Overnight in Grand Bank, Newfoundland

Monday, July 15, 2019

Grand Bank, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

This afternoon I had arrived in Grand Bank, Newfoundland after my four hour bus ride on Foote's Taxi. I had to get to Grand Bank to take the ferry to St Pierre & Miquelon, the islands of France the next day. There is only one daily bus from St John's so I missed today's 430pm ferry and will have to stay overnight.

The ferry actually runs from Fortune 3kms away but when I looked at the guesthouses in Fortune and Grand Band I decided to go with Grand Bank. There were a choice of two and I went with Fisherman's View over the Thorndyke Inn.

The owners Kevin and Rene were waiting for me and I seemed to be the only guest in July. My room was not waterfront but comfortable and with a tv after my stay in the dorm rooms in St John's with none.

Although it was close to 6pm and places would be shut now I went for a walking tour to orient myself.

It was a quaint historic fishing town with nice homes. Even with a small population everyone made the effort to say hello, even if they were already chatting on their phone.

I found the historic home musuem which closed at 6pm as expected so I would come back in the morning. They had some wild alien like flowers growing everywhere I found interesting.

There wasnt much else to do. There was only one place for food at a tea shop or the general store so I decided to head back and rest.

The next morning I had a cooked breakfast at the B&B. They had given me a free ticket to the Seaman's Museum. As I had the day to kill until the 430pm ferry I wandered over slowly.

It was quite interesting and worth visiting with or without the free ticket as I hadn't gone to museums in St John's.

Walking back into town was the Harris House historic home which had closed yesterday evening. Entrance was $3.

It was a period Victorian home. It also had a roof terrace which many of the homes had. This was called 'Widows Peak' as the women would watch the Sailors leave but wouldn't know if they would return.

Finally there is big hill overlooking the town. I hadn't planned on climbing as my legs were hurting from all the hill climbing in St John's but I ended up doing it.

I thought you could see the town of Fortune on the other side but that would involve more hiking I didnt want to do.

See also Vlog from today - https://youtu.be/fysRv9ZDfUM