SPM Day 5

Well time has flown, 5 days already! We were booked to leave on the late boat back to Newfoundland, so we had until about 14:15 to do a last bit of exploring. I still had the little circle mystery to solve, or at least find evidence supporting the leading theory. After the customary visit to the Patisserie/Boulangerie we headed for the east side of town. We found many wonders, including an abandoned airport was was partly converted into a housing estate, A ship wreck, A beach covered in old car wheels, the garbage incinerator (pile of burning garbage) and the answer to the mystery... The giant circle munching horse! Yep, it looks like the circles that can be seen on SPM in Google earth are made by horses tethered out to graze in the open areas around the edge of the town of St. Pierre.


After Lunch We went to check out the cemetry, there was a very nice garden in front of it. It is a fine example of how many of the public gardens look in St. Pierre. They obviously put a lot of time into these gardens, but it is well worth it as really make the place look special.

SPM Day 4

Sorry for the delay in updating my blog, we got back back a bit late after climbing and the blogging sort of fizzled after that, so now that I am home I'll do all my updates at once.

Day 4 we had set aside for trying the crag we found on day 2. We picked up Boule (round loaf) of bread, Some Pain au Chocolate and some little strawberry tart things and headed for the rock. Here Michelle and Lewis are crossing a dam which is half way up the hill to the crag. I think the dam might be an old Hydro electric dam, but may mow supply water for cooling the oil fired power station at the bottom of the hill.



I have no photos of the actual climbing, as I was either climbing, or belaying most of the time. Michelle took some climbing photos which she may post on her blog later.

Here is a annotated view of the crag.
We set up our first anchor at the top of the red line in this image. We used one existing piton and really went to town placing our own protection with a total of 3 nuts and a tricam (it was our first gear anchor) The red line marks the approximate route we climbed. This section of the wall is pretty easy going, probably a 5.6. It is quite positive and has some big horizontal cracks and ledges, a good place to bring young climbers.
After a lunch of bread and cheese we set a second anchor, at the top of the blue line, There was no existing protection here, but there were some nice cracks to place nuts, so we went to town again and put in 4. Lewis and I rappelled down, but it looked like it would be a bit of a mission to set up safe top belay here and the rope was running over a big edge so we couldn't bely from the bottom, so unfortunately we didn't climb this one. I think it would be a fun climb, there is also a nice potential climb the the right, marked in yellow, it starts on a face then goes up a v groove to the top. There looks like there is lots of potential on this crag, so it is defiantly worth taking a rope and some gear if you are a climber heading to SPM.


After a day out on the crag we returned to town for an ice cream and a bit of a walk about. We found this very strangely shaped house, this corner is only about 30 degrees! There are a number of oddly shaped buildings like this in St. Pierre, I guess that space for building in town must have been at a real premium at one time, so they used every inch they could. Most of the homes are detached, but only just, many homes are only inches apart, I was wondering how they paint houses that are that close together. The only way I could see would be either with a roller on a very long stick (but sometimes there isn't even room for a roller) or by dismantling the wall from the inside, painting the siding then rebuilding the wall.

SPM Day 3

Langlade, Grand Barachois and Miquelon.

We set out early on a boat trip to Miquelon and Langlade. when we arrived we took a minivan tour of the two islands that were united by a sand bar (The Grand Barachois) about 200 years ago.






There have been a number of farms established on this sand bar, some lay abandoned while some are just starting up. This View is looking north from the sand bar toward the Island of Miquelon.

We traveled to and from Langlade on the St. George, which transports goods and passangers to this island where many of the residents of SPM spend their summer. Since there is no dock at Langlade we landed with the aid of a Zodiac which took us from the St. George to the Beach.

Here we are boarding the Zodiac, to head to the St. George, the green boat in the distance.

SPM day 2

Today We headed into town, picked up a bagget, and went exploring, First we stopped at this light house that we has seen from the ferry on the way in yesterday.








After Mooching around town for a while we decided to head for the hills. I am on a bit of a mission the find somewhere to climb here. I searched the internet for info on climbing here, but there was nothing to be found. So, is this because there in no good climbing here? I would find that hard to believe given the geology and the coastal exposure.
It was a bit of a climb, so we stopped for a lunch of Noodles and French bread half way up.

After a little more Hiking we did find a reasonable looking crag with some climbing potential. The rock is solid and looks pretty nice to climb. We decided to hike up to the top to see if there were any good places to set some anchors for a top rope system.






Well, I guess we were not the first to look at this rock and think about climbing it. This is an old Piton that had been hammered into the rock as part of an anchor used by a previous climber. There were 5 pitons here, a group of 3 and a group of two. They all seem solid, and we will may well use some of them as part of our anchors (backed up with our own gear) when we have a go at this crag on Friday. I can't wait to get back out there, looks like fun for the whole family with moderate routes proably in the 5.6 to 5.9 range.

What is this?

In the google earth image below there are a number of circles - what could they be?
I think I have an idea, I'll go and check it out and get back with an answer.


View Larger Map

Saint Pierre.

Today we Left home, drove to Fortune where we caught the ferry to the French island Saint Pierre.
Looks like it is going to be an interesting trip, at a first glance the place looks much like any small town in Newfoundland, but as you walk around town there are many things that are strangly European, and of course everyone is speaking French, Just like being back in Raglan!

A refreshing break

After arriving at Saint Pierre today we grabbed a case Oringina and a bag of Madeleines Coquilles and headed for a hill behind the town. We found an old dam, which was a suprisingly comfortable place to stop for a snack.

The Food Fishery

Although Cod has been under moratorium in Newfoundland since 1992? there is an Annual food fishery. During this fishery people are allowed to catch a limited number of fish for personal use. Generally people go out in small boats and fish a few Km off shore.

This year has been a bit strange, there was a massive amount of ice early in the year and this has effected our weather and I am sure will have some impact on marine ecosystems. The Caplin, a small very numerous fish used to spawn on the beaches around here in july, but for the past 10 years they have been getting earlier every year, now they spawn in june. This year they spawned in june, but are spawning again now in August. I am not sure what the impact of this is in the big scheme of things, I guess it is just their way of dealing with the changing ocean environment. what evey the case, it means that there are caplin near shore during the food fishery, and cod like to eat caplin. I figured that I'd try to take advantage of this. Lewis and I went down to middle cove and did a bit of beach casting. I figured that if I could cast out behind the schools of caplin I might stand a chance of getting a cod. Sure enough, after hooking a handfull of caplin (two on a single hook at one time) I had a big tug on the line and after a short battle I landed a nice cod, this was soon followed by another. Lewis caught a load of caplin, hopefully he'll get a big one next time we go out.

Tundra Flower

I have not been blogging much recently because I have no internet in my room.
Yesterday there was almost no wind so I went for a walk to photograph flowers, unfortunatly the slowers I was interested in are finished, butI found thid little one, These white flowers grow in aread where cryoturbation has braught "soil" or pulverised rock to the surface.