Motorcycle Touring in Newfoundland, Canada
Where the ±¥Æß is Newfoundland?
Gerry Casey gave me the name of a guy called Harry who was looking to do an Irish holiday bike swap of a Kawasaki GTR vs anything. When I heard it was Newfoundland, a dot off a blob called Canada on my school atlas, I wasn't so keen. So Harry gave me the hard-sell on the ´Roads of Newfoundland´. It's a great read and Harry has agreed that I can put it on the website along-side other great Roads, such as Beara and Sligo. The photo of the airborne GTR (no rain, no mist) sold the idea to me, so maybe Newfoundland will be my destination in '09.
BTW, no Irish call-centre insurance people would countenance adding Harry to my motorcycle policy - "Canadians are classed as provisional licence holders (PLH) and we don't accept PLHs." A girl in Carole Nash did say she would look again at Harry's case, but as my Russian tour starts a few days before my policy expires, and I need the new policy extended to cover my transit through Belarus, I don't want to start looking at the costs, (splitting my multi-bike into 2 new policies; adding Belarus cover to one and Harry to the other) three weeks before I depart, when 'the powers that be' might say no after all.
Harry has prepared basic maps with distances which are difficult to minimise for a web-page; at the resolution of 120px psi and size of 1300x1000 px they are more difficult to handle/load and when they go smaller detail gets lost/blurred and they are a waste of time. I have put about 1 megs (126 secs to load @ 55kps) worth on a second web page and suggest you flip between them if you can.
Here's Harry: " This is pretty much a handbook for touring Newfoundland. The topography of the island is reminiscent of the west of Ireland and of Scotland and for good reason. All were once part of the same land mass. Newfoundland is the northern end of the Appalachian chain which extends south into the US. The Appalachian chain extends under the ocean to rise as the Caledonian chain in Ireland which continues through Scotland and up into Scandinavia. The same rock here in Bay of Islands is also found in Donegal and the highlands of Scotland. Incidentally, following the Appalachians south into the US will get you some of the best motorcycling roads in the US.
Weather: Like most things we are similar but with some significant differences. Irish winds usually westerly and from over the ocean. Our winds are also generally out of the west but bring the continental weather patterns to us, tempered by the ocean. The south, north, east and west coasts of Newfoundland have distinctive climates. Because the south is swept by the Gulf Stream it's warm and foggy and can, in the summer, get downright hot, mid 30s and above. The Northern Peninsula is on the southern end of the Labrador Sea and the Labrador current brings cold water down making the climate like northern Scotland. The Avalon (eastern side) can be wet, in fact, the other name for St. John's is "Rain, Drizzle and Fog" - really, that's what it's often called. The western side, where I live, probably has the best weather and we tend to get more sun than the rest. Best time is July, August and September as these tend to be the driest and warmest months.
Riding gear should include, like Ireland, good rain gear but also gear you would use riding the colder seasons of Ireland. However, I find an armoured mesh jacket is more comfortable in the highest temperatures and it's the core of my riding gear. I use a fleece jacket with a wind barrier membrane under the mesh jacket and a breathable waterproof jacket over it. If the weather is really wet or cold I'll put a light, waterproof shell over the lot to increase the warmth and eliminate leakage. When I rode Ireland, I wore waterproof armoured pants almost every day but here I often get away with jeans as do most riders. We seem to get longer periods of either rain or sun so if it's dry it tends to stay that way. I will use armour under the jeans but with the lower level of traffic here and, with fewer of the nice tight bike roads that you have, there's a lower perceived risk. I keep a packable pair of waterproof pants in the tank bag.
We don't have nearly the depth of history that Ireland does and haven't any castles and such but our European history goes back further than the rest of North America. As you probably know, St. Brendan may have reached our shores around the seventh century. The Vikings did reach North America and built a settlement in northern Newfoundland about the year 1000. You asked about the kind of road patterns we have and I'm afraid it is something like Scotland. While many of the roads are very scenic, you usually do have to return by the same route but there are some exceptions. The island is a little bigger than Ireland in area but the population is only a tenth of Ireland and so we have fewer paved roads. I'd be willing to guess that we have just about as many if you include the woods roads. These are built for wood trucks and are jointly funded by the province and the paper companies and are built to provincial standards. The public may use them but you need a dirt worthy bike to ride them and if they're not in current use by the paper companies they can be in very poor shape.
However, it's the paved roads that the GTR likes and the main one is the Trans Canada highway and runs east to west with everything branching from that. The accompanying maps show the various Newfoundland routes. I had been intending for quite a while to do these and your question was just the incentive I needed. Newfoundland could be divided up into about 3 or maybe 4 rides and you'd need at least 2 weeks. One of the better rides here is to the tip of the Northern Peninsula where the first Norse settlement ruins are. St. John's, on the eastern side, is the other area that has quite a bit of history. Then, on the south coast, you can still experience the "outport" way of life as there are still about a half dozen on the south coast. They're only accessible by coastal boat and I did the trip by bike a few years back. They don't take cars but they do take bikes, some pictures attached.
