L'Anse Aux Meadows, Roddickton, Englee

The Viking festival was not quite what we expected but we enjoyed the area in the Northern part of Newfoundland (except for the weather).

We parked at Norstead (a reenactment viking village owned by the local business people). This is the large parking lot (with very few visitors).

The little town of L'Anse aux Meadows is pictured here. How do these people live in this cold, rainy, foggy area?

But they do have lovely sunsets when you can see them.

We went to the historic site – L’ Anse aux Meadows and took the tour. This is a UNESCo World Heritage Site: the first authenticated European presence in North America 1,000AD. Archaeological excavations in the 60s uncovered the remains of some dwellings and workshops. The grounds where the dwellings are still grass covered mounds and they have built replicas of the dwellings. Costumed interpreters demonstrated blacksmithing and told about the daily life.

Next we visited Norstead (where the festival was suppose to be). We found out that due to low attendance and the weather (rainy) that they were not having too many events. They have a really large Viking vessel (the Snorri) that was explained to us in detail. We sat around the fire with the costumed interpreters and talked about their current life in Newfoundland.

All along the roads there are gardens. This is because the ground is very fertile and these areas get more sun. One night we saw three moose along the side of the road.

On Thursday night we ate at the Northern Delights. Dean and Ron had cod tongues (neither would order again) and I had Fishermen Brewis (cod with hard tack and bacon drippings). Bernita had roast beef. After dinner we were entertained with local music and the Mummers came out – costumed dancers similar to Madi Gras.

We left the Northern area (in fog and rain) and traveled to Roddickton and to our surprise – sunshine and warmer weather only 80 mile south. We parked on the public wharf and were the center of attraction the night we were there – about 50 cars came thru the parking lot and turned around while we were there.

We did a short trip to Englee – another fishing village and climbed a hill with a lot of steps (Barr Trail). There we had great views of the town and two very large icebergs about 2 to 5 miles out.

The fishing village of Englee.

Dean was enjoying the sunshine.