Purusing the wiles of the Irish Loop
Istarted to make a list of things worth seeing on the Irish Loop, but there were so many it became obvious only a Cole’s Notes type sketch of the attractions would fit in this space. For there are more cultural, historical and ecological attractions, varieties of landscape and geography and amenities devoted to tourists on the Irish Loop than perhaps any region of the province. Though the Irish Loop rolls and meanders along 300 kilometres of highway, it’s starting and end points are both conveniently located close to St. John’s. The loop offers a road trip of unchanging vistas that a traveller can tackle in a day, or a pristine region of hiking trails, archaeological digs, fossil beds and fishing villages that a visitor with more time can spend days, weeks, even years exploring. And yet for all its many attractions and amenities, the Irish Loop remains perhaps Newfoundland’s best kept tourism secret. Let’s start at Bay Bulls and work our way around the loop to St. Catherine’s for a preview of what you will find.
Trails, whales & tales Though it begins north of St. John’s, some of the most striking vistas along the 540 kilometre long East Coast Trail are found between Bay Bulls and Cappahayden. Like the world famous Appalachian Trail, only less travelled and more pristine, the ECT beckons hikers from around the globe.Tourism operators on the loop have established a network that allows visitors to hike from point to point along the trail without worrying about their baggage, which is transported for them to the next B&B, motel or inn on their itinerary. Bay Bulls is also the capital of the province’s bird and whale watching fleets with seasoned operators catering to the thousands who come to observe the abundant marine life off the seabird-filled islands that compose the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. Continuing to move south, visitors can enjoy some of the most spectacular coastal scenery in the province at Tors Cove and BaulineBurnt Cove-St. Michaels, which look out onto the islands. Here too is the abandoned fishing village of LaManche, which is accessible to hikers via a swinging bridge over a scenic gorge. Next is Brigus South, a pretty fishing village whose houses hug steep cliffs to the water’s edge. Brigus South was the setting for a movie made about the 1986 rescue of 155 Tamil refugees who were helped by fishermen from the loop. The community is popular with artists who come to paint its vistas. The fishing community of Cape Broyle is one of the Loop’s most prosperous towns with lots of amenities for visitors who need to fuel up and eat up while drinking in the scenery along the harbourside road that hosts a thriving kayak rental service and a busy fish plant ringed with crab boats and screeching gulls. Next door is Calvert, perhaps the most Irish of all the communities on the Loop. It’s worth stopping anywhere along here and chatting up a local to get an earful of what Irish was spoken like in Ireland itself some 200 years ago. Past Calvert, the trees thin out and the hills loom larger as you enter one of Newfoundland’s most historic towns, Ferryland, which has been continuously settled by English, and later Irish, migrants since 1610 (and before that by Basques, Spanish and Portuguese migratory fishermen and even the Beothuk). Ferryland was the site of the some of the most vicious fighting on this side of the Atlantic during the wars between France and England in the late 1690s and early 18th century when it was attacked and burned by French Canadian and Native raiding parties.Today, visitors can explore the archeological works at the Colony of Avalon Foundation, picnic and hike at the Ferryland Lighthouse, where two of Newfoundland’s most talented artists Gerry Squires and Stuart Montgomerie composed some of their best works, and cap the evening with a meal and play at the local dinner theatre. A short drive south takes you to the next community, Aquaforte, once the site of a Basque whaling station and still home to one of the most beautiful harbours in North America. Next is Fermeuse, the busiest fishing station in the province, where boats from around the island come to unload their catches of crab, shrimp and ground fish, and refuel and take on provisions. Continuing south is the historic outport of Renews, where the Puritans heading for New England aboard the Mayflower in 1620 stopped to take on water and supplies. Renews is the home of a local cultural centre, the birthplace of William Jackman, a famous mariner and hero who singlehandedly rescued more than 