Lockston Path PP to Burin via St John's Signal Hill etc

From Signal Hill (aka The Lookout)

This post spans 2 days, covering our travels from Lockston Path PP to St John's, and then on to the Burin Peninsula the next day.

Mon June 12

It was really nice to be tucked away in Lockston Path PP last night. The winds out in the open must have been fierce. Even in our forest-protected campsite the van was rockin, and not for the good reasons!

After we traversed the 4.5 km of potholes for the last time, we headed south and east, heading towards the TCH (Trans Canada Highway) and St John's. Along the way we stopped in at some small villages to see some local colour:

On the way in to St John's we could see some of the houses we've grown used to seeing in pictures of St John's, and lots of hills. After the often gloomy weather we've had, we have a new appreciation for the bright-coloured homes:

The harbour area looked very crowded and busy, and luckily we didn't have to go too close to it:

 

And on to Signal Hill. This is a well-known site for several reasons. It's the source of reception of the first trans-Atlantic radio call by Giglielmo Martini in 1901, when he received a wireless message from England. The site has had many other historical moments, often related to wartime. It's now a National Historic Site, with a Visitor's Info centre lower down the hill.

Inside the building is a recreation of Marconi's workshop, a very modest place for such an achievement:

Part of St John's from Signal Hill

St John's harbour, a very busy place

It was windy and brisk up there. This is the old armoury building.

 

After a tour of the attraction we continued on our way, a bit east of St John's to Cape Spear Lighthouse. More views and history there:

Quite the workout for our ole legs and lungs

View of Coast Guard ship and Signal Hill

 

Earlier today we could see a lighthouse off in this direction from Signal Hill, but we didn't know it was Cape Spear. From here now you can see the Signal Hill tower bump on one of those far hills, up and to our left of the ship.

It was mid-afternoon by now, time to get out of town. After a quick stop at Costco that's what we did, getting on the TCH #1 heading west. Soon we decided it would be smart to have an early stop for the night, so set up camp in nearby Butter Pot PP (the red dot on the map below), just a couple of km off the highway. Far enough so it was very quiet there. We even got a laundry done.

Monday's route:

 

Tuesday June 13 (we set out 2 weeks ago today):

Yesterday and today we discussed where to go next. Originally we were going to head south from St John's along the east coast, and loop south then west, and back up. We've had such good view already of rugged coastlines and seabird life, we decided to head to the Burin Peninsula instead, partly due to the lovely-sounding forecasts for the next few days there. It's been quite a while since we've seen real sun, and we haven't had our lounge chairs out since Quechee Gorge, back in Vermont.

So mostly a travel day today, and imagine this - the forecasts were pretty accurate so far!

Actual Blue Skies started to appear

Lots of ponds and inlets on the way to Burin

Some areas looked desert-like

One of the many working boats plying the coast here

And look at that Blue Sky!

It clearly gets windy here, not too bad today though

After arriving in Marystown and having a bite to eat, we decided to head right to the Frenchman's Cove PP. We had no reservation, and were not sure how busy it might be getting. Checking in about 2:30 we had no problem getting a nice site for 2 nights. No electricity, but the site location was worth forgoing that:

It reached 18C/65F here today, and now at 6pm it's still 17C.

Tuesday's route: