72 km, 4h 40 min ride time.
Today was very wet. When we left in the morning, it was raining lightly, however, it didn’t take too long to pick up. It was not nearly as bad as Friday, but still bad enough that we were quite wet and soggy when we pulled into Pat’s Place restaurant in Victoria Cove. We were still debating whether or not to go straight to Gander and skip the coastal road or take the coastal road which would add 100 km to our journey. The coastal route would definitely be more scenic, but 100 km at our current speeds is a day and a half. We are hoping to make it to St. John’s in time to attend Sunday church service at the Avalon Unitarian Fellowship.
We discovered at Pat’s Place that there was a new B&B in Carmanville. This was definitely a high point for Becky, as she wasn’t sure where she would find the energy to make it an additional 50 km to Gander or 57+ km to Musgrave Harbour in what had now become a downpour. The 30 km to Carmanville and the promise of a warm dry place to stay helped us decide which route to take: the Coast Road, since Carmanville is 20 km after the turn-off.
It turned out to be a fortuitous decision. When we reached Auntie M’s B&B in Carmanville, we discovered that the Trans Canada Highway (TCH) was closed between Gander and Gambo. This meant that every place to stay in Gander was packed, so it would have been a challenge to find a home for the night.
This is the first time the Newfoundland TCH has been closed in the summer! Apparently the heavy rainfall has made the ground soggy enough that traffic on the TCH may cause it to collapse into the houses in Gambo below. There have already been some minor landslides in the area. Hopefully by the time we get to Gambo, all will be resolved.