20 people shipwrecked off Labrador by swimming out and carrying them in to shore on his back one at a time, and a beautiful Roman Catholic Church and Grotto. The Grotto is constructed at Midnight Hill where early Irish settlers held Masses at night to evade the punitive laws against of Newfoundland. The landscape chan ruggedly beautiful s dozen houses and lo popular tourism ads most famous and tra the most excitemen wanting to meet he Beyond Cappahayd and scrub popular bakeapple and par Avalon Caribou her fering a population c At the end of the sc South, which is the g to the famous Cape peninsula with a ge Cape Race Lighthou the Titanic in April the world oldest fos Site. The jagged coa as the Graveyard of fog and storms. Unm the shore. The biggest town in all the amenities ne foundland was divid France, Trepassey w during the infancy o venturers, including Leaving Trepassey an first community on t off the main highway of its residents.Thou picturesque hamlets of sheep. The run to A breathtaking swee from St. Shott’s to t quickly in elevation t view of a serpentin ocean bluffs.This is t side of the Irish Loo ander through the p where you can watc occasionally bodysu Nearby Gaskiers-Po but little known, st of sandy beach province, called The Like all the coast, t great spot for bird ers, who come to se many varieties of s they can identify visit. Next door is St. Ma other good place fo ellers to replenish stores. St. Mary’s is local lore, including a rock that children ye believed had healin ers over warts. On t of the loop, you are some of the best blu grounds in the pr Just ask a local resid pointers on where t Continuing to trave community of River quick jaunt along th of Mall Bay, St. Josep leads back to St. Jo outlet for one of E side trips beckon he both of which conta your eyes, it’s just a you’re in the mood Wilds, one of Newf I told you it was a lo time to tell you abou the place really Irish feel it for yourself. W
eir religion in the early political life s again as you enter Cappahayden, a tch of coastline dotted with a couple ng like something in one of the province’s was off Cappahayden that one of this island’s shipwrecks occurred, involving the Florizel. Today mes from a local farmer who welcomes visitors rd full of Newfoundland ponies. s a 30-something kilometre stretch of barrens th grouse, partridge and ptarmigan hunters, geberry pickers and home to the Southern which is slowly rebuilding in numbers after sufh in the late 1990s. and nestled against the ocean is Portugal Cove way to the handful of abandoned villages leading ace Lighthouse. This is the very bottom of the aphy that makes it feel like a world apart. The took some of the first distress messages from 2. Nearby is Mistaken Point, home to some of and possibly soon a UNESCO World Heritage e between Cape Race and St. Shotts is known Atlantic. Here hundreds of ships foundered in ked graves of some of the victims line parts of s region is Trepassey, a local service centre with d by travellers. Back when the island of Newbetween the colonial powers of Britain and the start of the so-called French Shore. Later, ation, it was a stopping point for pilots and adelia Earhart. eading north on the other side of the loop, the way is St. Shotts. It’s actually about 14 kilometres d famous for its shipwrecks and the friendliness somewhat remote, St. Shotts is one of the most he province, its hills and coastline home to flocks Shotts runs right through the caribou range. f highland barren is the backdrop for your drive next community, Peter’s River. As the road dips he coastline, the visitor is offered a resplendent ver running towards a community of striking first community you meet on the St. Mary’s Bay Here the pace of the drive slackens as you me
y communities of St. Stephen’s and St.Vincent’s whales cavorting offshore in early summer and s riding cresting waves in the fall. La Haye is home to one of the most beautiful, hes the ulch. is a tchow rds one anravheir
of ecial ago owside ong erry nce. for o. rth, visitors will roll through the scenic d, and if they want a short diversion, a oast to the picture perfect settlements and O’Donel’s. From here, the highway hugging beautiful Salmonier Arm, the rn Canada’s best salmon rivers. More ncluding to Colinet and Mount Carmel, nexpected scenic delights. After feasting ort drive now back to St. John’s, or if stretch the limbs, a game of golf at The dland’s most challenging golf courses. and that’s only some of it. I didn’t have he music, or the hospitality, which makes u’ll have to come here to see, hear and d love to see you.