L'Anse Aux Meadows Norse Settlement, Kayaking with Leif Erikson spirits, Picking Bake Apples - Great Northern Peninsula Tip, Newfoundland

Route 430 north

We have a jam packed day today so we are on the road just after sunrise. We are driving the 'Viking Trail' north on route 430 to L'Anse Aux Meadows, the Norse settlement dating back to 1000AD, 500 years before Columbus ever set foot in the Americas. 

A short way up the road a Caribou runs across the road in front of us. It happens so fast but I manage to get my camera on and snap a picture over my shoulder as we pass...not too bad :)

Fleeting shot of a Caribou

Land of wild grapes and wheat

After yesterday's drive up the peninsula, we only have about an hour and forty minutes today to get to the tip of Newfoundland. Eventually we see the 'Vinland' sign, the name given to the area by Leif Erikson, which translates from Old Norse as 'Wineland' or 'Land of Meadows'. It is said he named it so after finding wild grapes and self-sown wheat in the region.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

We catch the 10 am tour through the site and it proves very interesting and informative. Apparently to date we have been using the word 'Viking' incorrectly. To be a Viking means you are out actively pillaging all over for land and goods. This is a Norse settlement because they came here in peace to settle and find resources to take home to Iceland, Greenland and Norway.

Guided tour of Norse settlement

The Meeting of Two Worlds bronze sculpture

The tour takes us past the bronze sculpture 'The Meeting of Two Worlds', symbolizing the encounter between European Norse explorers and the Indigenous peoples of North America. They never lived together simultaneously at L'Anse Aux Meadows thus each side is separate and not touching (the one on the left representing Norse while the one on the right represents Indigenous).

Rectangular grassy mounds

L'Anse Aux Meadows contains the archaeological remains of an 11th-century Norse settlement and marks the first known evidence of European presence in North America. Apparently explorers had been searching the Great Northern Peninsula for clues of Norse existence when they met an old fisherman named George Decker. Decker said he knew nothing of Vikings but he had seen some 'old Indian mounds'. He led explorers Helge and Anne Ingstad to unusual, rectangular grassy mounds. The explorers realized almost at once what they were looking at - the remains of Viking longhouses and other buildings. The original turf mounds were excavated and exposed the archaeological remains, then they replanted grass to mimic the original pre-excavated appearance.

Replanted grass to mimic original mounds found

Reconstructed Longhouse

Once done the tour, we are able to visit the onsite reconstructed longhouses complete with people wearing costumes of the period and playing the part.

Reconstructed out buildings

Women made sails from wool

Cozy inside the longhouse

Cooking over an open fire

Chris the Viking :)

Continents are closer than you'd think

Inside the visitors centre are artifacts and maps of old Norse routes. This location is actually quite close to Greenland/Iceland and it's easy to see how the Norse landed here. 

Once done at L'Anse Aux Meadows, we are on our way to find the 'Leif Erikson' bronze statue. We come upon this sign. 'Snorri Thorfinnsson' was Leif Erikson's nephew and considered the first recorded child of European descent born in North America.

Local jams

Down the road is 'Emily's Jams and Crafts' so we stop in and buy a jar of 'Bake Apple' and 'Dogwood' jam. We have been hearing of Bake Apples being popular on NFLD so we want to try them.

 

Lief Erikson - Norse explorer

We find the 10' tall bronze statue of Leif Erikson at the Norstead Village.

Leif Erikson details

Kayaks ready to go

A local shows up and we buy a bag of his shells and sea glass. His name is 'Steve' and he tells us we should launch our kayaks right here and paddle the scenic coast known as 'The Iceberg Trail'.  We take his advice and head out. Kind of cool to think we are paddling in the same waters as the Norse all those years ago :)

Kayaking the iceberg trail

Taken from kayak - Leif looking out over us

Iceberg August 4th 

Once back at the truck, our local friend Steve shows up again and helps us carry our kayaks back to the truck. He shows us photos of the icebergs that passed right by here this year. The last one was August 4th so in the big picture, we didn't miss the bergs by much. He kindly shares a couple of his photos with us :)

Steve and Sheila with Bake Apples

We start talking with Steve about Bake Apples and before we know it he has us out in his favourite Bake Apple patch and we all chat away while picking these succulent berries. 

Two tea mugs filled to the brim

Bake Apples 

Newfoundland License Plate

We have posted a picture of the license plate of every province we have visited and today it is nice to get a picture of Steve's plate. The 'Come Home' is an invite to expatriates and travellers to come back to Newfoundland. 

Colourful buildings at our supper stop

Serious hunger on :)

Our day is getting away from us and we are getting hungry. A local gal a few days back told us to eat at 'The Daily Catch' when up on the Great Northern Peninsula.  

Calamari rings and Cod fish tongues appetizer :)

While eating supper, Chris looks on google maps to see exactly where we are in the world. We are a long way from home and unable to get much farther north on Newfoundland :)

Blue Dot - Our location on Newfoundland

Town of Flowers Cove - Thrombolites

On our way south back to our trailer, we make one final stop for the day. Thrombolites are ancient, rock-like fossilized structures created by colonies of single-celled algae. 

Grey, flattened buns?

They look like large, grey flattened buns with unique pie-slice-like radial patterns. These formations along the water front in the town of Flowers Cove are estimated to be roughly 650 million years old. These rocks are among the rarest living rocks on Earth today. A very interesting way to end our day.

Among rarest rocks on Earth

We are safely back at the trailer by 7:30 pm - just before the moose witching hours begin :)