Western Region

You can't set your watch by the way time is measured on the west coast of Newfoundland.

Sure, it's easy to lose yourself in the scenery as the sun bows out across the Bay of Islands or rolling waves take back the delicate prints of Piping Plovers left behind in the powdery sands of Cheeseman Beach.

And time is not measured in seasons that spill a palette of autumn colours over the hills as time marches onto winter.

A trip through western Newfoundland will take you back before the French Settlers named communities like Rose Blanche and La Poile. Even back beyond the 14th century whalers who travelled here from Spain.

You can find places here that wind you back to a time before the Vikings landed here a thousand years ago and the native Beothuk people paddled the rivers.

This trip winds your mind back to the early days of planet earth before there was time.

Channel-Port Aux Basques is the western entry point for people visiting the island part of the province by ferry. Travelling Newfoundlanders don't usually stop here to look around because they're in such a mad rush to board the boat for the mainland or get off and drive on home.

Truth be known, outsiders are more likely to stop and appreciate a stroll through the quiet town's narrow streets that clamber over the barren hills and look westward over the Cabot Strait.

Heading east out of Port Aux Basques along route 470 are towns first visited hundreds of years ago by French and Basques fishermen. Some still have their french names. But that doesn't mean the name still sounds french.

The houses of Ilse aux Morts face the surging waters that have claimed many ships and their crews over the years. Some of the towns along this shore have English names like Fox Roost and Diamond Cove which sound a bit more cheerful than Isle aux Morts' english translation - Island of the Dead.

This road dips through lush green valleys and rolls over barrens covered in short wind-cropped trees.

At the half way point between Port Aux Basques and Rose Blanche there's an easy to miss twisting wooden trail that will carry you over a wet bog to a refreshing mist at the base of a waterfall.

Along the trail keep an eye to the ground where you'll see Pitcher Plants, the official flower of Newfoundland.

The road eventually weaves its way to Rose Blanche where it's barely wide enough for just one car to squeeze between the brightly coloured houses perched on stone hills.

A short hike ends at the remains of the Rose Blanche lighthouse. No traffic, no noise. Just the chatter of seagulls.

It's the perfect spot to ponder a language lesson that you'll have to remember if you don't want to stand out too much. Around here some of the names are French but that doesn't mean you say them in that certain french way.

The pronounciations were Newfoundlandized generations ago. For example Isle aux Morts sounds like I'll a Mort. Don't try to go continental with Eel oh Mourt. And Rose Blanche is pronounced without the french accent. Unless, of course, you're french.

Back at Channel Port Aux Basques Route 1 heads north. The adventure begins not long after the port town fades in the rearview mirror. A short, three kilometre detour down route 408 ends at Cape Ray. Long before the lighthouse and the community's first settlers, Dorset Eskimo people camped here beginning in 420 B.C.

You may see the archeologists in action but if not don't expect to find the dig site. Thieving sleveens have removed ancient artifacts from the ground forcing the researchers to sod over the site when they're not around.

Sleveens are like that. They've got no respect for anything or anybody and they'd rob your eyes out of the sockets. Not criminals really, more like politicians.

Back on Route 1 you're making a mental list of "Sleveens I Have Known" as the highway slowly swirls up through the lofty peaks of the Long Range Mountains. And this is not one of those mountain ranges that's content to sit back and pose for pictures.

No. These mountains like to talk back.

Table Mountain can kick winds gusting to 160 km/h down across the highway. This stretch is called Wreck House! and when the mountain is in the mood to stop traffic she can blow trucks off the highway.

Trains were often victimized by the wind. But that was back before the federal government decided Newfoundland didn't need trains anymore and offered up millions of dollars if the provincial government agreed to tear up the tracks.

A trail leads to the top of Table Mountain where the American military set up an air strip and radar station during the Second World War.

The Codroy Valley is on Route 407, not far from Table Mountain. And it's still as peaceful and quiet as when the lush green farm fields were first plowed by French settlers in the 18th Century.

Take your time exploring St. Andrews, and Upper Ferry before the road takes you to Cape Anguille. This is as west as you'll get in Newfoundland. And as you admire the view from the lighthouse remember this place and everything you see between it and the most easterly point on the island you'll eventually come to later in the adventure.

The Trans Canada continues north through the wilderness and along the way there are more temptations down sideroads that will take you to small communities like Loch Leven, Fintan and Robinson's.

Watch for the signs along Route 490 that lead to the sandy shores of Black Bank beach. It's a great place to picnic by the water. Of course you only find great places to picnic when you have nothing in your picnic basket. (Be honest, who really carries one?)

Stephenville is the largest town on the french shore. The Americans built Harmon Air Force base here during the second World War and now the town is trying to find its way without the military dollars. Oil companies have staked out territory on the Port Au Port Peninsula but the big find hasn't happened yet.

Newfoundland theatre groups stage home spun plays or big Broadway numbers every year at the Stephenville Festival. In other high brow news from Stephenville, there's a restaurant in town that will put bologna on pizza. Why and what it tastes like are subjects for someone else's book.

The french heritage of the Port au Port Peninsula has survived hundreds of years of North American english culture and international politics. This shore wasn't just known as the French Shore, it was also called the Treaty Shore.

In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht dealt France a vast area of Newfoundland coastline so the country's fishermen could catch and dry fish near the lucrative fishing grounds. France may have lost the war with England but she held onto the Newfoundland coast from Cape Bonavista to Pointe Riche in that deal.

A couple of wars and treaties later the French shore was smaller but France still had that important base for its fishing operations in the New World.

