We spent the morning trying to organize a rental car to
visit the islands capital, St. Johns, which is also the most easterly
point of North America. We booked a car
but were told that it might not be available since it was currently in St.
Pierre and sometimes people miss the ferry back!
So we set off on our bikes for Grand Banks, the next town –
a little larger that Fortune. Visited a
museum and watched a video of the fishermen from a couple of decades ago. It looked horrendous – fishing in gales in
winter. While fishing, the fishermen
only had to put up with very hard work in horrible, cold, wet conditions. Having filled the boat with fish the real fun
began – they were steaming back to port as fast as they could which meant lots
of spray over the deck, which in turn meant lots of ice buildup. More than one boat was lost due to ice. A tough life, just so that we can have fish
‘n chips! There was a very nice memorial
to local fishermen lost at sea. The statue depicts a wife looking out to
sea waiting for her husband. The museum was in a lovely old house, which
had a ‘widow’s walk’ on the roof. As
part of the tour we went up there, quite a view and quite a breeze. It really gave you the feeling of the
potential danger of being out to sea.
We called the car rental company at 3pm and confirmed that
the current renters had indeed made the ferry so the car was available. So tomorrow, St. Johns …
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