September 17, 2025
We got up and packed, but before I left I put my drone up to get some photos of the Buckle's cabin. I thought it would be nice to send it to them to promote the rentals, should they chose to use them.
We drove back to Red Bay as I still wanted to look around Saddle Island where the whaling station had been. We stopped at the Parks Canada museum and paid the fee that included the boat ride to the island. It was a very short hop in the boat and we were there.
They had a built a nice boardwalk that took you around the island with signs posted here and there to talk about the various artifacts they'd recovered from the Basques settlement. I pulled out my 360 video camera and did the walk, before climbing the hill to where the lighthouse keepers houses were located. I was surprised that the light was just on a mast. No evidence of the original lighthouse was anywhere to be found despite the outbuilding that looked as though it once housed the generator, and likely the old steam-powered fog-horn. I spoke to the gentleman running the boat and he didn't remember there being a lighthouse there. Surely there was though.
After taking some time to enjoy the view from atop the hill, I realized that the boat had returned to the island to pick us up and, indeed, the others were getting ready to board. I would be left behind for another hour if I didn't make this crossing, and I had no way to inform my dad. I moved as quickly as I was able without sliding the rest of the way down the hill on my ass and made it to the boat before it left.
After we left the town and resumed our trip south, I noticed on the map that there was a sideroad bearing the same route number as that which we were on. This seemed confusing to me, but when we arrived at the beginning of it, we realized it was an abandoned original alignment of the road. I was able to drive the car onto it, and we decided to see what it was about, and how far we could get.
The paving was in amazing condition for not being maintained. There was a boulder blocking one lane in a part of it, and the vegetation was closing in on both sides, but generally it was a pretty easy drive... until the washout. After some looking, a little walking on foot, we decided the risk wasn't worth whatever reward there might be in continuing, so we executed a 90-point turn and went back the way we came.
When we were again on the highway, we drove to where the old alignment came back out, and I decided to pursue it in the opposite direction, to see how much we missed. A short way in and we were again faced with an impassable section of the road. The upside, however, was that we recognized the corner in the distance as being where we turned around, so we hadn't really missed much.
With that complete, we continued on to the Northern Lights Motel to spend our last night in Labrador.
September 18, 2025
It was a very foggy, early morning as we made our way to the ferry terminal. When we arrived, we saw complete chaos. It appeared as though half of Labrador was trying to escape on the first boat out. I was concerned what this meant for us until I realized that almost none of them had reservations. I did.
We boarded quickly afterward without issue and before long the ferry was wallowing in the wind back toward Newfoundland.
Upon arrival, we got gas and continued to drive south to catch the midnight crossing in Port-Aux-Basques to Nova Scotia. After a disappointing lunch of liver and onions at the Irving in Deer Lake, we continued on.
When we got to Port-Aux-Basques, we grabbed coffee and parked where we could watch the big ferry come into the harbour and turn itself about to dock and unload. We had a quick dinner and boarded.
September 19, 2025
I woke up to a blaring announcement that the ship would be arriving in one hour. The lights were turned up to tanning level and it was quite apparent that our hosts wanted to be rid of us.
Disembarking the ship went without issue, and soon we'd had breakfast and were headed south once more. There was one last stop I wanted to make along the way in a little community called Beaverbank, Nova Scotia.
Some time ago, I had been here and explored a former radar site. I wanted to return because now this was also the filming location of a television show I have come to love, From. I was hoping that no one was there so I could look at the buildings they had constructed for the town. Even if it was fenced, I figured I could probably fly my drone in for some good footage. I was quite surprised, happily so, to arrive and discover they were filming the new season! I managed to get one photo of Colony House before I felt I was about to overstay my welcome and we continued to Lower Sackville to complete our trip.
Summary
Driven: 5,734km
Traveled: 8,888km
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