More than 1,000 Canadian towns in 106 days: that’s the epic scale of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay. In this continuing series, we’ll keep pace with the run and introduce you to some of Canada’s most intriguing “torch towns.”
Next we head for Atlantic Canada where the mainland region of Labrador and the island of Newfoundland make up the rugged, rollicking province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL).
Day 13, Nov. 11: Happy Valley-Goose Bay, (NL)
Day 17, Nov 15: Channel-Port Aux Basques, (NL)
You don’t know friendly until “you’ve had a scoff” or “kissed the cod” at a screech-in ceremony, kitchen party or lobster boil with the fun-loving locals in Newfoundland and Labrador. (And don’t worry if you can’t translate their lively mix of English, Irish, French and Aboriginal dialects; Newfoundlanders have their very own dictionary of salty sayings.)
Windswept, wild and beautiful, the province is home to the Viking Trail, two UNESCO World Heritage Sites and historic 16th century Basque whaling stations. This is the place to see 10,000-year old icebergs the size of ocean liners, to dance to Celtic fiddlers and eat colcannon pie in St. John’s, and to photograph the tundra-dwelling black bears and polar bears. As well, one of the world’s largest herds of caribou roams the vast and photogenic Torngat Mountains that earn Labrador its a propos nickname: The Big Land.
Torch Town claims to fame:
Torch festivities:
A 20-member team of local runners will greet the Olympic torch when it touches down at
5 Wing Goose Bay on Nov. 11, accompanying it on a multi-leg run.
First stop is the Innu First Nations community of Sheshatshiu; then it’s onto the 250-year old town of North West River on Lake Melville. Last stop is the evening celebrations at Kinsmen Park where you can warm up with a cup of hot chocolate while enjoying the award-winning Flummies and Inosuttuit Nipingit drum-dancers.
On Nov. 15, in Channel Port-aux Basques (also known simply as Port-aux Basques), Miss Teen Newfoundland Chelsea Squires will be there to welcome the torch, along with her dad, power-lifter Bert Squires, who competed at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
A Francophone school choir from nearby Cape St. George will perform along with the energetic Celtic group The Navigators at a toe-tapping showcase of Newfoundland’s diversity.
Worth a side-trip to:
- Enjoy two days of live music on the sandy shores of Lake Melville at the North West River Beach Festival close to Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
- Hike or cross-country ski on the 20-km (12-mi) Birch Brook Hiking Trails in HV-GB where you can stop to rest at an unlocked chalet with a wood stove, barbecue and sauna.
- Fly from Goose Bay to Nain for a northern Labrador expedition to the Torngat Mountains National Park to see icebergs, whales, fjords and polar bears.
- Tour The Gulf Museum and Railway Heritage Centre in Port-aux Basques, celebrating regional, railway and maritime history through exhibits and artifacts.
- See the beautiful granite Rose Blanche Lighthouse, built in 1871 and reconstructed in 1999, located 35 km (22 mi) east of Port-aux Basques.
- Visit Isle aux Morts (Deadman’s Island), about 15 minutes from Port-aux Basques, where the heroic Harvey family saved 218 lives in two shipwrecks in the 1800s.
Getting here:
- Labrador, located in northeastern Canada bordering the province of Quebec, is about 6,500 km (4,039 mi) as “the crow flies” from Vancouver, BC and about 2,300 km (1,429 mi) from Toronto, ON. Fortunately, Goose Bay Airport is one of the largest in Eastern Canada, with several major airlines connecting Happy Valley-Goose Bay to Halifax, St. John’s, Nain and Wabush. You can also get here by marine ferry, snowmobile and the Trans-Labrador Highway.
- Newfoundland is an island in the Atlantic Ocean on Canada’s East Coast with major airport connections between St. John’s International Airport and Canadian international airports in Halifax, Montréal, QC, Toronto, ON, Ottawa, ON, Calgary and Edmonton, AB. Airports in Stephenville and Deer Lake serve Channel-Port aux Basques, which is also Newfoundland’s start and end point for both the Trans-Canada Highway and the Trans Canada Trail.
www.tourismlabrador.com/home/
www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/
www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-torch-relay/
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