Day 117: Corner Brook, NFLD -> Deer Lake, NFLD

Date: Saturday, September 9, 2023
Start: Corner Brook, NFLD (Staying with family)
End: Deer Lake, NFLD (Airbnb)
Distance: 55km

I didn't think I would be sleeping in a bed before St. John's, but I was happy I was wrong.  The day off had been a good choice.  I was physically and mentally exhausted.  I woke up not feeling anywhere nearly as sore in my legs, and with more energy.  Hopefully this is what I need to get across the last 6 days of the trip!

I showered and took the opportunity for one last shave.  No need to go across Newfoundland looking the way I feel!  I then ate breakfast and started blogging.  I had a lot of days to catch up on.  I'd done some writing the day before but not enough to even get one post done.  I'd mostly rested.  So I spent a few hours typing and posting.

I could afford to do this because I was only planning on going ~60km today.  As I've discussed, Newfoundland has quite a few stretches of remote, isolated, and relatively unpopulated areas.  The next two possible places to stop and camp are either in Deer Lake at 60km away, or South Brook which is almost 190km away from Corner Brook.  That kind of distance was once possible when the days were longer, warmer, the terrain flatter...but September in Newfoundland is not the time to try a 190km day!  So Deer Lake it would be, and once there I would do 130km the next day to South Brook.

I blogged until just after noon, almost catching up, and then packed and set off.  A big thank you to Joy and Rob for allowing me to stay at their place!  I'm not sure how I would have got across Newfoundland without that day off!

I set off at about 1pm and quickly realized the challenge I was going to have for the day: climbing out of Corner Brook.  Remember how Corner Brook is built on hills overlooking the inlet?  I was near the bottom of it and had to climb out.  On the way out of the city I stopped at the grocery store and made one last big shop.  I hoped this was the last big one before St. John's.  It also means I'm super heavy again with all that food.  As a bonus I found my favourite mackerel at the grocery store!  I've been having a difficult time finding it here in Newfoundland.  I even had a difficult time finding it in PEI and Nova Scotia.  Based on what I've heard from people...they think of it as the bait they use to catch other fish.  I'm guessing that means not a lot of it gets bought in the grocery store...it's the fish they use to catch other fish!

From here it was time to climb again.  I set off once more and was quickly on the Trans-Canada Highway once more (of the "TCH" as all the signs in Newfoundland seem to describe it).  I managed to take a few pictures as I left the city of some of the mountains.  I don't know how high they were...as the cloud ceiling was too low to see anything.  I like to imagine they just go forever.

This is the Humber Valley of Newfoundland.  If it's half of what I saw from the Codroy Valley...it must be something to see!

It should be obvious from the pictures, but the weather in Corner Brook wasn't great.  It had rained overnight but the temperature was up to about 23C and the rain was supposed to hold off till the evening.  That was in Corner Brook.  It turns out that if you go over the mountains surrounding the city the weather is completely different!  And as I dropped down the other side of the mountain range the temperature dropped, the headwinds started howling, and those clouds got lower and lower until I was biking through them.

Not far north of Corner Brook I passed one of the few ski hills in Newfoundland: Marble Mountain.  I stopped to take another picture...and then my phone got put away.  It was too wet to risk keeping my phone exposed.

So there are no more pictures from here.  But for the rest of the day I biked in a thick fog that stuck to everything.  It didn't rain.  I was just biking through the mist and it soaked me.

I could try to describe the experience, but I don't know how much more I could say.  It got colder and colder as I went further.  The headwinds made sure I had trouble going more than 17km/h.  My hands were cold, but thankfully there were a fair number of hills to climb that kept my body temperature up.  I wore my rain jacket all day to help keep me warm, and I think it did the trick!

After about 3 hours I reached Deer Lake after 52km of biking.  I was having difficulty feeling my hands and arms, and so I pulled into an A&W and considered my options.  My first choice was to camp but it was expected to rain.  All the hotels in Deer Lake were full, but I did find a fairly priced Airbnb in town.  I ate, warmed up, and decided to go check out the campground.  Sure enough...it was already half under water from the rain of the previous night.  Most of the sites were purely gravel to help with drainage...and I wasn't sure how much more rain it could take.  There were puddles everywhere.

I decided there and then to get the Airbnb.  I made my booking, and 10 minutes later was a the location.  It's a private suite on the back of a house.  I'm not a fan of Airbnb...but I was desperate enough to do it.  And sure enough the place is wonderful.  I showered, warmed up, ate, and did another two blog posts.  I then tucked in for another good night of sleep in a nice warm bed!

Only 5 more days to St. John's.  I wish I had more to say about today's ride but I saw so little in the fog.  It's supposed to rain tomorrow but hopefully I'm able to see more!