Wandering Retirees

We headed out from St John’s this morning and left the Avalon Penninsula behind to explore the peninsula to the west, heading finally in Dildo, NL on the southeastern corner of Trinity Bay.

Yes, you read that right. The town, which has only a few hundred residents, was first referred to in 1711, though it’s not known exactly how it got its name. Before you snicker too much, a “dildo” was a long tubular pin used in an oar lock on a rowboat in order to pivot an oar. It was sometimes referred to as the “thole pin” or “dole pin”. The word, of course has other meanings but we will slide by that here.

Our ride here involved following the coastline of Newfoundland’s central peninsula a long Rtes 70 north and 80 south, a total of 160 miles. The sky was clear and visibility was excellent again, so the views were so beautiful.

We made a couple of stops along the way. One was in the tiny town of New Melbourne, just at the top of the peninsula, is so small it doesn’t have a listing in Wikipedia. We pulled over in front of a house with two big Rose of Sharon trees. The owner, Jim, came out to say hello and make sure we were okay. A tall man with white hair and mustache, Jim was happy to share a bit of his background as a retired fishery worker and was happy to hear what brought us to his doorstep. Again, we met kindness and consideration and warm welcome. His accent was very strong, making his words almost musical. In other circumstances we would have been glad to stay and chat a while.

A bit farther along, we came upon Hearts Content, an important small town that hosted the station where an international telegraph cable came ashore. In 1866, the company that would become Western Union successfully laid underwater telegraph cable for the first time from Valentina Island, Ireland that terminated in Hearts Content. From there, telegraph traffic moved via cables to Nova Scotia, Montreal and New York City. This required an entire industry built around telegraph operators and technicians to keep the flow on information moving between Europe and North America. This innovation was central to modernizing global finance, marine traffic schedules, news from around the world, so forth. It made happenings around the globe more immediate and made the world smaller. The station remained active through 1965 when other means of communication became available. It’s a fascinating place and worth a stop.

We pulled into our B&B around 4:30 and started to unwind. The Inn where we are staying is called Inn By The Bay and is just a few yards from the water. It’s a lovely converted old home and we feel very fortunate to stay here. Supper was at the Dildo Brewery down the street where we had opportunity to purchase apparel with the appropriate logos. And the food was good, too.

Tomorrow’s weather looks to be good for riding. But that’s another story.