On the road again, towards Elliston and Bonavista

Some rugged shoreline around Elliston

Today we left our camp at Lockston Path Provincial Park on a search for Puffins mostly. Lockston is a really nice quiet park, good sites and services, and an awful 4.5 km unpaved road to get to the entrance from the highway. Because of the bad access road we didn't think we'd be back for a second night here.

I'm told the road was graded less than a month ago, but there has been an unusual amount of heavy rain since, and this is the result:

This was not the worst section of potholes

 

One of the guys at the theatre a couple of evenings ago quipped the question, "Who's the richest guy in Newfoundland". Answer, the guy who sells the many "Potholes Ahead" signs! He wouldn't have made any money on this road, I think they only post warning signs on the sort-of-paved roads.

Along the way we noticed a sign to a shooting range right beside the highway, and it also mentioned a "replica WWI trench". Had to stop for a few pictures:

This part would usually be mostly below grade

Looking over the top edge at the enemy

We'd been told that Elliston is a place you may be able to view Puffins from land, instead of by tour boat. We've taken water tours before, and the current weather did not tempt us to take another one right now. This was some of the drive today:

Along with strong winds in places

Besides Puffin viewing, Elliston also lays claim to being the "Root Cellar Capital of the World":

A sample root cellar is right below the sign, and really there are lots of them around town:

 

When we started to see closeups of a lot of the rock in the area, we had a theory of why so many root cellars and why they are built the way they are:

We didn't really know where to look for the Puffins, but started to see hints we were in the right area:

We also drove by the Puffin Cafe, and had a tasty lunch there later.

I asked a fellow that was out walking his dog where we'd find the Puffin viewing, and he zeroed us in. We were pretty close. The Puffin trail seems to be in someone's back yard:

The Puffin sign was on one of their fenced garden plots

 

Access was free, but they appreciated donations, which we did on the way out. Boy are there some rugged cliffs around here:

 And boy, are there Puffins too:

Some floating on the water, and diving for fish

Puffins constantly flying in and out

Lots of gulls too

I think this is a Guillemot, similar lifestyle to a Puffin

After splitting a fish&chips lunch at the Puffin Cafe, we toured a nearby memorial to some of the many locals lost at sea in various events. One particularly moving story was about a young lad who desperately wanted to go sealing with his Dad. They both perished out on the ice on the boy's first trip, with Dad cradling his son to protect him as best he could:

Later we found some even more awesome potholes, this one on a truly back road/lane though:

We did visit the Bonavista lighthouse, and intended to camp there overnight. 

 

Rain, wind, cold and poor visibility convinced us to head back to Lockston Path for another night though, in spite of the awful entrance road. Sometimes it's really nice to have electricity for a heater!