Coast of Bays passage

Hillgrade:

We just got back from a few days on the south coast -- should that be capitalized? -- and it was worth every minute of the l-o-o-o-n-g drive.

Left here on Friday morning around 9:30. Arrived at Southern Port Hotel in Harbour Breton sometime about 2pm, I think. John immediately had his nap. I went off exploring and to buy a hair brush after discovering I'd not packed mine.

What a gorgeous place. I had heard the south coast was beautiful, but I wasn't prepared for it to be THIS beautiful. It helped that the sky had not a cloud and the temps were in the high 20s. I started oohing and aahing right at the outset and never stopped until we got back on the highway yesterday afternoon to come home. And even from the road there were vistas that took my breath away.

As I said, we started out in Harbour Breton. Took a million snaps there. Went to a play in the evening (it was the last night; talk about lucky) at the Elliott Premises. It was grand fun and a bit of a challenge to tune our ear to the local accent. The actors were all young people and it was wonderful to see them involved in a venture like this. The stage had its limitations but they did a wonderful job and overcame them all. We had lots of laughs and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Next day it was foggy, which is apparently the norm in Hr. Breton, so they say. However, we went off to Deadman's Cove and would have walked the trail (2.5 hrs round trip) but my knee was giving me a lot of trouble so thought we'd better not risk it. We would have taken the trail up Gun Hill, too, if it hadn't been for my darn knee. Instead we took more snaps.

Hermitage - not what I expected. Thought it would be bigger, and (I hate to say it) prettier. Getting hungry. Went on to Sandyville. Saw a place that advertised convenience. Door was locked. Another place advertising convenience was also dark as a dungeon. On to Pass Island but it was very foggy and no stores loomed up there at all. So back to Hermitage and noticed that all the places in that town were closed too. Gas bar, included. Asked a lady near the Anglican church where we could buy groceries and she said Crewe's. So off we went and found it closed. Hmm. Went up to the door where a man was waiting and with sign language (his) and silly gestures (mine) found out the place didn't open until 1pm. Ah. The owners have to go for their dinner. Silly me.

We waited a bit and a lot of cars started arriving. Had to line up to get into the store which had a front door right out of the 1850's. Wanted to buy one of those little cans of potato salad we used to get years ago. This store looked like it ought to have it. But no. Considered buying a can of Vienna sausage just for old time's sake. Thought of the Maple Leaf listeriosis thing going on. Instead bought granola bars, fruit cups and cheese. Ate in the car.

The ferry to Galtois (pronounced Galtis) and McCallum wasn't at the dock when we were in Hermitage. If it had been, I would have been sorely tempted to make the trip. We were told it costs only $1 if you're over 65 and $1.50 if you're not. However, we didn't want to wait for it and moved on. Next time. (Update: See Note at bottom)

As we were leaving Hermitage, we noticed a sign to Furbey's Cove. Not on the map. Let's see what's out there. We were not disappointed. Furbey's Cove is the original name of a village from which the occupants were resettled back in the 60's. And it is now being re-settled by the daughters and sons of those who had been forced to leave. We spoke to a man who was originally from Galtois who filled us in on all the comings and goings. He said his missus had gone berry picking on the highway and he had some time on his hands. 

Headed out for Pool's Cove. Highway pavement was red all the way. Sign of something special at the other end? 

For sure. The place is extraordinarily beautiful. Spent a lot of time there, walking the streets with the camera. The fog lifted the minute we entered the town and stayed gone the whole time.

Fog rejoined us as we headed for Belleoram and lifted a little when we got there. Another georgeous little town. First things first and found a washroom at a little restaurant. Told the fellow we'd be back for supper. Turned out that the menu had only meat, so I hope he didn't wait up for us.

The rest of that little section along the Fortune Bay North shore -- St. Jacques, English Harbour West, Mose Ambrose, Boxey, Wreck Cove and Coomb's Cove (photo at left) -- was rather difficult to appreciate, it was that foggy. We had heard there were two B&B's at Coomb's cove but couldn't find either. Good thing we had already reserved a spot at St. Alban's for the night or we might have been sleeping with the fishes.

The drive from the north shore of Fortune Bay to the top of Bay d'Espoir is long when you're tired and hungry. We arrived at St. Albans Inn (may or may not still exist - 2023) just after their dining room had closed and they offered to make us a bowl of soup and a sandwich. John and I had both been jonesing for pizza all afternoon and instead headed off to the only take-out in town, mouths watering for veggie pizza. Turned out they had only pepperoni, and since it comes pre-made, it would have been hard to take the pepperoni off of it. Sigh. So we found another grocery store and bought some peanut butter, sandwich spread (I did finally get something I haven't eaten since I was a kid), bread and fig newtons. Back to the hotel for supper on the bed, and Olympics on the TV.