On the eastern side there are many possible loops because it's the older and more populous area. The notable ones are the Irish loop and the Southern Shore loop.
The Irish Loop has great whale watching and the archaeological dig at Ferryland which is very extensive, open to the public and has a good museum and visitor centre. The Southern Shore Loop adjoins the Irish Loop, has great scenery and the Cape Saint Mary's Ecological Reserve which has one of the largest sea bird populations in North America. The Conception Bay Loop is another good one and is had by following the coast of Conception Bay north from St. John's and returning by the Trans Canada highway. The Burin Peninsula is still on the eastern side but further west, extends southward and, while you do have to go and return on the same road in the upper portion, the lower part is a loop. From the Burin you can take a side trip out to St. Pierre and Miquelon which are French islands just off the coast and you'd need your passport. The Twillingate Loop is another popular one, further west in the central area. It leaves from the Gambo on the Trans Canada and goes northwest to Fogo island and then Twillingate and New World Island. You then return by more westerly roads to Grand Falls Windsor on the Trans Canada. Twillingate has icebergs and whales. Fogo has Tilting, one of the most Irish of the towns on the island. You could leave from Gander on the Trans Canada (which has a nice aviation museum) instead of Gambo for a shorter loop.
Incidentally, the Irish settled very heavily on the eastern side on the Avalon peninsula. About half of the original settlers were from Ireland. In the 1800s Irish was the language of the "southern shore" portion of the Avalon and you can still hear the accent very strongly here. The rest of the island was principally English but there is a sizeable Scottish community on the south west coast and an Acadian French community further up from it. Gaelic was spoken within living memory and French is still spoken. English is universal but accents differ strongly from area to area on the island and it can be difficult for even native Newfoundlanders to understand one another.
The Northern Peninsula on the western side of the island, goes north to the Viking settlement on the very northern tip. It's not a loop but it is mountainous and there is a good wilderness loop at its upper end. There is also an excellent side trip out to Trout River when you travel north. It's also not a loop but it's one of our best bike roads and it goes through Gros Morne national park through the Tablelands which is a World Heritage site. The South Shore of Bay of Islands isn't a loop but it's one of the best motorcycle roads and has some of the best scenery... and I live about 2/3 of the way out. The Port au Port Peninsula Loop (the French area) is to the south from Corner Brook and it's a good motorcycle road with good ocean views.
The South Coast Loop I think is the best of the lot. This is the longest and the one requiring loading the bike aboard a coastal boat. There are several variations to this and the longest will take you from the south western tip all along the south coast by boat to the Connaigre peninsula, which has some good bike roads and right on to the Burin. You could take the south coast road north at the Connaigre and return via the Trans Canada for a shorter loop. However, you can also cross the Connaigre peninsula, board a second coastal boat which disembarks at Bay L'Argent on the Burin and make your way back via the Trans Canada. You can also shorten the loop at the western end by getting aboard at Burgeo and the road down to Burgeo has some great scenery. The boat fare to cross the south coast is less than the fuel cost to cross to the same point by road! For the local ferries and the ferry to Labrador check www.tw.gov.nl.ca/ferryservices/schedules.stm
Finally, and separate from the Newfoundland rides, there's the Labrador to Quebec City ride. After crossing to the Labrador, there are the Basque whaling stations of the fifteenth century. The first section of the Labrador is paved but the rest is currently more of an adventure ride as much of the road is deep, treacherous gravel and it's put down quite a few bikes. Right now, it's best done with a dual sport bike and good knobby tires and you have to take an overnight ferry from Cartwright to Goose Bay. However, in '09 they're opening up the final road section through the Torngat mountains and rumour has it that all will be chipsealed, a form of tarmac, which will make it possible on a road bike. The total ride from here to Quebec City on the north shore of the St Lawrence is about 2,600 km. It will take you through country very similar to the Siberian leg of the Long Way Round... but with bridges and less spartan accommodations. It's not wise to do the Labrador route alone as, if you have trouble, it's very remote. Quebec City should be on your list of things to see but I'd take a pass on Montreal.
From Quebec City you can ride down into the US or go by way of the Trans Canada highway back to Nova Scotia. I did the US route about a year and a half ago and it's much more scenic than the Trans Canada but quite a bit longer. In Nova Scotia the best ride is the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island and near it is the restored fort of Louisburg which was France' key fortress on the North American coast. Then it's about a 6 hour ferry ride back to Newfoundland and another 3 hours to my place. Ferry details for southern route www.marine-atlantic.ca/en/index.shtml
One thing to bear in mind is that everything is much further apart than is customary in Europe and the daily distances are larger by a factor of 2 or more. However, I've found that with our rather boring straight roads it's no trouble to do 1000 km a day."