Friday August 16 ... St. John's Newfoundland

Friday August 16 ...

Arrived in St. Johns and after some fancy driving and map reading by the pilot we made into the bike shop.  More wind on the road and I even managed to snap a photo from the back of the bike of some trees that are permanently leaning so you will know for sure I am not exaggerating the strength and persistence of the wind...

Left the bike at Honda One to get a new tire, picked up a replacement headset for Harry's helmet (so he can talk to me instead of just listen to me :)) and Ralph (Rob's dad) and Nellie, along with Mel, Rob and Amelia, and Rob's sister Lynn and her friend, Brad, picked us up and our tour of St. John's commenced.  It was wonderful to see the kids and extended family...you can tell by the looks on our faces how happy we were! :) Amelia is walking on her own now ... a bit wobbly but very proud of herself.  In no time she will be running and then watch out!

First stop was Signal Hill...sight of the first transatlanctic telegraph message.  Perched high on a hill, the views in all directions are breathtaking...the pictures don't do it full justice, but you get the idea.

The ship in this next picture is making its way 200 km offshore to one of the off shore drilling rigs....and you can also see on the land portion of this photo all of the walking trails in the area....we wil definitely want to do more hiking on our next visit to this fascinating province!  

Nexr we made our way to Cape Spear...the most easterly point in North America...

The area is rich in military history.  There are still well-preserved remnants of bunkers and big guns from the second world on sight.  Gives one pause when you think about all the military contributions of Canadians...both then and now...

Off to downtown and Mile Zero...which, depending on who you are and where you are makes a difference.  Apparently neither St. John's or Victoria wanted to be at the "end" of the highway, so both places have a Mile Zero.  In St. John's locals now think of the spot Terry Fox dipped his toe in the ocean on his cross Canada trip as Mile Zero...and that's good enought for us.  Can you tell we are happy to have made it to our destination? Only 7000 more km. to go to get home! :)

Some of you might be interested in a bit of highway history..so here is some of what we gleaned from an Internet search...

The Trans-Canada Highway (French: Route Transcanadienne) is a transcontinental federal-provincial highway system that travels through all tenprovinces of Canada between its Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean coasts to the west and east respectively. It is, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Highway 1, one of the world's longest national highways, with the main route spanning 8,030 km (4,990 mi). The system was approved by the Trans-Canada Highway Act of 1949,^[3] with construction commencing in 1950.^[4] The highway officially opened in 1962, and was completed in 1971. The highway system is recognizable by its distinctive white-on-green maple leaf route markers.

Although there does not appear to be any nationally sanctioned "starting point" for the entire Trans-Canada Highway system, St. John's has adopted this designation for the section of highway running in the city by using the term "Mile One" for its sports stadium and convention centre complex, Mile One Centre. Likewise, the Victoria terminus of the Trans-Canada Highway, located at the foot of Douglas Street and Dallas Road at Beacon Hill Park, is marked by a "mile zero" monument. The Trans-Canada Highway has been posted in kilometres since 1977, when all Canadian roads switched to metric.

The sign says “Mile 0” and as journalist Walter Stewart wrote in 1965, “the Trans-Canada Highway (is) the world’s only national roadway that has two beginnings and no end. You start from Mile 0 on Water Street in downtown St. John’s, Newfoundland, drive 7,714 kilometres, and finish up in Beacon Hill in downtown Victoria, where the sign reads – guess what? – Mile 0. Neither city wanted to be at the tail of the procession, so we made a road with two heads and no foot. Very Canadian, very sensible.”

By now we were ready for supper so headed to a fish and chips place at St. Peters, a town along the close.  After stuffing ourselves with some of the local delicacies, we went to Lynn's place for the night...turned out to be an early one for us as we were tired.