The recent month has felt much like unseasonal depression with an inversion of cold and wet weather. After arriving in Placentia on a dreary wet night, I slept in the dry shelter of an abandoned schoolbus hoping for a break in the wind. In the morning, the sun began to burn through the clouds. The land takes on a new appearance in the sunlight with verdant hillsides in shades of green and lakes reflecting the azure sky in deep blues. The town of Placentia, formerly the French capital of NL, then known as Plaisance, is rich with international colonial history. Up on Castle Hill, the site of the fort protecting the harbour, I imagine troops amassing and the sight of canvas sails on schooners long gone. Walking along the historical signs down at the harbour's edge, I gain a better appreciation for the shelter it provided during foul weather, imagine the manicured stone beaches covered in salt cod and the smell of fresh baked bread from a small french oven. The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 eventually ousted the French settlers who turned south , eventually establishing the fort at Lunenburg, NS, a location I hope to revisit after crossing the Sydney -PAB ferry.
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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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