Labrador - south coast, Canada

The ferry crossing was a once in a lifetime experience. If we reckon the ferry from Nova Scotia to the island of Newfoundland was old, this one "The Apollo" from St. Barbe to Blanc Sablon, was ancient. Blanc Sablon is actually in Quebec and was the first incident that made us think we really were at the edge.
            Anyway, we had lunch at the ferry terminal - the only shop/toilet/anything for MILES. And it was tiny and the food was great. Of course, we struck up conversations with the folk around us and we started to realise we were going to a place like no other. Firstly, we could hardly understand what they were saying. The Newfoundlander/Labradorian accent is weathered and ancient. It has endured dialects brought over from whalers, immigrants and settlers and added words of its own just to confuse the tourists :-). And when they get together, there's no hope. Secondly, they all seemed to know each other, so we figured community was really important here.
             There is a strip of land at the very edge of Labrador - about an hour's drive of small villages - that is in Quebec. So they speak French, the time edifference is an hour an a half ahead of NL. And about 2 minutes further along the road, is mainland Labrador. Speaks Canadian English, on NL time zone. We tried to get a boat to take us out - it was so confusing working out if it was in Quebec or NL and what the time really was, that we gave up. And everyone tries to help and just makes it worse in a way that you just have to laugh. [and read the article above].
             We made our way to Grenfell Louie A Hall bed and breakfast which used to be a nursing home. The hosts were out so they left a note to welcome us and we just walked in. We sat out on the deck and lo and behold, there was a whale basking in the sun [again - not so hot, about mid 20s, too hot for the Labradorians]. This was magic indeed. First the song of the whale, then the blow, then the tail up, and it was almost like it was laughing at us. Dolphins, birds, nature was at our back door. So were the bugs. I can tell you that we had heard lots about the bugs and experienced bad mossies and gnats and the like in Ottawa. That was NOTHING. Add horse flies, black flies, gnats, and so many buzzy little bugs that annoy you immensely. The locals all wear a type of netting that is from the neck to the tips of your fingers. Small price to pay for a magical natural environment.
We drove as far as we could on paved [well, mostly] roads. We climbed to the top of Point Amour lighthouse at L'Anse Amour. [Anse means cove in French... there are LOTS of coves in this part of the world]. We were pretty excited to be on the Trans Labrador Highway - at least for a bit anyway. This is an area of rugged beauty, it's isolated, it's windy and it's solitary... not many people here. This place is really good for your soul. You can sit here for ages and watch the waves and the ripplings of water on the shore, listen to the wind telling its stories and imagine the whalers and settlers of very tough times. Imagine this place in winter. The ferry doesn't run and it has to be self sufficient. The sea calls to you here. And there's always a faint sound of Irish music and pipes coming from somewhere distant. The sea fog wafts in and out. Puffins nest in their hundreds on Puffin Island, 2 eagles spy on us from their nest on the power line [why they chose there when there's SO many better options is beyond me!].
Peggy and Dwight are our hosts. Peggy has the place well set out like a museum so it's really interesting as well as comfortable. I had to tell Dwight that I could hardly understand him - he had one eye and spoke very strong Newfie - if there was ever evidence that the NLers were pirates, it was Dwight. He did tell us that the dialect originated from Chester, where the original settlers for that area had come from.
We were introduced to partridgeberries, lingenberries, cloudberries, bakeapple berries.... all exotic names for similar berries that tasted great.
Red Bay is another UNESCO site - an old whaling station with a really interesting history. Again, our discovery pass got us into both the interpretive centres here. Again, well worth the visit. LOVE Labrador. The photos tell their own stories.