Sonya's Blog - Day 90 - The Ferryland Picnic

Sonya’s Blog - Day 90 - September 20th - The Ferryland Picnic

Today we had a reservation at the Ferryland Picnic. It takes just over an hour to drive down there and our reservation was for noon so we wanted to be out by 10:30 AM at the latest. We were going to have toutons (pronounced t-“ow”-tins, not tootons, you will get laughed at) and fried bologna for breakfast, which is a traditional Newfounland thing to do. I read about toutons at the Rooms Museum and asked Maureen about them because I didn’t know what they were and she promised to make them for me. Toutons are made by frying bread dough. I believe that this started when women made their own bread and they used the leftover dough to fry up and served it with molasses as a treat, I think that’s what I read in the museum. It was decided that we didn’t have enough time and that it is a really big breakfast and since the Ferryland Picnic is quite a big meal, it wasn’t going to happen. However, the plan was to have it for supper instead. So we just had a quick breakfast and headed out.

We arrived in Ferryland with about 20 minutes to spare, but we had to walk the last couple of KM’s to the lighthouse. It was supposed to be sunny and 23 degrees together, but I think the clouds had other plans. It was certainly much warmer than when we arrived in Newfoundland, but the sun was hiding still. We hiked up to the Lighthouse and got there right at noon. Everything is cooked on site at the lighthouse. When you arrive, you check in and then tell them what you would like for your lunch (there were about 5 sandwiches to choose from and a dessert) I chose the curry chicken and the chocolate ganache cake. You are then given picnic blankets and a little flag and you are supposed to go and set up on the grass not too far from the lighthouse.

We did this and about 15 minutes later the servers came down with a large basket of food and a smaller metal basket with mason jars full of yummy lemonade. Along with our sandwich, dessert and lemonade we were also given a bowl of orzo pasta salad each. It was all very tasty and very filling. We had a lovely spot that overlooked the ocean on all sides. The cliffs were very steep and a little scary, I was getting nervous about Isaac running around like a maniac. We had a lovely time and left when the wind started picking up. As we were walking back to our cars you could see the fog rolling in and it was coming in quickly. By the time we were back to the parking lot the lighthouse was almost completely covered in fog, I felt bad for the people that had just arrived.

We were going to hike the East Coast Trail out that way, but then decided to race to Cape Spear and get some decent pictures before the fog beat us there. Off we raced, it is about an hour back to Cape Spear because we had to go back to St. John’s and then out to Cape Spear. As we were coming over the last rise you could see the fog coming in! We got some neat pictures, but I missed that first shot which showed the fog first coming in. Ah well, I am not very good with the camera. We ended up getting some good pictures and having a nice look around. We decided that we were going to try and have cod tongues (with our post-phoned breakfast) for supper so Peter, Maureen and Madeleine took off to find some and we continued to explore the area. We headed out behind the lighthouses and saw that there was a trail there.

We decided to see where it headed and it ended up being another section of the East Coast Trail. There are 265 KM’s of trails that make up the East Coast Trail and most or all of them are coastal. Off we trekked on this portion of the trail to check it out. It was a lovely hike, tons of wild blueberries growing everywhere and partridge berries as well (berries I had never heard of before, but they are big in Newfoundland). We hiked out for about 20 minutes and then hiked back to the truck so we could head back for supper. It was a beautiful trail and it would have been nice to have more days so we could do more hiking.

When we got back to Peter and Maureen’s the cooking started. First the scruchions were cooked, then the cod tongues, then the bologna and finally the toutons. It was quite the production and Maureen was nervous because she had never cooked the scruchions and cod tongues before, always had them at restaurants or elsewhere. Maureen cooked up a storm, wouldn’t let any of us help, we just sat around and drank and watched the show. Soon we were all sitting down for some Newfoundland fare!

After supper we played POW. It was a much more even game and it came down to the last cards. In the end Maureen and I won and we all headed off to bed.

Sonya