An incredible weather day. Only a few scattered clouds, highs around 75.
We sunscreened up and set off from the ship around 10:15, heading up to the top of Signal Hill. We first went along the road, stopping 2/3 of the way up at a museum and cafe for waters (they didn’t have Diet Coke), and then onward to the station at the top of the hill. Naturally there’s a gift shop there. It’s also windy af (and the locals were saying “meh, it’s not that windy right now”). We puttered around there for a bit and checked out the fortifications, then picked up the second half a trail called the North Head Trail Loop.
We decided early on in the trail we wouldn’t want to be doing it in the reverse direction. There are lots of stairs, some in steep segments. Aside: I much prefer paths to stairs, even if it means multiple switchbacks, but I understand why they do it. There are rocks to scramble over, and much of the trail goes along cliffs that line the entrance to St. John’s harbor. While it was a fun hike and we were able to enjoy some incredible views, the consensus of the group was the hike was about 20 minutes too long.
We made our way along roadsides back into town.
Rowan peeled off to go back to the ship, while the rest of us walked down St. John’s main street, which the city closes to vehicle traffic on certain days through the summer. Siena was able to “borrow’ wifi from Tim Horton’s to download new episodes of a Netflix show, while I hit up a sushi place and had a huge bento box plus sushi for ~$20 US.
Back on the ship mid-afternoon, we relaxed and recovered from the hike – and watched some pretty bad driving on the road that goes along the water.
The warm, nice weather coupled with the geography of Newfoundland felt a lot like a Caribbean island.
A lot of people lined up at spots along Signal Hill to wave farewell to the ship as we left the harbor. I haven’t looked it up but I got the sense St. John’s doesn’t see a ship of our size too often.
Today’s sunset:
