After my wonderful breakfast of cod in Trinity, I set out to ride to my Heart's Content! Yup, along with unusual place names such as Come by Chance, Jerry's Nose, Nicky's Nose Cove, Joebatt's Arm, Blow Me Down Mountains, there's a historic village named Heart's Content. The first successful Transatlantic cable was laid here by the enormous and ill-fated steam/sailing ship The Great Eastern in 1866. What used to take 10 days by ship was transformed to a direct communication link between Europe and North America. Previously, fishing in Trinity Bay and Conception Bay and the seasonal seal hunt sustained the town but the influx of money and transportation link across the peninusla served to grow the village. Electricity, a library and nicer homes were built to accomodate the siginficance of this new transit point of information, |
It was only 9AM and the cold mist was getting to me enough that making coffee in the lee of a baseball dugout wasn't enough to warm me up. I hauled in to the only restuarant in town for a cup of coffee and two pieces of toast. It may have cost $5 but I made the most of my time to write in the journal, eye the CBC newscast on the TV and drink three or four cups of coffee until jittery from the cheap swill. Time to scoot over the barrens of the peninsula where the wind sure did blow. A glimpse of sunshine greeted me as I descended upon Carbonear and paused for two hours at the Library to charge some electronics, dry out my gloves and write in the old journal. The rain had finally disspated but with it's departure came a steady 30mph wind from the west that tossed me around the lane and nearly blew the bike over when parked. It didn't help matters that one of the centerstand bolts had worked loose after being coated from my persistant oil leak. C'est la vie! An unsubstantiated legend clings to Carbonear of a kidnapped Irish Princess by the name of Sheila NaGeria who it is said was rescued by Peter Easton and married his first mate. A sign board is all that reminds us of this legend of the past but as they say, in every tall tale there's a bit of truth. In 1610, the second permanent English colony in the new world was established by John Guy at Cooper's Bay, now called Cupids. It is the oldest continually settled English colongy in Canada and home to a wonderful museum and interpretive center. Naturally, I arrived at 5:30PM and missed out on that experience yet gathered enough history from the numerous information signs dotting the bay. Stumbling across the driveway and grass of an adjacent home, I walked along the boardwalk above an archaeological excavation of the former storehouse and homesite, it's foundation, graveyard and some tools still preserved after 400 years.
1 Comment
Tracy & Don
7/26/2015 01:01:37 pm
Wonderful photos Mike ..
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Mike SaundersIn May 2014 I quit my job to ride a Honda Ruckus over 69'000 mi and counting. Wild camping most nights and cooking most of my own meals, I keep the costs low and the landscape changing. Archives
April 2018
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