The Iceberg Capital of the World - Twillingate NL

We started our trip to Twillingate early for 2 reasons. One the long distance we had to travel and two the road was terrible coming in therefore the road out will be the same. Our first challenge was getting out of town. The hill we came down was a 20% grade, so what goes down must go up. Precious did it but it was slow going.

The trip was pretty much the same as any other trip except we decided to stop at Grand Falls-Windsor to get diesel and groceries. They have a Wal-Mart, and two other grocery stores to choose from. When you find a grocery store expect to pay high prices for food especially in a small town. Example: a dozen eggs were $3.99, bread is usually $3.49 a loaf, Pepsi/Coke products are $8.00 for a 12 pack and so on you get the idea. Some well laid plans don’t always work out. They were having Grand Falls-Windsor days so everything was closed except the gas stations. What the heck is Grand Falls-Windsor day? I asked the locals and they didn’t even know. So we drove away without our Wal-Mart fix. Precious was full our tummies were empty.

We arrived at Dildo Run Provincial Park just after 1 pm. Yes, that is the real name of this park. We set up, had lunch, and had a short snooze. What a life.

Dildo Run PP

The beach...looks cold

All of us had a snooze

The day was still young so we decided to head into Twillingate. The French never settled in this area but gave Twillingate its name which was derived from the word Toulinquet. Because of its great harbour and rich fishing grounds the town continued to grow for hundreds of years. With the decline of the fishing industry Twillingate has become a major tourist attraction. People flock to the area to see the rugged coastlines not to mention an old fishing village with old buildings, live performances featuring Newfoundland comedy and music, and of course the icebergs.

The rugged coastline

Downtown harbour

The village

Abandoned but still cool

The next two days we toured the outlying small towns and coves to get a real feel for the area. We found the common denominator was a small fishing village located at the end of the road with people waving to say hello and welcoming us to their town. And that is why I love Newfoundland.

A small fishing village at the end of the road

Beautiful summer flowers

In saying that I have to admit I was a little disappointed with Twillingate. After all the hype that I have heard about how beautiful it is, the icebergs are the best, you can see whales from the shore, the food is great, the people are friendly, and so on and so on. I found some of that, but we much preferred many of the other towns we have been to already.

Now that the heat of the summer is here the icebergs are starting to disappear and break apart. So here is my last picture of an iceberg with the sun going down. I promise no more icebergs.

Looks like glass