Churchill Falls

After the mammoth run yesterday, this is only 280kms or so, but i'll still need to carry extra fuel. The staff at the petrol stations are used to people filling containers, but I have had some weird looks with the fuel bags. No-one has tried to stop me or said anything about it though.

The going was easy to begin with, I think almost 80kms (50 miles) of tarmac, leading out from Goose Bay, so I made decent time. When that went though, the road was horrible. I counted four sections being graded, and the rest of it just seemed to be marbles all day.

I'm not entirely sure of the process in what the graders are doing. I understand that they make the surface flatter, but I can't work out what the purpose of all the stones is. They Highway team, seem to dump all the stones on the road, then the grader shuffles them around as best I can tell. To be fair they do usually warn you with signs where the grader is working, but the really evil thing it does is to create a berm in the middle of the oad that can be 8 inches or so high. Riding behind the grader isn't too bad as it's heavy so it's tracks smooth a path, but at some point you need to overtake be ploughing though that berm. Ideally I'd do this at a right angle, but that means going too slow, so you need to attack it a little and hope you land ok. If the grader is on the other side of the road, then you can have oncoming traffic in your lane. What fun that is.

I've finally managed to get the video camera recording properly, so this is the first day when I have high definition video on the TLH, but i'll need to edit it first, which probably won't get done until I get home. Hopefully I've filmed the part when the tyres got on opposite sides of a berm, then a wiggle became a weave, which very nearly became a tank slapper. On another occasion once over the berm and on the wrong side of the road, I had two pickups behind me, so had to move more quickly, so quickly that I couldn't get safely back over the berm, so the two trucks crossed over to the correct side of the road and undertook me. I managed to get back across only when the berm ended as this time it must have been almost 1 foot high. The picture above is a point where I'd just had enough for a bit and had to stop. The bridge was fabulously flat and stone free.

I often find it easier once I've stopped for a few minutes. Whether the road does actually get better or it's all in my head, I couldn't really say, but stopping for a breather does help.

Churchill Falls is a company town, in that the energy company which diverted all the water from the original falls to generate electricty, built it, owns it, and for the most part only it's employees live there. The big building in the centre of town contains the only motel, the supermarket, bank, pool (I think) and probably some other stuff. I guess it makes sense in the winter, you only have to go to one place, but it feels slightly odd. It reminds me slightly of work, as the building I work in has a small supermarket, hairdresser, deli, two starbucks, a bookshop, drycleaners, flower shop etc.

The company runs tours of the plant, so I'd hoped to get on one, but it was still early in the day so I was in half a mind to push on to Labrador City. What I thought best was to go into the motel, see if they had any rooms, and if not I'd push on. It's a strange feeling of how you can really have had enough of gravel for the day, then when you get off it, for an hour, you're thinking of pushing on and doing more.

All the rooms were booked, but the company also keeps two rooms on standby, so the receptionist was going to give them a call to see if they needed the rooms, and he'd also call the town office about a tour for me, so I went into the restaurant for something to eat. I'd been craving chicked fried rice and spaghetti for a week or so now, and since I'd manged to get chicked fried rice the previous night, I went for the spaghetti. Neither of them were very good. I did get a result on the room though in that the company could free one up, but the tour was cancelled since the guide was ill. I decided to stay the night int he hope that the guide was ok the following morning.

This is a photograph of the town hanging on the wall in the restaurant. The flash of my camera doesn't help but it gives you an idea of the scale.

Later that evening I asked at reception if there was anything to do in or near the town. There isn't, apart from a few side roads where you can see the falls, but they are even worse than the main road so I declined.

The town does have one pub though, so I wandered off there. Another important thing to mention about this road is the blackflies. For those at home, think of big midges. On the road when I stop to refuel or for a rest they swarm around you, which can be annoying, so I left my helmet on for the most part. I did have a mesh hood thing I could put on but didn't feel the need. Except in Churchill Falls. But I left it behind when I went to the pub. I was moving fairly quickly, and it can't have been more than a mile, but I was swarmed with them. In my hair, mouth, nose, ears, just all over. Even when I made it into the pub I was still pulling them out my hair and squishing them.

The pub was quiet, maybe half a dozen folk when i enetered. Most using the gambling machines they have, where you feed in notes, and get a receipt for your winnings which pays out at the bar. The gamblers were doing so well that evening that the manager or owner had to come down with more cash after the till was running dry.

There was a new barmaid, so the few drinking were teasing her and teaching her how to make some cocktails. I only stayed for a few then braved the flies again heading back to the hotel for an early night.