We Survived The Labrador Highway

The morning started with anticipation over breakfast.  A beautiful setting in the dining room overlooking the lake

We've been in some back waters but when the fuel is sold out of a shed in the garden you know that it's not somewhere that many people ever visit

It's now the end of the day and we've done it and we are all in safe and sound.  John has been logging the miles and there was 812 miles of gravel plus the extra miles of tarmac.  The final 70 odd miles were a mixture of hard mud, dusty pink sand like stuff and about 20 miles of new granite marbles.  That was the worst and the speed was pretty slow over that section.  On the whole the Tigers have done us proud.  They are not the right bike for the job and the small wheels and make do tyres have sometimes made me wish I had something different and could enjoy it more as it has been really hard work.  I would have liked to have had the right bike and been able to ride standing up at 60mph, it would have been a blast.

This is us at the end of the gravel.  Very tempted to kiss the ground

We are now both the very proud owners of an "I Survived the Labrador Highway" sticker on our pannier which we put on at Red Bay

The bikes are disgusting and I don't know if they will ever be clean again.  The dust is everywhere including under the seat and in all the little nook and crannies.  At one point I was having problems in turning my indicators off because the button was clogged with dust.

Red Bay was great, an old Basque whaling station and really beautiful (it may be that my opinion is tinged with the happiness of finishing the gravel). The food was superb, the best fish and chips I've ever had and fantastic home made carrot cake.

We took a short ride down the coast to L'Anse Au Clair where we are staying tonight ready to catch the ferry in the orning over to Newfoundland.  We have nearly done every province in Canada.  When we have finished there will only be two that we have not visited.  Yukon and Nanuvit which are a long way north and inaccessible by bike.

We have been told that there is a hurricane coming our way and we may have a rough time of it on Wednesday while we are travelling across Newfoundland.  We will take it as it comes and deal with what we get given.  We are having a ball.