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SPRING 2017 ISSUE 01 / VOL. 02
Left: The T’ Railway is the gravel bed of the defunct railroad. It offers 500 miles of off-road adventures across the island. This is the good section— bring the right bike or the right skills. Above: I was the only one camping at Chance Cove with a mile of beach and a million-dollar view to myself.
Newfoundland is a long way from the United States. It gets lots of rain, fog and big bugs, and has 110,000 moose that tangle with vehicles more than 600 times a year. But this big, spectacular island also has 6,000 miles of impressive coast and roads to match. It’ s kind of a mix of the Maine coast, Vermont and the Arctic on steroids. The Vikings landed here 1,000 years ago. They were tough people but even they were gone after 10 years. If they rode motorcycles they never would have left.
I got my first dose of Newfoundland weather on day one, after the ferry left me in Port aux Basques. It was June 1 and 41 degrees, raining and windy. They say if you don’ t like the weather at your front door here, just check the back door. I rode 30 miles north and the temperature rose to 64 degrees and the sun came out. This was on Route 430, the Viking Trail, a wonderful twolane highway that strings together a thousand sweepers as it hugs the coast along its 225 miles north to L’ Anse aux Meadows, the Viking settlement.