It's 450 kms from Clarenville to Deer Lake. The TCH linking these two towns cuts across the interior in a rambling inland path, sometimes angling north to touch a deeply carved bay or reaching into the interior to amble amid the plateau's seemingly endless stretches of tree-blanketed hills. The best chance to get up close and personal with this region is Terra Nova National Park, but there are also many worthwhile detours, such as to Twillingate, famous for its iceberg-wtching tours.
Terra Nova, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
The TCH enters Terra Nova National Park 35 kms north of Clarenville, and for the next 50 kms it travels within the park boundary. But to really see the park, divert from the highway to remote bodies of fish-filled freshwater, through forest inhabited by moose and bears, and to the rugged coastline where kayakers glide through protected water and bald eagles soar overhead.
Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
The town of Gander is halfway between Newfoundland's two largest cities (350 kms from St. John's and 357 kilometres from Corner Brook). It was founded in 1951, when the military decided to convert Gander Airport to civilian operations, and so it's fitting that the main attractions today revolve around air travel.
When aircraft cross the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, they enter North American airspace somewhere off the coast of Newfoundland. In the early days of aviation, this meant that the planes needed somewhere to refuel, and so Gander grew as a stopping point for all types of aviation. Although commercial transatlantic flight no longer need to refuel at Gander, the airport retains its importance such as after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when 39 commercial planes carrying more than 6,500 crew and passengers were diverted to Gander. Even if you're not departing on one of the scheduled Air Canada or Provincial Airlines flights, it's worth dropping by Gander International Airport, on the northeastern side of downtown, to view the many displays and memorabilia through the main terminal.
Gleaming full-size models of WW II Hudson, Voodoo, and Canso water bombers, a Beech 18 aircraft, and a reconstructed De Havilland Tiger Moth greet visitors to the North Atlantic Aviation Museum. Inside, exits on Gander's strategic role in WW II and the development of transatlantic aviation include early equipment, uniforms, photographs, and a reconstructed DC-3 cockpit.
The Silent Witness Memorial, four kms east of town and one km south along an unpaved road, marks the site of an aviation disaster. On a cold December day in 1985 the airport was a scheduled refuelling stop for a DC-8 flight from the Middle East. The flight carried the US 101st Airborne Division, better known as the Screaming Eagles, who were returning home from a UN peacekeeping mission in the Sinai. The plane, with 248 soldiers and an eight-member crew, crashed shortly after takeoff between the highway and Gander Lake. A group os statues, of an American soldier and two children, backed by Canadian, US and Newfoundland flags, overlooks the lake. The memorial spreads across the rocky hillside, and flower bouquets lie here and there.
Boyd's Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
From Gander, Route 330 heads north to Gander Bay, where Route 331 curves farther northwest and lopes onto the northern archipelago as Route 340, better known as the Road to the Shore.
Boyd's Cove, 70 kms north of Gander, at the intersection of Routes 331 and 340, is a small village with a large attraction: Beothuk Interpretation Site. Designed to mimic the shapes of 300-year-old Beothuk dwellings, the centre lies at the end of a 2 km gravel road. The detour is worth it, though, for the artifacts, dioramas, films and exquisitely expressive paintings depicting the history of the Beothuk people. Take the 20-minute walk down to the site of the 17th-century Beothuk encampment, excavated in the early 1980s. Eleven house pits, clearly defined by earthen walls, were discovered here, along with countless artifacts, such as beads, stone tools, and iron.
Twillingate, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Beyond Boyd's Cove, causeways link an archipelago of islands lying close to the mainland. Along the way, narrow Route 430 passes farmland (where you might catch a glimpse of the rare Newfoundland pony); gently. island-filled bays; and tiny outports to finish at South and North Twillingate islands. The archipelago's most northwesterly point, the islands are washed by the Atlantic and shouldered by Notre Dame Bay. The road crosses the southern island and eases into the tiny port at Twillingate Harbour.
Cross the causeway to Twillingate (pop. 3,500) on the northwestern island. Main Street runs alongside the scenic harbour before it zips north and climbs to Long Point.
Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
For the sake of government, the two towns of Grand Falls-Windsor have been merged to form one municipality, but keep in mind that Windsor lies north of the TCH and Grand Falls south. Grand Falls-Windsor lies almost exactly halfway along the Newfoundland leg of the TCH: St. John's is 428 kms to the east, and Port-aux-Basques is 476 kms to the west.
Overnight here: Sanger Memorial RV Park Sanger Memorial RV Park is located on the banks of the Exploits River, one of the top producing Atlantic Salmon Rivers in North America. Services include laundry facilities, Social Centre, horse pit, shuffle board and walking trails along the River. Just minutes from downtown and all major tourist attractions.
tel. 1-709-489-8780, 1-709-489-7350, 1-709-489-2763 email. fred.parsons@nf.sympatico.ca
Deer Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Deer Lake, 640 kms west of St. John's and 270 kms from Port-aux Basques, is a busy transportation hub at the point where Route 430 spurs north along the Northern Peninsula. The town lies at the north end of its namesake lake, a long body of water that flows into the Humber River. Along the lakeshore is a sandy beach and shallow stretch of water that offers pleasant swimming in July and August.
Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
UNESCO World Heritage Sites are scattered across the world. Egypt boasts the pyramids. France is known for Chartres Cathedral. Australia has the Great Barrier Reef. And Newfoundland boasts 1,085-sq-km Gros More National Park, a spectacular geological slice of the ancient world.
Gros More is on Newfoundland's west coast, 72 kms northwest from the town of Deer Lake. While the geological history will amaze you, there's also a wealth of hiking and boating tours and cross-country skiing in the winter. Even though the park is remote, it is surrounded by small towns that cater to visitors, with lodging and restaurants to suit all budgets. There's even a dinner theatre.
The park fronts the Gulf of St. Lawrence on a coastal plain rimmed with 70 kms of coast, edging sandy and cobblestone beaches, sea stacks, caves, forests, peat bogs, and breathtaking saltwater and freshwater fjords. The flattened Long Range Mountains, part of the ancient Appalachian Mountains, rise as an alpine plateau cloaked with black and white spruce, balsam fir, white birch, and stunted tuckamore thickets. Bare patches of periodotite, toxic to most plants, speckle the peaks, and at the highest elevations, the vegetation gives way to lichen, moss, and dwarf willow and birch on the arctic tundra.
Innumerable moose, arctic hares, foxes, weasels, lynx and a few bears roam the park. Two large herds of woodland caribou inhabit the mountains and migrate to the coastal plain during winter. Bald eagles, ospreys, common and arctic terns, great black-backed gulls, and songbirds nest along the coast, while rock ptarmigans inhabit the mountain peaks. You might see willow ptarmigans on the lower slopes or especially during the June to early July capelin run, a few pilot, minke, or humpback whales offshore.
Overnight here: Gros Morne Cabins, Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland.