Wednesday September 14 – Codroy Valley

First night at Codroy Valley Campground

Our first night in Newfoundland was at the Grand Codroy RV-tent Camping Park; after a month here, we’re glad to be back as it’s the nicest campground we’ve stayed at the whole trip!  Beautiful scenery, great sites, strong Wi-Fi and very friendly staff.  The Codroy Valley is beautiful in its own right, and we were anxious to explore it! 

Anastasia Young

Chapel Green cemetery

First stop, however, was to visit the Chapel Green Roman Catholic Cemetery to look for Michael Young’s Great   Grandmother’s grave-and we found it!  We also took the time to photograph all the other 250+ stones in the cemetery, and will be putting them on the Find-a-Grave site at some point after getting home.

Approaching the Cape Anguille Lighthouse

Next activity was to drive out to the Cape Anguille Lighthouse at the western end of the Island, a landmark for fishermen to find their way home. The lighthouse was remote, as usual, but has a cute little guesthouse next to it for renters and a gift shop that was closed. 

Cape Anguille Lighthouse

Guesthouse & Gift Shop

Codroy Harbor and breakwater

Holy Trinity Anglican Church

 We stopped on the way back at the beautiful Holy Trinity Anglican Church, which we thought was the lighthouse at first.  In fact, the location high on a cliff made it a natural landmark for ships.  It recently celebrated its 100^th anniversary. The original church on the site had been destroyed in a violent windstorm, and the current one was basically built by the church members.  The inside, open to all to worship, was quite beautiful. 

Inside Holy Trinity

Gillis Brothers General Store

We had been told the Gillis Brothers General Store was the place to buy tee-shirts, groceries, souvenirs, and anything else one might need in the middle of nowhere.  It didn’t look like much from the outside, but was marvelously well stocked inside-Becky likened it to Charlie Pinkham’s Store on Southport long ago. The owner was a real character, and very personable. 




 Across from the store we were rather surprised to find a large sheep standing in the back of an open pickup.  We hope it was tethered!  

Sheep transport

Boxcar storage

 An interesting phenomenon in Newfoundland is the use of abandoned rail freight cars as storage sites by the locals.  We saw four different all together.  They’ve been around awhile, as the railroad went out of business in the 1980’s.  We also learned that the International Appalachian trail runs through this beautiful valley, after starting at Port aux Basques and running to the northern tip of Newfoundland.

Abandoned railway bridge in the Codroy Valley

 Our last morning stop was near the center of the Valley, where there was a school, gas station/store, St. Ann’s Catholic Church, and a beautiful memorial to the Canadian veterans lost in WWI, WWII, and Afghanistan.

Codroy Valley War Memorial

Sign to St. Andrews Golf Course

  Our afternoon adventure took us by the 9-hole St. Andrew’s golf course in this very Scottish area (Loch Lomond is nearby!), and a very unusual one-lane bridge spanning the Grand Codroy River.

One-lane bridge over the Grand Codroy River

The final surprise of the day came driving along another of the seemingly deserted roads when we came by a virtual outdoor museum of old cars.  Leigh Gill would love visiting here!!  The Codroy Valley was fun to explore and a beautiful drive.

Old car museum in the Codroy Valley

 Three observations from the day.  (1) The valley contains the most arable land we’ve seen in Newfoundland; (2) they actually have a few flocks of sheep on the island.  Only other one we saw was at L’Anse aux Meadows, where the recreated Viking Village had one captive! and (3), The views from the valley to the surrounding mountains are spectacular!

Mountain view from the Codroy Valley