engineered to support the weather here too.

The John Guy flag is much larger than those like these usually displayed.

Side note: Every church seems to have a cemetery associated with it. Flowers decorate the grave stones in all cemeteries. I wondered how they stayed on top of the newer black marble. Here we close enough to see a wire holder clings to the marker and holds the flowers.