We will be traveling to Newfoundland, for the first time, in August. Reservations have been made but I have a few concerns. We will be able to find traditional pub music in St. John's on either a Sun. or Monday night? Would it have been better to miss either the Trinity Pageant or the Brigus Blueberry Festival to include a Sat. night in St. John's? We are not party people, just seniors who enjoy tradtional celtic type music. Thanks for the advice.

St. John's nightlife (mostly found on George St.) doesn't even begin to start until after midnight. However, you may find some pubs that have afternoon performers singing traditional Nfld music.

Brigus Festival often has some excellent music and the Trinity pageant is interesting- I would not skip either of these. There has been an August festival in Terra Nova National Park the past few years. Very small and intimate. Recommended if it fits your schedule.

Many of the pubs on George Street feature music other than celtic -and even in those that do can be very noisy and not music oriented.

Are you aware that the Newfoundland and Labrador folk festival is in St. John's the first weekend in August? Wonderful traditional music and a great mix of styles. One of my favourite Canadian festivals.

cheers

Jerry

Unfortunately, we will not be in St. John's until after the music festival. We will, however, be at Terra Nova the weekend that the heritage festival is on,which is what I think you are referring to. I know that we were in Halifax a few years ago and most of the entertainment started late there also. Might be a bit much for the "old folks"! Another question that someone might be able to help me with has to do with travel time. We are staying in Bauline East for 2 nights during which time we will catch Witless Bay, East Coast Trail(some of it) and Ferryland. When leaving I had hoped to drive around the Avalon with at least stops at Cape Pine and Cape St. Mary's. We have reservations that night in South Dildo. Is this too rushed as long as the weather cooperates?

There is a great website called www.destination-nfld.com and it gives driving times and distances between different cities in Newfoundland. We are going there too in July and I've used it for planning our driving times. There's one for Nova Scotia and PEI as well.

Mountainmary,

You could do the loop down to Trepassey / Cape Pine then over to Cape St.Mary's and up to your final destination in one day. It would involve a fair bit of driving but certainly not out of the question.

Another thought would be to take part of one of your days at Bauline east and explore down to Cape Pine and Cape Race.

Then on your 'travel day' you could loop over across the Witless Bay Line and down the North Harbour Road to Cape St. Mary's then up along the beautiful road through Placentia and back to the trans-Canada Hwy.

Cape Pine and Cape Race are both wonderful places but if you can only visit one spot make it Cape St. Mary's - it is one of our national treasures.

cheers

Jerry

Thanks for the suggestions. I have been planning this trip for some time as I have wanted to go to Newfoundland for years. I wish I had allowed another day for the Avalon but it would be pretty difficult at this point to do that. Think you have things just like you want them and then have second thoughts at the end! We will have about 3 weeks total in Newfoundland so hope to see a good bit. I guess if we have to make choices because of the weather, etc. we will just have to set our priorities. We probably could go down to St. Mary's the day after South Dildo but that would involve doubling back on the way to Eastport. Any other recommendations on "must-sees", food, etc. would be appreciated. Thanks.

We plan on including a boat trip to Witless Bay and the Western Brook pond tour in our trip to Newfoundland. Can we wait until we are in the area and make reservations a day ahead of time or should they be made before we go?

Witless bay Boat Reservations: Oh, I do not think you need to make them in advance. The two larger companies Gatherall's and O'Briens run several times a day and never booked to capacity now in July. There are also several smaller companies from Bauline East and Mobile areas should you prefer a more intimate experience with whales.

If you wish to drive from Bauline East and do both Cape Pine and Cape St. Mary's and continue to Dildo in one day, it will be a long day. Yes, as Jerry said it is duable but start very early in the morning. I am finding out that driving in Newfoundland takes longer than anticipated.

Ideally, if you could cancel your reservations in Dildo and stay in St.
Bride's instead you would have enough time to enjoy Cape St. Mary's which alone deserves a few hours providing you are interested in seeing it.

Also this would give you some time to stop at the Salmonier Nature Park, which is also lovely and an easy hike on a boardwalk. There you will see caribou, snowy owl,and etc.

From St. Bride's you could then easily make Eastport and even stop by for a lunch in Dildo in one day.

