Latest news from James: A quick glance at the overcast clouds, barely over the hills this morning, told us that today was a day to discover Churchill Falls, and especially the hydro plant, which was amazing to see – 15 kms of tunnels, each 12 metres in diameter, 350 metres below the earth, hewn from solid granite, with 11 massive 600 ton turbines at the bottom, each spinning at exactly 200 RPM. We got away late, taking off for St Johns, Newfoundland, only to decide (within 4 minutes of take-off) to change our destination to Goose Bay. What a pair of jokers. Anyhow, we ducked under the low cloud and at 5pm local snuck in over the gorgeous, watery landscape under us to land at Goose Bay. Some drama here, as a 757 en route from Germany to Newark had lost an engine and made a precautionary (single engine) landing. With 150 passengers on board, this afternoon there were lots of angry Germans in an otherwise empty stretch of Labrador. Goose Bay used to be a military airfield but seems now mainly used to ferry fishermen to the endless salmon and trout fishing lodges and sites around Labrador. $45 for landing fees and parking for the night. Throughout the day we debated our next move. Essentially there are three options, but we just can’t decide which to settle on: 1. Stick to the plan, head to Narsarsuaq tomorrow (Wed), then on to Reykyavik and Scotland. There’s a vicious low pressure system drifting eastwards off Greenland though, which would delay our trip to Iceland until Saturday and the next leg perhaps several days more; or 2. Head south tomorrow to St Johns, then on Friday to the Azores (again), and then up via Portugal to the UK; or 3. The Charles Lindbergh option - St Johns tomorrow and then, when the front from the low has moved off, direct to Ireland, probably on Friday. Endless poring over weather charts and skypes with the inestimable Sias and the indefatigable Andrew continue … we’ll make the call shortly. Now for a Vidi Quidi (the local beer) to speed the decision. Adios Tim and James PS – we didn’t crash into a school yesterday – we just brought the tracker out of the plane with us without turning it off. Bad luck to the prophets of doom! PPS – we left the doggone camera in the plane today, so no shots of the awesome Nalcor hydro scheme engineering PPPS – before supper we did a good run along a sand track into the wilderness around Goose. Black bear prints everywhere, which lent a certain integrity to the place.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Aug 2013 05:54:32 +0000
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