Central Region

If the names of communities on the Baie Verte Peninsula aren't enough of a magnet to draw you off the Trans Canada and north along Route 410, then the beauty of this coastline will.

A westerly turn across Route 411 weaves through Western Arm and, not surprisingly, into Westport. Here's where the peninsula's first permanent settlers made their home. For many decades after Europeans rediscovered Newfoundland, permanent settlement was only toyed with.

English fish merchants liked the idea of ruling the place by long distance and the best way for them to ensure the abudant fishery stayed in their hands was to keep a tight control on life here. And that meant early settlers had very little rights and visiting had the upper hand.

While the merchants waited for the fishermen to return with a lucrative catch of Newfoundland cod, life around here could get a bit unruly. Especially when "the law" in many harbours came down to the final word of the ship captain who managed to be the first one to make it across the North Atlantic. If you can imagine greasy bikers rolling into your town and enforcing the litter laws you'll get the idea.

Before the Europeans brought their ideas of law to Newfoundland, the Dorset Eskimos hunted in the firests and fished the rivers and lakes. The tourist maps call this the Dorset Trail after the people who lived here. We'll never know what they called the place now known as Nipper's Harbour. And we'll never know how they cursed "the Jesus nippers" but they probably had a similarly affectionate expression for the flies. Maybe Manful Bight was named for the mosquitos.

Fifteen hundred years ago the Dorset people quarried minerals on this peninsula and the people who live here today are still digging.

In Baie Verte the miner's museum lays out the long love hate relationship these people have had with their rocks. From Ming's Bight to Tilt Cove generations of families have seen booms and busts in the mining business. If you can hitch a boat ride along the coast between Nipper's Harbour and Snook's Arm you'll find Bett's Cove where a copper mine operated in the late 1800's.

Despite the disasters mining is still the light at the end of a rough economic tunnel in these parts, especially with a resurgence in exploration all over the province.

Bays, bights and harbours finger across the Newfoundland coastline like frost on a window. Route 391 scrapes north to Green Bay and the community of Rattling Brook. A detour along a dirt road lands you in Harry's Harbour. After that another detour, another boat ride and this one takes you from St. Patrick's and out on Notre Dame Bay to visit Little Bay Islands.

If you like sport fishing but haven't had the opportunity to cast a line on your trip, maybe watching salmon leap up the salmon ladder in Springdale will do the trick. Yeah, right.

What you really need is a few days out in the woods. Newfoundland boasts some of the best hunting and fishing grounds in North America and some of the best guides in the world. This kind of trip takes planning because you can't just show up and expect to fly into the bush and pull out a few salmon or take down a bear. It's like any good restaurant where you should call ahead.

If the thought of bagging your own ingredients for Moose stew gets your attention then this is the place. The success rate for moose hunting in Newfoundland is an incredible 85 per cent. That's too bad for the moose but hunters from all over the world come to track the big game in the big land.

Long, unsettled stretches along the highway give you a good idea of just how much of Newfoundland remains as untouched and virgin as the days when the Beothuks owned the land.

For centuries that aboriginal tribe thrived on the island. During the summers they lived on the coast to hunt and fish from birch bark canoes. When the wilderness exploded in autumn colours they headed inland to the shores of the Exploits River and Red Indian Lake. But their way of life that went on unchanged for countless seasons quickly changed when the Europeans arrived.

As the white man's settlements grew along Notre Dame Bay, the Beothuks were cut off from the coast. By the mid-1700's the Beothuks found themselves in repeated bloody battles with the settlers. As one writer noted in 1793, "instead of being traded with, they are plundered; instead of being taught they are pursued with Outrage and Murder."

Shanadithit was a young Beothuk woman who, with her mother and two sisters surrendered to settlers in 1823. They were sent to St. John's and then back to Notre Dame Bay with the hope they would find more of their tribe. Shanadithit was the last of her people and she died in St. John's in 1829.

After that shameful period of Newfoundland history, naming a road "The Beothuk Trail" doesn't seem to make up for it.

The Trail is Route 380 and it winds through the forest to Robert's Arm and on to Triton. A ferry ride from Pilley's Island will take you to Long Island and the towns of Beaumont and Lushes Bight.

Badger is just a whisp of a town at the intersection of the Trans Canada Highway and road that takes you to the interior of central Newfoundland.

Route 370 follows the Exploits River to the shores of Red Indian Lake. It used to be called Lieutenant's Lake after Lieutenant John Cartwright mapped it in 1768. He was sent in to look for Beothuks, or "Red Indians", in the hopes of establishing some kind of communication with the native people.

It was wild back then and it's still wild today. There's a side trip to Millertown Junction and a stop in Buchans Junction. The road ends in Buchans, an old mining company town built in the 1920's where you'll be as far from the sea as you're going to get in Newfoundland. But you can go further than mid-ships of the island.

If you want to show the car rental company your absolute contempt for their vehicle you may consider going just a little further and follow the old logging road that clips through the trees on the west side of Red Indian Lake. If the road's not washed out you may make it to Route 480 that leads to Burgeo on the south coast.

