Andrea and Charles are bikers. Charles spent a good part of the day today trying out his new bike in anticipation of a two week bike trip he’s planning with friends to mainland Canada and into the US northeast.

When he got back from his local jaunt this afternoon Charles asked if I was interested in a ride. Why not! Andrea outfitted me with jacket, gloves, and helmet and off the three of us went, Andrea on her bike, Charles and I on his, avoiding supper time traffic by sticking to roads in the neighbourhood.

Several things I discovered – you have very little view as passenger. Although the passenger seat is a bit higher than the driver’s, I’m too short to see much straight ahead. Also, if you’re older and have any hint of hip degeneration (which fortunately I don’t have), the passenger position with hips well turned out could be quite painful. I didn’t experience any discomfort but I know I’d be more than a little stiff after an hour or so.

Still I enjoyed the ride. All part of my Newfoundland experience.

  
OK – I watched whales from the ocean-facing hillside on the headland beyond Trinity, encountered moose on the highway in the vicinity of Clarenville. Finally an iceberg in the distance at Logy Bay.

The iceberg was reflecting a bright sunshine when we arrived at the bay, but before I could get my phone out of my pocket and walk nearer the water’s edge, a passing cloud cast its shadow. That iceberg was a long way out…

Said “Kitti – Viddi” – The harbour is an old fishing village within the precincts of St. John’s. Still an active fishing community (if small), with quite a bit of recent housing construction on the hillside and a busy pub at the waters edge.

  

The harbour itself is long and narrow and once inside boats are sheltered from the ocean swells.

The early evening sun gave the harbour a golden glow. And what’s a Newfoundland harbour without dorys!

The coastal fog was rolling into Cape Spear late this morning. It lifted enough for me to get a shot of the lighthouse – the most easterly point in Canada/North America! From there you could see fog in St. John’s harbour (Signal Hill in the distance):
 

Downtown St. John’s:

When last I visited St. John’s, gotta be 40 years or more ago, it was a small, contained city. Today it’s surprisingly large and spread out. Not much in the way of high rise building, but the suburbs extend well into various regions of the Avalon peninsula.

Today Andrea and I drove through the western reaches of the city, through Paradise and St. Phillips/Portugal Cove. What used to be quaint coastal communities are today rapidly growing suburban areas with lots of large, expensive houses!

Downtown St. John’s, in spite of the building and modernizing going on retains a lot of its original charm.

Today was foggy:

From the fourth floor of The Rooms (Art Gallery), just outside the restaurant, downtown was barely visible.

The weather had brought a gazillion visitors to the gallery – the cafe couldn’t feed us for an hour and because we were hungry we decided to move on. But before leaving, we did a fast walk through the Christopher Pratt exhibit. Wonderful paintings.

On the first floor we came across this small billboard – volunteers knitting socks…

The Rooms – interesting architecture – worth visiting: