Day 119: South Brook, NFLD -> Notre Dame, NFLD

Date: Monday, September 11, 2023
Start: South Brook, NFLD (Kona Beach Campground)
End: Notre Dame, NFLD (Notre Dame Provincial Park)
Distance: 135km

I'd woken once or twice the night before to the sound of rain tapping against my rain fly, but when I woke in the morning it wasn't even half wet.  Camping under trees had worked a treat!  I packed, tore down, and moved to a picnic table with a canopy overhead in case it decided to rain again.  The sky was a dark grey and it looked like it could rain at any moment and I didn't want to risk getting soaked after waking up relatively dry.  I ate breakfast as I set my tent out to dry and - again - it dried out surprisingly well.  Enough that I felt confident I could sleep in it another night without risking getting wet.  I spent some time oiling my chain, checking tire pressure, packing up, and all of this took time...because I didn't end up leaving until just after 10am!

I rode out of the campground and back to the highway.  The goal for the day was a provincial park between Grand Falls-Windsor and Gander.  The forecast wasn't looking good, and I was pretty sure I would be getting wet at some point in the day, but there's only one road to St. John's so through it I had to go!

The Trans-Canada is a mixed blessing in Newfoundland.  It has a nice shoulder which makes for much less stressful riding, but it is far from everything.  Newfoundland is built along the coastline, and the highway is largely built 40km inland off the coast.  Very few towns exist on the highway, and what few do exist tend to be pretty small.  The road itself is reliable though, and at this point I'd take everything I could get!

I rode South on the Trans-Canada for almost 50km.  The day was cool and utterly overcast, with rains still threatening at any moment.  There wasn't much to see from the highway, but a few pleasant little scenes revealed themselves.

I passed Badger, Newfoundland without stopping at the one gas station.  I had far to go and my late start just 3 hours before meant I had to keep pushing along.  I was only 28km from Grand Falls-Windsor (one of the major towns on the highway) where I planned to stop for lunch so I kept pushing.

Just outside of Grand Falls-Windsor the air started to condense and fall as rain.  I tossed on my rain jacket.  I hit a milestone...

Ten thousand kilometers.  10k.  10,000km!

I would have taken some time to reflect and enjoy on the number, but it was starting to rain now and I wanted to get to Grand Falls-Windsor before I got too wet.  So I popped the headphones in and kept on pedaling.

At some point I reached Grand Falls-Windsor and - at the recommendation of a friend - went into town to get lunch at a bistro.  The top recommendation for the town was of course closed, but the Juniper Kitchen & Bistro was a second recommendation my friend had given and Google said it was open.  I biked into town, found the bistro, and walked in...where I was informed that they were closed until 5pm because of a lack of staff.  It's the story of this entire trip!

I looked for other lunch options but found nothing nearby or compelling, and opted to go to the local park where I could find a picnic table and snack on cheese, pepperoni, and crackers.  When I got to the park the rain started coming down again and I retreated to a small building where I could stand under the overhang of the roof and try to stay dry.  It was definitely not one of the better locations I've had to relax and eat at lunch!

I made sure not to waste time.  I was going far slower than I had expected and was still only half way to my destination.  I packed up and set off again!

About 15km down the road was the town of Bishop's Falls, Newfoundland.  My friend also said there was an ice cream shop there that would not disappoint.  So I got off the highway and went into town.  I found the ice cream shop!

And it was closed.  For the season.  This is what I get for biking so late into the year!  I messaged the friend who could not believe my luck at finding closed businesses.

Frustrated, I biked out of Bishop's Falls dead set on getting to the campground before it was too late in the day.  As soon as I hit the highway I was hit by a wall of water.  It had started raining, but hard.  At this point there are no pictures.  In addition to this there was a strong headwind.  It made the ride an absolute grind.  I still had to go about 35km and it was hilly.  I was slow.  The water on the road felt like it was sticking to my tires and slowing me down.  In reality, it was just the wind.

After almost 2 hours of pushing I reached the campground.  It was 7pm.  The sun would set in another 30 minutes.  I registered, found a site, setup my tent, and immediately went to shower.  It was only about 12C when I reached the campground and I had a serious chill.  Once showered and in some warm and comfortable clothes it was pitch black outside.  There was a laundry room that was heated and I went in there to dry my clothes and just be in a heated space while I ate some of the food I had that didn't require cooking (trail mix, cheese, pepperoni sticks, crackers).

All of that done, I went back to my tent and tucked in for the night.  It had been a loooooong and difficult day.  There wasn't much to see and the weather had been really difficult.  In addition to this, the forecast for the next few days was not looking much more encouraging.  But I was one day closer to St. John's.  And one day closer to being done the cross Canada ride!