We began this morning by taking the Sherwink Trail, named by Travel and Leisure magazine as one of the best trails in North America. And we agree!! The trail, 5.2k, travels around a headland that affords spectacular views of the ocean and the cliffs. At about the 2K point we entered onto the promontory and there before us were many icebergs. Further along we were able to see whales in the Trinity Harbour.
The fog makes the icebergs seem a little mysterious.
After this wonderful hike we travelled on to Elliston, the Root Cellar Capital of the World. They were also celebrating their annual Puffin festival. We poked around some of the root clears and hiked out to Bird Rock. (Many little villages seem to have a Bird Rock.) On Elliston's Bird Rock was a colony of puffins. These charming water fowl have a Charlie Chaplin walk on reddish-orange webbed feet and a little red, orange, and yellow hooked beak. When they get ready to fly they flap their little wings real fast and make a run for the edge of a cliff.
This is not a Hobbit house, but an east-facing root cellar.
While we were being charmed by the puffins, off in the ocean, to the right of Bird Rock, several, maybe twenty or so, whales were breaching and creating high plumes of water.
Back to the root cellars. We don't mean to make light of these 130 remaining symbols of self-sufficiency. Newfoundlanders were not only fishers, they were also farmers,woodsmen, hunters, gardeners and anything else that was needed for a subsistence existence. The people of Elliston are very proud of their root cellars because they demonstrate the ingenuity of their forebears and they are a significant part of their culture.
I have about thirty pictures but they will have to wait until we have a stronger signal.
No comments:
Post a Comment