Day 6 - Avalon Peninsula - Cape St. Mary's

 We got off the ferry at 10:00 a.m. and headed to our first stop at Castle Hill Historic Site.  It was a Fort built by the French in the 1600's.  Placentia was a city used by the French for its fishing grounds and by the Basques.  The fort was built to protect the city.  Eventually the English beat the French for control of the city.  Interestingly, 2 islands just outside the port of Argentia are still owned by France.  

Then we stopped in the town of Placentia and had coffee there and carried on to Cape St. Mary's which is an Ecological Reserve for birds.  We got to see a colony of Gannet's nesting on a sea stack.  We were within 60 feet of them.  It was quite amazing, but somewhat tempered by the fog.  The cliffs are very high and very sheer and the hike was just over a kilometer.

The driving is quite challenging as the potholes are grown to quite a large size!  There are better roads interspersed, but you have to keep your wits about you.  We are not camped in 'The Wilds' a campground and golf course bordering the Avalon Wilderness Reserve.  There was not a lot of choice.  Our batteries are not charging properly when we drive, but they do charge when we are plugged in to electricity.  Because we were on the ferry for over 16 hours, our batteries were quite depleted, so we couldn't boondock off grid which is very common in Newfoundland.  You can basically park anywhere on land that is not privately owned and camp for the night.  Maybe we'll do that another time.








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