Norsemen and not Vikings

17 August

Roger wanted to go to L’Anse aux Meadows, which is as far north as you can drive in Newfoundland and “only” 700 km from where we started this morning.  The tour book says it should take 12 ½ hours from Port Aux Basques (the ferry landing) and we were about an hour north of there.  I was not looking forward to an 11+ hour day.  I guess the tour book expects travelers to stop along the way, because fortunately for me it only took 8 hours.  Whew!  Despite light annoying rain for about a third of the way, we got to the National Park around 4 pm and had enough time to see the Norse camp and model building structures.  I learned today that Norsemen were the peaceful explores and temporary settlers around 1000 AD.  Vikings are the marauders and fierce warriors intent on wrecking havoc.  So the Norse explorers are believed to be the first Europeans to reach North America via an Atlantic crossing.  Vikings never made it to North America.  The picture of the grass is the actual unexcavated site of various Norse buildings.  The Park Service has build model buildings based on archaeological findings, so visitors can get a better understanding of what the Norse brought to the continent.  We watched a film that told us that the Norsemen traded milk and cloth with Native Americans for their animal skins, and it is speculated that the Native Americans also wanted the Noresmen’s iron tools, which were prized possessions and not available for trade.  The Norsemen came to Vynland in search of iron and tall trees.  Apparently there were trees available for use during that period of time, however today it is speculated that the climate is much colder and more sub-arctic with bogs and very short coniferous trees.  To me this was an interesting take on global climate change.

This bronze monument was interesting, but to get to it you had to tromp through about 5 feet of bog before the trail had dry land.  I used my binocular camera technique to get a picture worth posting.  (Of course Timothy would have used his mega zoom to make the monument feel like it was right next to me.)

Tomorrow we’ll head back south to Gros Morne National Park, which is supposed to have some very good trail hikes.  Hopefully it won’t be raining.

Time check for those who are curious.

8 am in Garden Ridge = 9 am in Louisville = 10:30 am in Newfoundland    The time zone in Newfoundland is one half an hour earlier than the Atlantic time zone.  Yes it is very odd, but we have to be precise with our time so we don’t arrive late to the ferry next Saturday.

Along Canadian 430, which cuts arcoss the top of the island not on the coast, I noticed small plots of fenced land.  When I asked about these plots at the National Park, I was told that these plots are Sovereign land and that the coast families have claimed small plots to garden because the land they own is too rocky along the coast.  The guy at the park said that families have been gardening this way for years, but this may come to an end because “nothing is without a price these days.”  We also saw lots and lots of wood piles in various stages of cutting.  I was told that permits are obtained to cut wood and bring it in to the road for curing, splitting, and eventual transport to homes for heating.  The air must smell like a forest fire in the winter time based on all the wood we saw being seasoned.  There were a couple of places that I noticed 6 or 7 digit signs.  I thought this must be the phone number to call to buy wood.  I was told that the number is the Permit number and that all the wood piles we saw were supposed to be displaying their permit numbers.  I guess only ¼ of the piles had their numbers large enough for me to see from the road as we scooted by.