26th September, 2018

Our penultimate port of call was Corner Brook, on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland. For reference, Newfoundland is the part of North America nearest to Europe and the island is about the size of Bulgaria and, with Labrador, is Canada’s newest province. Corner Brook has the fame as Canada’s snowiest city with an average annual snowfall of 162 inches and was only really developed when a Mr Gay Silver opened a sawmill there in 1864 with further development coming when Sir Eric Bowater opened a pulp and paper mill in 1925.

Val and I caught the free shuttle bus into the city and wandered about a bit and then found the way to the Corner Brook Stream Trail, which led, eventually to a charming walk around the local dammed lake. I say eventually, as we first walked around what we thought was the lake, but proved to be a rather disappointing pond (though it did have some photogenic reeds) and we were delighted when we discovered the right path and the lake proper.

Some nice wildlife too…….

Our next and final stop was one with a difference and involved a visit to the Canadian Legion. This is like the Royal British Legion……but Canadian (!). This had been recommended on the shuttle bus and we first helped ourselves to a bowl of moose soup and a roll of bread. The former, probably not too surprisingly, tasted a bit like a beef stew, but at least we can say we tried it (even though moose is not native to Newfoundland and had to be introduced). The next part of the session was a Screech In. What, I hear you ask, is a Screech In? Well it does back to something to do with drink, some US airmen and WW2, but for us it was the ceremony to make us honorary Newfoundlanders.

It started with us replying to some Newfoundese (?) asking who our parents were and what our name said were. Nothing that remarkable about that, though there were 5 men and 5 women taking part (all Brits) and all the men were called John. And, to cap it all, the guy leading us was also called John! We then had to answer some questions on a sheet of paper, starting with putting a dot on the i. Of course we all put the dot above and not on the i, so we all failed that test and had to sing a song collectively – God Save The Queen was the only one we all knew. The next question had the following: PB – 200lbs, MB – ?lbs, BB – 50lbs. Now, if PB is Papa Bull and he eats 200lbs a day and BB is Baby Bull who eats 50lbs a day, how much does MB – Mama Bull eat? Of course we all put down a variety of numbers before being reminded that you don’t get Mama Bulls! We then had to recite a poem, but as a collective one was going to be tricky I volunteered to recite one, which seemed to do the trick (“T’was an evening in November”….. – you can Google the rest).

Next we were asked which two words were related out of Drum, Egg and Sex. Again most of us linked Egg and Sex, but we were wrong again as the the answer is Drum and Egg as you can beat a drum, you can beat an egg, but you can’t beat sex! This time we all had to do a jig.

We also had to eat some,what I believe is called, balona but was very like Spam, some pain dure or hard bread (like a cracker) and then kiss an Atlantic Cod (a small one – apparently they can grow to 6 feet). Not the most pleasant experience, but we all did it, as the photos show. We were then given our certificates and we have to come back in 7 years time. All very silly, but a good laugh and great fun.

The rest of the town was much of a muchness, so it was back on board and off to our last destination, Sydney, Nova Scotia.

27th September, 2018

We had one of the few choppy nights of the trip, but it was calm enough in the morning, which was important as we were to be tendered ashore at Sydney. This city was home to a vast quantity of shipping during the war and was an assembly port for the trans-Atlantic convoys and had a thriving coal and steel industry though that has declined in recent years. Sydney is the capital of Cape Breton Island which is a bit bigger than Cyprus. Lots of cruise ships visit though and we had 3 in when we dropped anchor in the bay.

Unfortunately, the rain was back, so it was a quick walk along the boardwalk and the main shopping street (which resembled something out of 1970s UK a bit) and we had then had enough and headed back to the ship.

Not a vast amount to see in Sydney itself and a pity the weather had not been kinder. With more time it would have been good to have got out of the city and visit the Alexander Graham Bell museum (he lived on Cape Breton Island) and to see where Marconi sent the first west-east wireless message in, I think, 1902.

One photo of a heron and one of one of the other ships visiting, but that is about it, I regret.

We have had a good trip and I will try to get some general thoughts down regarding this, but, having bought some time on the internet, I will now try to get this posted.

That didn’t work as it was not powerful enough to upload the photos, so I have completed this at home. Finally, here is a sunset as I know you would be disappointed to have a trip without one!