A World-Famous Hiking Trail

 Hullo! We are doing another hike today... and yes... taking more lupin pictures apparently!

It's just over here...

We are hiking the Skerwink Trail!! Apparently it's one of the top 35 trails in North America...

It's about 5 km and is rated moderate-difficult...

So far, it's not too bad... lots of short stubby trees... and some open boggy meadows.

One of the reasons why it's so spectacular, is the sea stacks one can see along the way.

Like those ones!!!

They are pretty cool!

There are a lot of cliffs along here... and pretty much zero railings! So if you are bringing pets or kids... keep them both on a short leash!

There are some boardwalks as well, which are cool.

And more boggy areas with Labrador Tea..

oooohhh...

A nice viewpoint here. We are headed for that point in the distance.

These ferns are everywhere, and are lovely chartreuse green.

Um, yeah. Ya think????

And stairs... lots of stairs...

Oh boy... more stairs!!!

I'm just going to rest here...

And get a selfie with the Bunchberries!

Whew!! Almost made it to the point. That's a person waaaaayyyy out there... that tiny little speck...

This is a super cool hike!

We are almost at the half-way point.

Along the way...

I saw some burrows!!!

Were they rabbits??? I wonder if any puffins would ever move in here? 

Probably not... puffins will only nest with other puffins... so if there are no puffins here... no puffins will nest here... a bit of a circular conundrum!

I saw some cute Twin Flowers along the way!!

Sometimes there weren't stairs... just wet, slippery trails crawling up the hillsides... this is probably waht gets it a difficult rating!

Whew... we are coming around the backside of the loop and over there...

Is Trinity! Where we were the other day and had yummy ice cream.

Sigh... more stairs and boardwalks. This little bear is getting tired.

The landscape is quite varied... from boggy ares to scrubby trees, to more open vistas...

And murky trails...

Ooooh... and one last sea stacks!!!

Just as we finally reach sea-level and are almost done.

And we found our car again... and a LOT more cars than when we started. Glad we got here early. Because it's such a famous trail, it gets a lot of visitors.

And one last pic (of lupines)... onwards!

A New Bus Bingo Card!!

 Hullo... we are working on our new Bus Bingo card... 

We have to come up with bus numbers and we are having a discussion about how best to do that...

We could just go... Bus 1 to Bus 25?

Or Bus 26 to Bus 51? Or we could do like... numbers ending in 6 in a row... or a column... etc...

Hmmm...  or... we could go with the most popular routes by ridership... although Beanie does not necessarily follow the crowd... We mulled and we mulled...

But finally we came up with a strategy!!!

But we are NOT sharing our strategy because then Beanie changes their travel patterns!!!!!

There... that's our first iteration... and then we checked for duplicates...

And consulted old Bus Bingo cards and made a few changes...

So here it is! Bus Bingo #8...

Visiting a Dungeon and a First Landing Site

 Hullo!! Today we are visiting the Bonavista Peninsula and went to see the Dungeon!

It's not that type of dungeon... it's a collapsed sea cave with an arch!

It's pretty cool, and quite a drop down there.

This little bear is staying far away from the edge!

The weather is fantastic and the coast along here is spectacular.

So rugged and jagged.

The entrances to the sea arches are just to the right here, but we can't see them.

We'd have to hike over along the shore to see the entrances. But we aren't doing that.

Nope... cause it is now time for lunch!

You can't beat the view at this lunch spot...

And in addition to the standard hummus and veggies... we have...

Some left-over cooked salmon!!!

That, of course, is entirely for me...

Right... now that we are fed and watered... we are going to do a bit more exploring.

Honestly, these peninsulas are soooo barren!!! There is not a stick of a tree growing anywhere!

But we did cross a cattle guard and we then saw...

... some sheep grazing!!

And then some horses!!

There was a sign earlier that said this area was used for agricultural purposes... but we didn't expect to see anything!

That is a handsome horse...

I was going to approach but it was ripping at the grass quite earnestly... and I thought... best not to interrupt its lunch!

That would also explain why the grass everywhere is so low and well-kept!!

This white horse came closer...

... but again... lunch is not a time to be disturbed!

We kept going and finally found the end of the Bonavista Peninsula...

Oh, and yes... the humans did stop at the Bonavista sign and sing the refrain from the Canadian version of This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land... cause you know... we come from Vancouver Island!! ahem...

This land is your land, This land is my land,
From Bonavista to Vancouver Island,
From the Arctic Circle to the Great Lake waters,
This land was made for you and me 

Anyhow... carrying on... this is a pretty significant lighthouse!

It was built in 1843 and retired in 1962, when it was replaced by an electric light on a steel tower (boring). The lighthouse became a historic site in 1978. You can go up into the light bit at the top and they still have the  seal oil-fueled light thingie that was used in the 1800s!

There's also a bird island off the point here, where you can see puffins!

But we saw the best puffins, up close, at Elliston... so we passed on puffins...

I wonder if this fog horn still works... hmmm... probably! Good thing it is not foggy today!

This lighthouse is one of the most photographed places in Newfoundland & Labrador. It's also a prime spot to spot whales and icebergs, along with puffins.

Speaking of puffins... I met this life-sized puffin in the interpretive centre.

He's a cute little fellow... but I really thought they would be bigger!

There's one more spot to see, near the lighthouse...

That statue up there!

Any idea who it might be? He was a great explorer (not C. Columbus)...

Hmmm... note to self... do not climb the statue...

There's a plaque here for a fella named Giovanni Caboto, who landed here in May 1497!

Do you recognize the name??

It's John Cabot!! He was actually Italian, but because he was sailing under the British flag, they anglicized his name from Giovanni Caboto...

Now we all now that he did not "discover" anything... and besides the Vikings landed in another part of Newfoundland long before Giovanni... but he was a pretty intrepid explorer.

There's also some discussion as to whether he landed here on the Bonavista Peninsula, elsewhere in Newfoundland, or even in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, or further down into Maine...

They didn't have good maps back in those days (like... no maps)... they were the map makers sooo... we'll let that slide.

And that's our big day of exploration! Whew!

On our way back... we had to stop and take a picture of this house... Notice anything odd??? Yeah... there's no stairs/porch to the front door!! We can't tell you how many houses we saw where they had no stairs at the front door! Some say that they are mother-in-law doors... to welcome (not) the in-laws... hah! Others say that after the war, fire safety codes required a second exit to get a building permit, but local regulations didn't require building costly front stairs if the door was never used. Uh-huh... OK...

Soooo... for dinner today... we got something special from our Airbnb host...

Fresh cod!!! Like it was swimming out in the ocean this morning... and our hosts went and caught it... and now we get to eat it.

It looks beary yummy.

I mean... cod is what Newfoundland is built on, you know!

We fried it up with a bit of salt and pepper...

And then ate it... it was delicious!!!

And we had leftovers for the next day, which were even yummier cold!!