Thanks, Puffinx. Hope you are enjoying your trip. I was hoping that we didn't need reservations too far ahead. I will wait until we are in the area. We may go ahead and do the loop in one day. I made reservations in South Dildo some time ago and hate to cancel now. Guess if we don't have enough time to do everything we will just have to come back!

Mountainmary,

yes the trip across Newfoundland is quite interesting and certainly enjoyable. You asked about food.

If you like lobster, stop by in Traytown on the way to Eastport. There is a lobster pound (easy to find) where you can buy a lobster (steamed) for about $5.00 /lb. Unfortunately, I do not know if they will be open in August.
While in Bauline East you may like to try 'Captain's Table' in Mobile. We had a cod dinner there last night and it was very good But, do make reservations if you decide to go. It is a very small but popular restaurant and we had to wait almost an hour to be seated.
Outside of Eastport in Salvage is a small cafe/restaurant (the only one)which is quite pleasant even for lunch.

Puffinx,

Sounds like you are having a wonderful trip.

The Captain's Table is one of our favourites as well.

cheers

Jerry [in steamy Toronto....]

Jerry,

Yes, the trip is very interesting so far, thanks to you and Kodi and George. We had a few 'iffy' days when the weather just would not collaborate and had to cancel a couple of reservations, but that has to be expected.
St. John’s was 92F today which is hot-hot for this area I was told.

I like St. John’s it a lot. To me, the city is architecturally very pleasing and the on-going renovation of old townhouses is wonderful. I love the exterior colors, so vivid and saturated. Some areas look like a little San Francisco, I think.

Thanks for the tip on reservations for The Captain's Table. I had the name in my notes but didn't think about reservations. We will be in the area for 2 nights so plan on going there. Puffinx, any favorites on your trip so far? Jerry, thanks to you and all the others for the good information in the past. I have been reading for a long time, just never posted until recently.

Mountainmary,

Well, to date I would say I truly enjoyed Bonavista. I found the town very welcoming and the area around the lighthouse beautiful. The puffin island was hopping with puffins and whales everywhere. There are also some very nice trails in the area. We had a lovely weather and very pleasant accommodations. So everything seemed perfect.

Cape St. Mary’s was awesome.

In Trinity East, Skerwink Trail was also very beautiful and not strenuous. It took only about 2 hours I believe.


And I do like St. John’s. Tonight, we went to The Ship (local pub by Water Street). There was an entertainment sponsored by St. John’s Folk Club. The name of the group was Mahers Bahers named after the key musician Frank Maher, who seems to be a legend here in Newfoundland. The music started at 9:00 and went on until midnight. It was a fun evening.

I could go on, but am not sure what areas are you planning to visit and what your interests are.

I think our interests are similar to yours. We like history, moderate hikes, scenic drives, etc. We really liked the music in Nova Scotia. We are spending the night in New Glasgow on the way and plan on going to the festival that is on there. We will be traveling around Newfoundland but don't have the amount of time that you have. We won't be going to the Burin peninsula, the French islands, or Baie Verte area due to time restraints. Wish we could see it all! We will really just get a feel for what each area is like but are spending 2 to 4 days in most of the locations that we picked.

You definitely should not miss the Brigus Blueberrry Festival. It is a must see in August. It is the largest festival on the Avalon. It has great musicians....all Newfoundlanders. Craft Stalls, food and dances every night from Thursday to Sunday. We have attended everyone since it started 18 years ago. It is well organized and you can park along the roads anywhere as they have air conditioned shuttle buses to bring you to the fair ground in the center of the town. If you can't make the festival, Brigus is a must see as a beautiful little seaside village and don't miss the great Cod chowder and Blueberry Crisp at a little cafe call The Country Corner. It is worth the trip in itself.

A visit to Brigus is a must, see the Town's website brigus.net This site will peek your interest in the historic town. The Country Corner Restaurant and Gift, now reconized by Where to Eat in Canada for 2006 is a must.

We do plan on stopping at the Blueberry Festival but don't think we will be there in the evening. We will be leaving Trinity in the morning and traveling to St. John's. Wanted to get to St. John's by late afternoon or early evening. Will there be any music during the daytime?

Brigus definitely has daytime concerts on Sundays, and I would imagine Saturday too. Their website should have all of that info. Great festival and a fun event.

Jerry