Sometimes the joy is found in taking a wrong turn

When we were at the Durrell Museum a couple of days ago, I asked the lady where she would recommend we go to see a nice village that was picturesque. She recommended Herring Neck (I didn't understand her at first but got clarification with the map. We didn't make it there on Sunday, but thought we would do it another day.

So, as we headed toward Twillingate today, we decided to make a side trip to Herring Neck. Looking at our map,

It looked like we should take route 346 to get to Herring Neck. The sign on 340 didn't indicate that Herring Neck was down that way, but... anyway...

So, as we were heading along 346, there was a sign that we've learned means "scenic view" (refer to http://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2016/08/confusing-road-signs.html for more on our confusion over non-captioned picture road signs) pointing down one of the roads, so we turned off to take in the scenic view.

The scenic view signs kinda stopped occurring, but just before we got to the end of the road (in someone's driveway), we saw a sign indicating "parking" with a lot of wooden steps heading uphill from it. We went back to the "parking" area and when we drove in, the sign indicating "Lookout" was hidden behind an overgrown bush. There was enough parking for a couple of cars, so we parked. While Dwayne was gathering his camera, I found a sign-in roster with people's comments - everyone said it was beautiful, and there was one comment to bring lunch and jackets. We didn't have our lunch with us, but we did put on our camera vests and started up.

The views from the steps were beautiful...

So even if they were heading up what looked to be about a 5 story building, it seemed worth it... (looking back down towards where the Jeep is parked beyond Dwayne)...

A view back toward the little village we had driven through...

But, at this point, we could see the real objective - that red wooden stand with a Canadian flag next to it (I know, you can't see it, trust me!) was the actual goal... well, we've made it this far, and it is very beautiful, it bound to get even better!

There were lovely little light lilac daisy-like flowers along the way...

The view from the top was magnificent!

Straight out to the North Atlantic - the island just to the right of center is Bacalhao Island we think.

Looking toward the east...

And back down toward the little village (there were nice little buildings where you could stop and rest, even a restroom, and picnic tables on the way up)....

A view more toward the west.

This was a screenshot of Google Maps on my phone from where we were on top. We were at Pikes Arm.

Along the way, we saw that folks are putting in provisions of firewood for the winter - I thought that looked like a large amount of firewood ....

 

Until we drove past it and realized that there were 3 racks of firewood...

We asked a lady later in the day how much firewood folks get for the winter - she said that it is delivered in truck loads (I got the idea of dump truck loads, but maybe not) and people usually get at least two truck loads if they are going to heat with wood. She said that some people have wood stoves and some use wood to heat water to provide radiator heat.

Dwayne saw this Blue Bird that was doing duty as a firewood container (look inside the windows). I think this was in Herring Neck... it wasn't very picturesque after all!

This wood has not yet been cut into firewood. We don't know whether it is destined to be used as firewood or whether it will have some other purpose.

And... because I've only been posting pictures of how beautiful it is here, I thought I should post this picture - it was really odd, a junkyard/trash heap just on the other side of a lake from the road we were on.

A more close up of the junkyard - I didn't notice it when I took the picture, but it looks like there is a newer pickup truck over there so maybe someone is looking for parts!

 After our diversion to Pikes Arm and Herring Neck, we headed into Twillingate for lunch. We took a tour of the Arn Winery and enjoyed learning about them making wines from various berries that grown in this area (since grapes don't grow here).

After leaving the winery, we stopped at a place where Dwayne could get down to the water in Twillingate Harbour - he had brought his thermometer to try to see what the water temperature is. He found it to be about 60F - not as cold as we would have thought...

A picture of Twillingate Harbour from an overlook - the sun on the water was making it twinkle so beautifully! There is a Canadian Coast Guard boat in the middle of the picture in the harbour. We had seen one that looked much like it in St John's a few days ago, but don't know if it is the same boat or not.

Today was our last day in this area of Newfoundland, and we thoroughly enjoyed it! Tomorrow we start driving the the most northernmost tip of Newfoundland, near Labrador - we plan to boondock somewhere along the road and end up in Raleigh, NL on Thursday to stay for a few days at Pistolet Bay Provincial Park. The drive is 8-9 hours, so we'll break it into two days. No Walmarts for "Wal-docking" on the way, so we're hoping to use one of the spots recommended by the Escapees "Day's End Directory".