Newfoundland, not working time.

We awoke late Friday morning to inclement weather that worsened as the day went on.

Our first order of business was heading to Corner Brook to provision for the long weekend. Much beer, wine and other victuals were purchased!

As the weather turned decidedly soggy, our Friday night ended up being games night in and roast beef (from Tanjo at the St. Lawrence) dinner.

We played two games of "Castles of Burgundy" before heading to bed around midnight with everyone dreaming of better weather in the future!

The next day, our dreams were answered!

Saturday ended up being the nicest day of the lot while we were in Newfoundland. The skies were blue and it was very much t-shirt and shorts weather!

After a hearty breakfast of back bacon and egg sandwiches, it was off to the Copper Mine trail about a 45 minute drive away.

We stepped out of the car our intrepid guide Aare showed us our goal and we advanced towards it!

As we climbed the 650m over 3.8km to the top of the hill overlooking the bay we passed a few other hikers but overall we did not see too many people although the woods were thick with Robins and other birds.

Soon we emerged from the wooded section and advanced beyond the tree line through a land of scrub broken rock.

Our destination provided an amazing view of the Bay of Islands where we stopped for lunch, sitting on the scruffy shrubbery which acted as a cushion!







After our lunch of beer, wine and roast turkey sandwiches, it was back down the way we came once more encountering a handful of other hikers. All told the ascent and descent took about four glorious hours and even though Lisa ended up with a minor foot wound, she laughed it off as well worth the price of such a wonderful afternoon.

We hopped in Aare's car for the 45 minutes or so back to Benoit's Cove with a quick stop on the way for beers (already we knew our previous day's provisioning was not going to last).

Before dinner,  we playtested the latest version of Christos' game "Sons of York".

The game test took about three hours and resulted in a resounding victory for Lisa as champion of Margaret Beaufort even though the loyal Courtenay, Earl of Devon, perished early in her service.

Her control of Castles in seven different regions made the entire kingdom acknowledge her as victor. Lord Aare was close to victory with Henry VI under his control and a Parliament that benefitted his faction but he lacked support (enough Castles) of the kingdom while Lord Ctos championed Edward of York but had yet to crown him or gain enough of England to be considered victorious.

Dinner was steak (from Tanjo) with morels (recently harvested by Aare) accompanied by veggies and salad. Desert was the dwindling supply o Soma chocolate brought from Toronto. The meal was divine and went a little late, ending some time after 10PM.

With the skies clear and the weather not too cold, we decided to indulge in a wilderness favourite, the campfire!

It had been wet the day before but there was enough dry fuel to get a good fire going and the dampness was actually a positive safety factor as it limited the danger from embers and sparks.

We stayed up late talking about the day's adventures and other topics. Many beers and glasses of wine were consumed over several hours.

Who knows what time we got to bed but Aare did manage to burn through a seven foot tall, six inch diameter tree several inches at a time while we were there!

Sunday started early but groggily as we had to be at Aare's parents place for 9:30AM breakfast. We arrived late, albeit only by about ten minutes, and Aare was ribbed accordingly by his father.

Breakfast was the famous oven baked crepes that Aare's dad makes served with yummy maple syrup and real espresso (not drip!) coffee! Breakfast was very was well received!
Over crepes, Christos noticed the Voitk family portrait that once adorned the wall of the Voitk house on Wellesley so he decided to take a quick picture; all the better for Aare'd progile pic!

After an hour or so it was time to head back to Aare's 'hood and to take on the rest of the day!

The drive back to Benoit's Cove was uneventful and as the weather was decent we opted to head over to OBIEC country for some more hiking!