Driving Back To Deer Lake

 We began our long journey back to Deer Lake with a hearty breakfast. My last plate of brewis for breakfast at the Northern Delight restaurant. Delish!

                                                 Farewell Viking Trail.

The road is long and full of twists and turns. Now being wiser travellers along the Northern Peninsula, we determined to stop every hour along the way.

 Our first stop was to see some "thrombolites." A free spot to stop and walk the path to to see what thrombolites are. No rest stop here. Just a pleasant gambol along the water.

                     We had no idea what it was were were going to actually see.

 Well, who would have thought that these stone "danishes" along the water's edge were thrombolites.

           To think that there is only one other place on earth where these can be found.

 Further along we checked out the Torrent River Salmon Interpretation Centre.
$8 per person to take it all in. They are equipped for electronic payments. Nice washrooms too.

                               Funky moss on a tree along the boardwalk from the parking lot.

 This is actually the last part of the tour, however we will begin here. The cement portal on the left is where the salmon can go through a gentler series of steps up the falls, if they choose.

                                An interesting rock being worn away by the water.

 Inside the centre there are big windows where you can see the salmon that are coming through the steps to the top of the falls.

 There were quite a few in there when we were there. Some of them will stay there for as long a two weeks before moving on.

                              In an adjacent room is a camera and a smaller window.

                          The camera tracks the fish as they pass through the "narrow."

 The two lines are there to measure the mature fish- at least as long as the two lines are wide, or immature if it is not as long.

                                     On the boardwalk back to the car. More driving ahead.

Next stop, further along, the often talked about "Three Arches."  They also have washrooms here.
Skeletons of trees killed, I guess, by the strong winds and salty spray off the ocean.

                                                             Pretty neat.

 It was very windy, and the whole shore is made up of ocean tumbled rocks, lots of round rocks. It makes for some shifty walking about but it's worth it to get down near the water for a closer look.

                                             This reminds me of old ticking fabric.

                                       The stone is worn smooth inside.

                                   Back on the road once more.

        Our last stop was the Western Brook Pond viewing platform and boardwalk/trail. There were no boat tours that day and we saw only a couple of other people.

 The cloud cover made for misty photos. I think my little camera was getting tired at this point.
the views were wonderful though.

 We still had some distance to go so we only took a short walk on the path, then returned to the car.

                                              And back on the road again.

                                  Around every corner, a new vista!

               As we drove, and the day wore on, the light played on the mountains before us.

                                   Always something new around the next turn.

This poor driver rode the brakes all down the mountain. I know how they feel. I am grateful that Marty was not overwhelmed by the roads on this trip.  Worn out by them at the end of each day, but game for new adventures each morning after a good night's sleep. We travelled more than a thousand kilometres during our week there.