Or the person who finds you stuck in the middle of nowhere may say, "I dies at you." That does not mean the good samaritan is going to keel over at the site of tourists in the forest. It just means he's just about to die from laughter.

A detailed account of the history of the native people of this area is found at the Mary March Museum in Grand Falls-Windsor. Mary March's was a Beothuk named Demasduit when she was captured near Red Indian Lake in 1819. She contracted tuberculosis while in the company of her captors and died a short time later.

Not long ago this paper mill town on the highway was really two towns; Grand Falls and Windsor. The provincial government forced them together to save money but neither town wanted to give up its original name. A hyphen was all it took to calm everyone's nerves.

Grand Falls Windsor is an intersection for travellers and fish. Migrating salmon pass through the salmon ladder at the Salmonid Interpretation Centre on their way to the Exploits River. The Exploits Valley Salmon Festival is now an annual July magnet for thousands of people who come to see big-name pop music concerts.

Further east on Rout 1 the town of Bishop's Falls is near the intersection of another adventure into the heart of the island. This time Route 360 spars south like a ship's mast for 130 kilometres before meeting up with the Conne River.

Always watch out for moose on this and any other road in Newfoundland. This is a serious warning because the beasts can blend in with the roadside foilage and by the time you see them it's too late. No one wants an animal the size of a mini-van sitting in their front seat so drive with caution.

A turn west along Route 361 lands you in the MicMac community of Conne River.

The MicMac people here have their hand in fish farming and forestry enterprises and they pride themselves in their independence and their aboriginal culture.

Ironically, the Newfoundland government refuses to recognize the MicMac's as aboriginals. They are a branch of the Algonquin's and arrived in Newfoundland in the mid 1700's.

You'll also find the Head of Bay d'Espoir on this road. The town's claim to fame is a giant hyrdo electric generating plant and some breathtaking scenery. In French the town's name means "Bay of Hope" although Newfoundlanders pronounce it "Bay despair". And if you can figure that out you're not easy.

Route 360 drives south to a fork in the road. Veer east and look for the sign along Route 362 to Pool's Cove where a coastal boat will take you to Rencontre East and Bay L'Argent.

Back on the road the next stop is Belleoram. Communities like this along the south coast were the home ports of many ships involved in the Grand Banks fishery.

There are bed and breakfasts in the area if you think a couple of days in places like English Harbour West and Boxey will scrob the cobwebs from your head after all the driving it took to get here.

The western tyne of this fork ends at a sandy beach in Hermitage-Sandyville where the road winds south to Dawson's Cove and Seal Cove.

When a curtain of fog falls on the hills of Harbour Breton take a walk through town and imagine how far from home the first French fishermen must have felt when they couldn't see the horizon. This has always been a proud fishing town, even through the recent tough years of the cod moritorium.

Back when cod was plentiful, people all around the coast of Newfoundland would "make" fish. That means they'd cure and dry it using salt so the cod would not rot before it got to market.

And salt fish is still the absolute essential ingredient for fish and brewis. The fish is self explanatory but the brewis is another matter and there's no glowing way to describe it.

It's a rock-hard biscuit called "hard tack" soaked and boiled and served with the fish. Now don't make those faces because it tastes splendid but fish and brewis is not something you'll find on a Weight Watcher's menu.

North again and across the Trans Canada Highway to Route 350 which leads you to Botwood and back to the era of the great flying boats. Pan American Airlines and Imperial Airways used Botwood as a stopover for trans-atlantic flights. Down by the water you'll find the Botwood Heritage Centre on the old air base tarmac.

Inside, you can lose yourself in Botwood's romance with the fabulous flying machines that's laid out in photographs and displays.

Leading Tickles looks out over Notre Dame Bay at the end of route 350. Follow Route 352 along the shores of the Bay of Exploits to Cottrel's Cove and Fleury Bight.

Now it's time to start island hopping through the historic communities of the northeast coast. Route 340 slips north to Lewisporte and through the buckle of Newfoundland's bible belt. This part of the island is home to a large population of people who follow the Pentecostal Faith.

Lewisporte's a fair size and a good place to stog your dwindling supplies for a trip "all around the circle". In the famous song "I'se the By" they "hip your partner, Sally Tibbo, hip your partner Sally Brown, Fogo, Twillingate, Moreton's Harbour, All around the circle."

All through this region, side roads lead to dazzling ocean views like the one passing through Embree and ending in Little Burnt Bay.

Stretch out on the sandy beach at Indian Cove Neck or head for the bird santuary at Comfort Cove. Boyd's Cove boasts an important archeological discovery of a major Beothuk settlement which is all detailed in an interpretation centre.

The hunt begins for the places in that song. Cross Chapel island to New World Island and look for Moreton's Harbour on Route 345. What is now a small village was once an important trading link to the world's major markets.

In it's heyday, Twillingate traded directly with the major European cities before St. John's evolved into the island's main economic centre. Some of the grand old houses from the town's past still stand, looking out over the water where icebergs dot the horizon in late spring and early summer.

