Day 8 - rest day at La Manche P.P.

rest day...for real this time


(bumble bee)

daily stats
weather: mist, fog, rain, mist, fog (big surprise there)
total riding time: 0 hrs
total daily kms (hiking): about 6 kms

so a definite respite day...well needed, and well deserved i think, but much more about the need. we finally got some quarters and got most of our clothes into the dryer...as well as our water logged shoes.
pretty relaxing morning.


(make shift lean-to)

in the laundry room i met an RV gypsy from the U.S.
the woman was nice enough to lend us a quarter...while the park ranger drove into town to get us some (!! seriously, Newfoundlanders really are that nice)
i had noticed the Texas plates and so i commented on the far drive while the woman was putting her bath mats in the wash.
turns out the Texas plates are really a front...so to speak. after her and her husband decided to sell their home and retire in a home on wheels, they did some research into living on the road...
to have insurance and a mailing address you have to be a resident of one state, and they picked the one with the least amount of sales tax.
and so they have Texas plates and Texan PO box.
and they always have the itch to move claiming they hardly ever spend more than a week in one spot.
except for the annual RV gypsy meeting in the Nevada desert for which they stay two weeks.

that afternoon, tea in hand, we hiked to the old, abandoned settlement of La Manche.
La Manche sits just off the East Coast trail.
the village was about 1.5 kms in from the park.
the trail in was a relatively easy walk and bob and i took our times, drinking our tea, and enjoying the misty air, the spiderwebs stretched across the path covered in raindrops and the diverse flora and fauna.

me (pointing at a wild mushroom and trying to be funny): "that one will make you taller"
bob: "no. that one will make you deader"


(East Coast Trail)

the remains of the building foundations sit (unbelievably) on the side of a mountain, in a large cove. it was no doubt that eventually the village got washed out, but absolutely amazing that it lasted as long as it did.
the settlement was only abandoned in the late '60s.


(East Coast Trailhead)


(suspension bridge)

beside the village was a fantastic new suspension bridge, leading over the cove and onto the East Coast Trail. we decided to hike that for a while, crossing a few gulches and into the Doctor's Cove.
stunning.
probably one of my favourite parts of the province.


(Doctor's Cove)

note to self: come back and hike all of the East Coast Trail...but not before kayaking the southern shore outport towns first.