Sunday, up and out reasonably early. Off to see anything we'd missed the previous two days. So we roamed about the Bay d'Espoir area. Tried to get up to the hydroelectric installation but were stymied at every turn. Two long off-road expeditions (very narrow; very bumpy) were enough for us (and the car) and we gave up. Maybe next time we can pre-arrange a tour of the place, if they still do that in these days of terrorism and all.

We ate lunch at a very nice park down by the water in Milltown. Guess what we ate? If you didn't guess peanut butter and jam sandwiches, fruit cup and wet cheese (it had fallen into the watery ice in the cooler), you're not thinking hard enough.

I had to go pee in the woods and set off to find a secluded spot. Nearly did myself in by straddling an ant hill, but noticed the buggers crawling over my shoes just at the last minute. Nearly killed myself coming out of there. Had to grab on to alder branches to keep from tumbling out onto the path. I walked back via a very empty beach, and found lots of beach glass - blue included. Turned out that John had gotten worried when I didn't return and had set out to find me. Not sure how we missed each other since I was in full view on the beach and he was walking along the road just by it.

There was a heritage home as part of the park. It had been built there originally, moved in 1900-something to another location, and then moved back to its original site in the last few years. There was a large sign and guess who the movers were. You got it: the same crew who lifted our house - Robert Coates from Glenwood (except they forgot the 'e' in Coates on the sign).

And that was about the end of our travels. We hit the road (Route 360) to head home. 45 km from the Trans Canada Highway, we stopped to pick blueberries. There had been a forest fire there some years ago and the area had grown over with lots of blueberries, as is often the case. John is not a happy picker so he napped in the car while I picked to my heart's delight. The temperature was about 30 degrees so I wasn't at it long. There are some things that even I can't do in heat like that. But I did get enough for a dessert that I'm making for tonight when Jo and Simon come over.

The whole time I was down on the south coast, I had to keep pinching myself. If someone had picked me up and put me down in China, I couldn't have been any more thrilled. I grew up in Newfoundland and had never been south of Grand Falls. Ever. Unless you count Buchans. There was just no road at that time to the south coast. It was by boat or not at all. So just twisting my mind around the fact that I had been there was mind-bending in itself. To find that it was so heart-breakingly beautiful was icing on the cake.

I actually started taking notes for poems during this trip and I haven't done that in a few months. I should go there more often.

Note: Update April 2023: The adult fare for ferry from Hermitage to Galtois is now $2. From Galtois to McCallum: $6.25. From McCallum back to Hermitage: $6.25. Even if you stay in Galtois or McCallum in between trips. All around the circle. Pretty cheap little jaunt. You leave your car in Hermitage so no gas costs. 

Okay. So where were we?

Hillgrade:

It's taken me over a month to get back to business. I just had to. Couldn't take any more of the nagging.

And I couldn't have picked a better time to write. I spilled my tea into my keyboard this morning and now I have no right arrow key. Who knew I used that darn key so much! And what's more, John tells me that you can no longer just take off a key-cap and clean the contact. Now you have to take the back off the keyboard (unplugging it first, natch) and clean the inside of the business. Maybe later.

So. Where were we? Oh yes, working on the house. Let's see. When we last chatted, the foundation and the pony wall had been finished and the house lifters had departed. The rest was going to be up to us. Many hours and dollars later, we are closing in on completing the goals we set for ourselves this summer. Several milestones have been achieved and celebrated.

Crawlspace windows. Check. Nothing fancy, but they work and do the job they were installed to do - let light in and keep rain out.

Crawlspace door. Check. Double check, since John actually built two doors. An inner door which is thick (hollow) and sturdy; an outer door which is 1/2 inch plywood to prevent the inner door from being exposed to the wind. The inner door has a padlock system. The outer door has just a push latch for now.

Crawlspace window frames. Check. And nice frames they are, with drip caps and properly slanting windowsills.

Painting the pony wall. Check. We decided on red. Not sure why now except that we knew we didn't want the battleship grey that everyone else here uses on their foundations. This colour choice led us into a discussion of what colour we should eventually paint the house. We are leaning towards Dory Buff (a heritage colour) with red doors, drip caps and bridge surfaces, and white for the window frames and bridge railings. We'll see.

Landscaping. Semi-check. We've had five loads of shale dumped around the place, and shovelled and wheelbarrowed most of it ourselves. A neighbour found out we were doing this manually and came racing over to say that he has a tractor and would be happy to push the stuff around for us. Didn't have to ask us twice.
One of our challenges is that the dirt that was dug up from around the house when the foundation was poured is rather puggy. We did not want it put back around the house since it holds water so well and we are trying to solve wetness problems, not re-create them. So we piled that stuff up away from the house and replaced it with the shale. We have since re-distributed the puggy stuff (some of it was actually very good soil) over the top of the shale in order to grow whatever it is we'll grow. One more pile remains to be raked. Not urgent.