With names like Berry Head and Jerrys Nose on the official road map, the area doesn't seem very French at first glance. But you can hear it when the people speak.

Just stop and ask for directions along Route 460 as it cuts through Ship Cove, Lower Cove and Sheaves Cove where a waterfall will invite you on a short hike. Through Marches Point, De Grau and Grand Jardin another unique Newfoundland tongue fills the air.

In some eastern towns there is the influence of certain regions of England or Ireland. Here the tongue is French, with a lick of English and peppered with MicMac Indian.

People from this area with French and Micmac blood are still impolitely referred to as jackie tars.

In Cape St. George an annual festival celebrates the region's heritage. In August, musicians, singers and dancers from Newfoundland, Quebec and the French Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon perform at Une Longue Veille.

This area is rich with the history of other nations. Just up Route 463 at Mainland you can see Red Island where fishermen from the Basques region of Spain set up a fishing station during the 16th and 17 centuries.

Red Island was named by the famous explorer Captain James Cook. He must have been feeling a little obvious one day in 1767 after he spied the island's red cliffs.

When you make it to Three Rocks Cove, see if you can guess where the town gets its name. Keep going through Lourdes and Black Duck Brook to get to Long Point which is at the end of a long, narrow stretch of land pointing out into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Route 463 loops back east and at Jerrys Nose picks up the road back to Stephenville. Before heading back to the Trans Canada take a detour up Route 462 for a spectacular view of Port Au Port Bay at Point Au Mal lookout.

Go South

If you've been having too much fun so far and pangs of guilt are eating at your soul then it may be time for a bit of tourist purgatory. Also known as the road to Burgeo. Strap the kids in the back seat with no candy or comics and head out for a 148 kilometre - no stops along the way - drive through the Newfoundland interior.

To be fair, you won't notice the kilometres melting as you drive south looking for caribou and trying to spell Annieopsquotch Mountains.

Burgeo is the biggest town on the south coast and a metropolis compared to the others that are accessible only by coastal boat. Call ahead for departure times if you plan to set out on a south coast sailing adventure because there's nothing worse than driving to Burgeo and missing the boat.

The first stop is the island port of Ramea where fish is still as important to the local economy as it was when fishermen first used the island as a fishing station.

As far as people go, there aren't many in Grey River. But what it lacks in popluation it makes up in breathtaking beauty. The couple of hundred souls who cling to this outpost live in the shadows of towering hills.

Tucked in at the head of a fjord, Francois plays peek-a-boo with the rest of the world. You can't see it from the ocean until the ship sails into port.

When you're standing on the dock with the modern world somewhere out there over your shoulder, be respectful and call this place what the locals call it. Although it's spelled "Francois", it is pronounced "Fransway" and that's very important because if you go looking for Francois you may find yourself getting in touch with some stranger.

Bye and bye the boat sails on to McCallum then Gaultois where the town's name comes off the tongue sounding like "gall-tis". Without roads, Gaultois is a reality check for urbanites who battle traffic everyday.

Mainlanders falling into a pavement deprivation induced psychosis will feel better once the boat stops in Hermitage. The town is on Route 364 which slices north through the wilderness of Central Newfoundland before connecting to the Trans Canada.

HEY WAIT, I THOUGHT WE WERE DRIVING TO CORNER BROOK

Corner Brook is Newfoundland's western city. In time you'll come to love the yaffle of one-way streets that swirl up the from downtown and away from the pulp and paper mill.

It doesn't matter when you come to Corner Brook. It's always beautiful and there's always something to do with the Bay of Islands lapping at the doorstep during the summer and Marble Mountain staring in through your frosted back door in the winter.

Ski freaks flock to Corner Brook when the landscape turns white for the thrill of hurling themselves down the mountain. And a thrill is what you'd expect if you're going to throw yourself down the side of Marble Mountain on a ski run called OMJ. That's short for "Oh My Jesus" which is what some skiers are heard to whisper at the top.

During the warmer months there's a breathtaking view from the golf course that peers down over the entire city. Some say the paper mill, with it's towering smoke stacks is breathtaking during the summer, but for another reason.

The city's restaurants offer relief from the usual traveller's fare you'll find on the highway. But then again some people swear they can survive solely on those gravy-smothered hot turkey sandwiches every highway gas station with a restaurant has on the menu.

Route 450 holds close to the shore of Humber Arm as it passes through Curling where you can stop at the Captain James Cook lookout. Cook spent four years detailing the coast of Newfoundland on mariners charts and the beauty he saw in the 1760's hasn't changed much. Even with settlements like Benoits Cove and Frenchman's Cove dotting the landscape, the scenery is still awesome.

Guernsey, Tweed and Pearl islands guard the opening of the Bay of Islands. There's a hiking trail in Blow Me Down park which is just before Lark Harbour at the end of Route 450.

The Humber Arm's other sleeve is on the north side of the water on Route 440. The roads slips through Irishtown and Gillams before ending in Cox's Cove on the shores of Middle Arm.

Arm, bay, bay, arm what's the difference? As they say on the shores of many geographical formations in Newfoundland, "hang on me old trout" because the lesson is quick. Bays are big and wide while arms are slender and stretch inland from the bay. And you thought as long as there's water around a cove is a cove. That is unless it's a gut. Here endeth the lesson and now it's back to the Trans Canada and on to Deer Lake.

On the western end of town there's the old hydro electric station that was built to power Corner Brook's paper mill in the early days. Deer Lake is the place to stop and stock up on fresh local strawberries for the drive ahead.

And Deer Lake has an airport if you want to fly in and rent a car for the trek up the Northern Peninsula.