Isle aux Morts

I drove down the frost damaged highway from port aux basques to isle aux morts this morning in the bright grey light. Isle aux morts is a village by the broken coast on the south of newfoundland, so named because of the many ships that have succumbed to the mercilessly rocky coast. There is still a lot of snow out here and I drove down the tiny lanes of the village, feeling lost before I'd even got out of the car. There are hardly any trees and the landscape is called 'the barrens'. I'm told it's normally blowing a gale but today the air is still.

I parked next to a deserted building in a dead end lane and got out, feeling a bit nervous of the strange place, only to be greeted by a friendly local and his elderly mother. We chatted for about half an hour! She had emigrated from England when he was young and they have never looked back. The view of a small inlet from their house is just beautiful! 

I left them to their errands and went to find the Harvey Trail that hugs the coast. The trail came and went beneath 3-6 ft of snow but signs, barriers and one other set of foot prints guided me along. 

As soon as I started walking, I fell in love with the place! I wrote this at the end of the trail before I turned back...

"The sun is peeking out from behind the clouds and I'm sitting by the sea in my t-shirt watching the last chunks of sea ice float around. The rocks are stunning limestone slaps with jagged strips of shining quarz and a crust of lichens in turquoise and black. The vegetation between the rocks is a persian rug of red, blue, green, orange and brown. The lichens, mosses, grasses and shrubs have left no patch of earth uncarpeted.

As I was dancing about the rockpools, 4 canada geese flew low over my head from the sea, wings flapping hard, necks perfectly still and straight.

I haven't seen anyone since I left town. This place feels so fantastically remote! In every direction, all I can see is incredible landscape. The only sign of humanity is the path I walked on to get here.

I started to scramble along the rocky cliffs but came back when I realised that nobody knew where I was and I was a very long way from anyone with no phone. I know that if Dave was here with me, we would have done loads of exploring that I'm too much of a wimp to do on my own. It's such a gorgeous day, I don't want to leave!"

The walk back was just as lovely and I had lunch in the village on a rock overlooking a calm bay, listening to the distant waves that were out of sight.