Day Six – Stephenville NL to St. John's NL
Miles: 536
Prior to getting on the ferry we contemplated rearranging the balance of our trip as the weather didn't look very good. However, the weather predictions had been fairly inaccurate, and on Thursday prior to the ferry it was looking good. Even on Friday and the ferry ride things looked ok. Therefore we started out on Saturday uncertain where we were headed, but we knew no decision was necessary until later in the morning. As we started riding it was not bad, but all of the forecasts showed Sunday was going to be a wash out. Rather than ride from Bonavista, our original destination, to St. John's in the rain we decided to ride directly to St. John's and play Sunday by ear. There was no breakfast available in Stephenville so we rode to Cornerbrook and tried Tim Horton's. It wasn't bad, but no better than McDonalds, and we were quickly on our way. The Trans Canada Highway (TCH) is mostly a two-lane highway but very conducive for passing and interstate like speeds, making it better than an interstate but it still leaves some to be desired. We made a stop at Goodyear Cove which is mostly just a campground, and there was not much to see but it was good to stop and break things up a little. Our next stop was the Bishop Falls Railroad Trestle spanning the Exploits River, built in 1901 and in use until 1988 when it became a pedestrian bridge. It is 4 span bridge and is the longest on Newfoundland. Just down river are the Falls and the Hydro Electric dam. There is a park at the dam site but we didn't want to pay an entry fee just to look at the dam for a few minutes. So we navigated our way through the nearby neighborhood and saw it from a distance of 500 yards. Back on the TCH we were headed to Gander 50 miles away for a stop at Scudrunner Brewery. It was a little after 1:00 and we still had 200 miles ahead of us so we didn't stay long. One quick beer and we were ion our way. The beer was just average. Although the sun still in hiding at least the rain had not yet started. We had an overlook planned for a stop about 50 miles from Gander. The stop was overlooking Bluehill Pon, The Terra Nova Bird Sanctuary and an inlet from the ocean. It was a nice spot that was very private. We attend for a little while soaking up the scenery and moved on. We had one more stop to make as we neared St. John's and that was the Butter Pot Provincial Park. This was not a planned stop but we were ready for another stop and we had made good time, and after we saw the sign we thought why not. The road back to Big Otter Pond was part gravel and par poor pavement but it was no problem, and upon arrival at the Pond, which would classify as a lake where we come from, we found nice scenery and a perfect spot to relax and soak in the scenery. Unfortunately our stay was cut short as the rain caught up with us. We finished the last 25 miles in the rain. We put the covers on the bikes figuring we wouldn't be riding the next at all. We didn't mess around long before taking the shuttle into town. St. John's is the oldest city in North America, and where else should we start other than the oldest building in St John's. This would be the YellowBelly Brewery. It was reconstructed after the 1846 fire and the only building to survive the 1892 fire. We began by visiting the Under Belly which is the basement of the Public House where burnt and charred timbers are still exposed from the 1846 fire, and was once the servants chambers. We ate at the bar and the food was ok but certainly fell short of the rave reviews I had read. We asked the bar tender what would be a good place to go afterward and he suggested we go to Jack's Axes and throw axes. Although there is a new place in Cincinnati to do this we had never experienced it, so we walked down the block tried our hand at throwing. It was a lot of fun and the Quidi Vidi Day Boil IPA they had on tap made it that much better. We also walked around George St which supposedly has the most number of bars per square foot in North America. Who really knows but at 9:00 or so on a rainy Saturday night there was much activity. My guess is it starts much later in the night. Anyway after axe throwing we called it a night and hoped for the best the next day.