Georgina Stirling is buried in St. Peter's Cemetery. Known in late 19th century opera circles as Marie Toulinguet, she made her mark with her stunning voice before it tragically failed and she moved back home, far from the opera houses of Europe.

With music as a map, the tour continues through the lyrics of "I'se the By" and onto Fogo. Route 335 ends at the ferry terminal in Farewell.

One boat will land you on Change Islands. The fishery has ruled the lives of the people who have clung to this rock for 200 years. While the big cities of North America paved their way through most of the 20th century, Change Islands took its time waiting until the mid-sixties before allowing cars to roam around here.

Another one of Newfoundland's famous folk songs comes from here. "The Squid Jiggin' Ground" was penned by Change Island native Art Scammell when he was just a boy.

"Oh this is the place where the fishermen gather, in oil skins and boots and Cape Anns battened down," is the opening line and you've found a rare, culturally impaired Newfoundlander if you've come across one who can't finish the song.

"Now if ever you feel inclined to go squiddin', Leave your white shirts and collars behind in the town, And if you get cranky without your silk hanky, You'd better steer clear of the squid jiggin' ground."

When Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949 that tune rang from the Peace Tower in Ottawa.

In the winter Fogo Island can be cut off from the rest of us by the thick winter ice that packs its arse tight up against the coast. Fishing boats often have to call for help when the ice decides to grab on.

During the summer Fogo Island is a wonderful place to roll about and explore. It may seem small but the people of this island have defied whatever the Atlantic Ocean threw at them for a pair of centuries.

Captain James Cook is remembered with reverence in most parts. Here his legacy is Joe Batt's Arm, a town named after a sailor who deserted his ship while the good captain charted the area in the 1760's.

The airport town of Gander straddles the Trans Canada Highway 50 kilometres east of the Notre Dame Junction. You can always find travellers in the service stations, hotels and restaurants on the highway and if this town has a tradition, it has to be gasing up.

It starts during World War II when Gander was an important re- fuelling stop for countless thousands of military aircraft heading to battles overseas. Now it serves as a stop for truckers and other travellers making a long haul across the island without the benefit of your leisurely sightseeing detours.

Gander International Airport has always been the focus of the town and its history. The Brits carved this town out of the middle- of -nowhere in the 1930's to make an airport where there isn't much fog. And because there aren't many "mauzy old days" here, airplanes have been important from the early days of transatlantic flight, to WWII to now.

In the early 1990's Gander was the gateway to a better life for hundreds of refugees who fled troubled eastern European countries to start better lives in Canada. You may eventually meet some of those people especially the ones who started their own businesses in St. John's.

Not all of Gander's stories have happy endings. In 1985 a plane load of American service men heading home for Christmas from a tour of duty in the Middle East died when their jet crashed in a fireball. The crash site is now a memorial park just four kilometres east of the town and no matter how many people are in the park, it's always a quiet, solemn place.

Route 330 heads north for a long loopy ride along the coast where the first stops are in towns along Gander Bay and Hamilton Sound. In Fredrickton you can see the rusting hull of the Ahearn Trader that slammed aground in 1960. This modern wreck is just one of hundreds of ships that were laid to rest by an angry ocean over the centuries.

Diving companies are the best ones to call if you want to meet up with a diving club that will take you down to see sunken ships. ers who want to go exploring wrecks anywhere along the coast of Newfoundland.

Just past Noggin Cove is another town made notorious by a song. In "Aunt Martha's Sheep" the "boys from Carmanville" were the culprits in a November night mutton heist that almost lands them in jail. When the Mountie smells the meat cooking he comes knocking and "da by's" sit him down at the table for what the officer calls "the finest piece of moose I know I ever eat."

Musgrave Harbour - like many towns on the coast - has a fishermen's museum. About 50 kilometres out in the ocean off Deadman's Bay is an island first visited by the explorer Jacques Cartier in 1534.

Funk Island is home to thousands of seabirds who are now protected at the ecological reserve. Human don't live here but we've left our sad signature on the wildlife. When Cartier first explored Funk Island he found the Great Auk and immediately began a plunder that lasted until the large, flightless birds died out in 1844.

You'll have to believe in the medicinal qualities of fog when you take a walk around the oceanic barrens of Cape Freels. It's usually cooler here but the landscape is something to see. And if you've got a couple of pisswigs nagging each other in the back seat, it may be time to stop to stretch your legs and let the kids wind down in the wind.

Newtown tips into the western side of Bonavista Bay. The Barbour clan boasts several generations of sea captains, including one who is famous for not making to where he was supposed to go. In 1929 Captain Job Barbour set out from St. John's aboard the Neptune II for a trip home to Newtown. A gale blew him off course and he landed in Tobermory, Scotland. He wrote a book about his wayward experience titled "Forty-eight Days Adrift."

There are community museums to see in Wesleyville and Greenspond. Wesleyville is the birthplace for one of our best known artists, David Blackwood.

Route 320 weaves through Centreville and Hare Bay and connects back to the Trans canada Highway at Gambo. This town is the birthplace of Joey Smallwood, the man who lead Newfoundland into confederation with Canada in 1949.

Gambo remembers its most famous son with a statue and Joey's Lookout.