• Adventure

Sun and moon and beat of sea-

Great lands stretching endlessly,

Where be bonds to bind the free?

All the world was made for me!

by Adelaide Crapsey

 We travel the island of Newfoundland in our little CV, and oh the fun and adventures we’ve had! Last summer we spent five days and nights in this little camper with our two grandchildren and the fun, love, learning, hiking, eating and hair raising moments will be forever with me. But I digress (again), we also hiked the Skerwink Trail last summer and I will forever smell the scent of lilacs whenever I hear this trail discussed.

We arrived late in the day and did a complete walkabout of these beautiful communities, Port Rexton/ Trinity East.

photos by L and C  Fudge

“In Tibet, trying to achieve happiness without understanding the cause of happiness is called lotok, “backward.” Sakyong Mipham        I am blessed to now understand what causes me happiness.

The Skerwink Trail is 5.3 km long and has been named one of the top trails in North America and one of the top five trails in Canada.  I really don’t know how this is decided and while I agree it is an awesome trail to hike, I would have difficulty choosing my favourite trail.

It’s kind of crazy that while I have visited Trinity many times and watched many of the plays and dinner theatres, I  had never hiked this trail until 2015.

Leisure

What is this life, if full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare,

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

W. H. Davies

 

If you haven’t already hiked the Skerwink Trail, I hope you make time this year.

After completing the trail, a visit to the Two Whales Coffee Shop is a delightful treat.

Looking, singing, resting, breathing are all complementary to walking.  Thomas A. Clark

 You  travel to Comfort Cove, see Comfort House and  Comfort Island. If it’s cold you can ‘honey hug’ while breathing cleansing ocean air. Maybe a lunch and boil up to complete your together day?

We have Comfort House which is privately owned.

I prefer to hike this trail, which is not very long approximately 3 km, in the fall and winter. In the fall it offers some vibrant patches of colour, an active forest and stunning views.

I found it so interesting that some of the ferns were changing into their fall dress while others were still wearing a bright green. This continued into winter.

 

Can you smell the ocean?  Feel the cold fall air?

 

A rock outcrop, a hedge, a fallen tree, anything that turns us out of our way is an excellent thing on a walk.   In Praise of Walking  Thomas A. Clark

 

 

Funny how we have eyes and yet not see.  I had walked this trail many times but didn’t see this old boat until this fall. It is a little off the trail and very dilapidated. I was really curious as to how it came to be there because it is far from the community and near the banks of a cliff in Capelin Cove. It couldn’t have washed ashore and how could it have been pulled up and over the cliff?  I asked a couple of locals and no one knew. Finally cousin Stephen enlightened me.  The boat belonged to Uncle Alf (Alfred) Ginn and his son had pulled this old boat (by horse and sleigh???) in here a long time ago  and had it somehow erected to form a house for his goats!!!!!  Now that would have  been interesting to see.

I visualize Uncle  Alf as walking like Grandpa Walton…up and down/side to side…(was      one leg shorter than the other/was he born like this/was it the result of an accident?)  …………..past our house on his way to Elsie Head’s store or Jim Eveleigh’s shop to purchase groceries for Aunt Minie   (how  does one spell that name??)  or on his way to the Salvation Army on Sunday.   He was actually a great uncle of mine, a fact I never knew until I was a teenager because everyone in the cove called him Uncle Alf.

 

 

photos L. Fudge

The trail takes on a totally different look in winter, again very pretty  and you always see and hear some new forest sound..birds, squirrels, rabbits and I have seen moose tracks. If the snow is deep and you are snowshoeing this trail, there is one slightly challenging part. Maybe stop after this to hug your honey and/or to ‘boil up’?

 

Overnight rabbits were dancing in the moonlight?

photo by carolfromthecove

 

Happy Valentine’s Day from the Cove! Hope you enjoy a walk today!

Comfort Cove was stunning today.  We witnessed the mess  that nature  brought us on Friday night, her Saturday morning fury and her ‘gob smacking’ afternoon beauty. It is so nice to be out and about on a cold winter’s day.

 

 

 

L. Fudge photos

The bight road offers ever changing vistas.

“…….. my concept of happiness is to be fulfilled in a spiritual sense.”   Coretta Scott King.