One of the days when we were digging & lugging dirt, we got to thinking that a patch of stinging nettles and old damson trees at the right side of our backyard (as viewed from the road) would make a great car park. But the problem was that our fence was inside that patch. Time to make inquiries. Turned out that the land is ours. We still don't know why the fence was where it was, and there was some talk in the cove about who owned the damsen trees that had gone to ruin among the nettles. It was finally decided that the land belongs to the house we're in so it's ours and was included in the sale. This was confirmed by the original owner once we got in touch with him. So. We now have a place off-street to part the car and the trailer. Check out the pile of shale that is about to bury the nettles (right-hand picture above). We had a second one after that. And now we have almost too much, but I guess it will settle.
Of course everything is still pretty rough. I've been keeping aside large rocks as we came across them. They'll come in handy for building a rock garden, or steps up the side of our hill in the back yard, or as a path to my vegetable garden. No shortage of them, that's for sure. And to think we have to pay big bucks for rocks like this in Ottawa. Would make ya weep.

Bridges. John has built a great bridge on the road side for our back door (picture at left). He even built a little triangular step down for it. From that step, we can go to the road, or to the side garden. The road-side edge of that step will be in line with the fence (when it goes up) and we'll put the gate I (okay, we) built last year right there so that when you step from the road, you'll open the gate right on to this step. Neat, eh?

The side bridge (right) is semi-done, too. It's bigger than the original one, which was rotted pretty badly. We saved the railings though because they were built by the former owner and it would be great to preserve his work. I like the railings a lot. How we'll use them, we still have not decided. In one of the pictures you can see that we've laid a section of railing on the back bridge. This was so that Mr. Dyke could see it when he came to visit last week. More on that later. 

Update 2023: We never did use the original railing after noticing how badly it had rotted in places. In face, that bridge has no railing at all still.


Wood stove. Check. We now have a new wood-stove in the kitchen. I might have mentioned that we had to get rid of the old kitchen wood stove because it was not in good shape and would have needed an overhaul to make it safe. Not sure that it ever could have been restored to its original grandeur. So we purchased a Drolet Legend through Chester Dawe's in Gander. It burns very well and turns the kitchen into a sauna. We will have to put a hole with a fan in the wall to the living room in order to draw the heat into that room. We'll also put a grill in the ceiling in order to let the heat rise into the upper bedrooms.
Since we had to take down the two chimneys, John installed a prefab chimney for the kitchen stove, taking it through the ceiling, through the upstairs room (called the Chimney Room) and through the roof. Enough heat rises around that chimney into the bedroom above that we don't have to install a grill to do the job.

Furnace. While the house was being lifted, the furnace had been dismantled and the pieces stored in the shed. Then we called the furnace man to come and re-install it, adjusting here and there to accommodate the new beams that are now under the house. Since the furnace chimney was a casualty of the lift, we were thinking of installing a prefab on the outside for the furnace. But the furnace man mentioned a power vent. After some research, we opted for this and now we have just a little box on the outer wall near where the furnace is mounted underneath the floor. We have not had to run our furnace yet (thanks to a scorching July and a still not too cool August) but are not anticipating any problems. It should apparently run even quieter than before now that it's fixed and not sitting on a rock.

Repair of outer walls and clapboard. Check. Because much of our lower walls on the north and north-west walls of the house had rotted, we had to tear away a large portion of the clapboard. The underlying matched lumber (tongue-in-groove) had also seen better days and needed attention. This week John spent repairing the board walls and putting on new clapboard as required. He put a new trim board (water table) all around the house, hoping that when he met up with the first piece that it would be lined up. As many problems as he had in getting it on, when he did join up, it was only about 1/2 inch out. Pretty darn good, I'd say. We don't have any pictures yet of the final job because he says, "it's not finished." He still has to address the corner trim.

That about covers it, I think. It's been a long month. With all the digging and wheelbarrowing (especially downhill) I wrecked my left knee. Haven't been able to do much since about the 15th. Luckily, we had lots of help. Boyce Sansome showed up with his shovel to help move dirt. As I mentioned above, Clayton Sansome brought along his tractor. Twice. Transporting it up and down the hill on a flatbed trailer each time. Ivan Sansome and his son Michael who was just here for a visit came over and moved the rest of the dirt from the road-side of the house. Since they were using our shovels, we could only watch. What a great place. What great neighbours. Kevin Butt has been down to help repair the roof when the chimney was installed, to install clapboard and to help with just about every other job that needed doing.

Since my knee didn't allow me to go berry picking, Boyce even brought us down a bag of bakeapples which he picked himself. I tell ya, it doesn't get any better than this. John remarked the other day that we've lived on our street in Ottawa since 1998 and we still know only a few neighbours. Here we know everyone and they know us. And here 'knowing' = 'helping' = 'sharing' = 'genuine caring'. Remind me again of why we're going back to Ottawa? Sometimes I wonder why.

Of course, if John had his way, we'd be staying here. For good. Sometimes, I think I should just let him have his way.