To Botwood

Now we know we are heading back to St John's, but where should we break the trip ... we had heard about a nice Hostel in Botwood and it wasn't far off the main road so off we headed.

Botwood has an amazing air history ... visitors who flew in were Lindberg, Churchill, Roosevelt, Bob Hope as during the war it was the terminal for trans Atlantic crossings; now it is the headquarters for travellers wanting to enjoy the Bay of Exploits a beautiful kayaking area.

We managed to get out to do a bit hiking in this area

 Only later did we hear one story of this area, from Bonnie's pal, Donna .... we were close but didn't know it.

  Donna's parents [her 18 year old mother was sent to the Black Islands Outport to teach ... and her father watched as the young teacher scrambled off the boat - he knew she was the one for him ... he was right, they married and began their family] Then with wee kids in tow they were moved from the outport to the "mainland" of the Harbour, where they struggled to get shelter for the growing family, get in gardens and earn a living. The first winter the roof blew off their house!
It is hard to understand the resilience of these Newfoundlanders, even today! Donna now travels to the old place for much of the summer. We are so thankful that Bonnie shared her family and friends with us.

A word about signs in Newfoundland  ... they have lots, some tell stories about the area, some tell you how many traffic fatalities involving moose, some give road directions and then there are the trail signs, often beautiful but distances given were often confusing ... 2 k. to go or have have we 2k. perhaps it was just we islanders, who have no trail distance signs!