Low COVID case numbers throughout Atlantic Canada brought about the prospect of possibly, finally creating an "Atlantic Bubble", where we could then travel freely between the four provinces and finally get off this rock for the first time in 13 months.

I was primed and ready to go on the first boat departing, but then just as soon as I heard growing voices about the promise of travel, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador backed out as there was an outbreak in Edmundston, New Brunswick of all places; about as fucking far as you can get from Corner Brook while still being out east.

Instead it was another long weekend in Newfoundland.

Driving down to the southwest towards Port-aux-Basques, I was up so early that I was now dozing off and needed to correct that.

Spotting this cabin alongside the road, it was a perfect break from driving.

It didn't look like this one had been abandoned long, as there was still firewood and boxes of empty beer bottles around; plus the floor had no sag and it didn't look like any water was getting in.

As someone who almost never loots anything, I find it amusing that looting only occurs to me with mundane things like grocery bags.

"Can always use another grocery bag!" I think to myself, before coming to my senses and realizing we have 60 grocery bags at home and saving $2 on buying a new bag isn't worth the hassle of hand washing one from an abandoned cabin, lol.

The green Dollarama bag is still there if you want it.

About an hour later I was in Port-aux-Basques and one of my favourite bars in all of Newfoundland was looking pretty desolate, especially as I'd found it in this state on a couple of previous trips.

Fearing that the Port Club was about to suffer the same fate of abandonment and demolition as so many other dive bars, I figured I should get some exteriors of the place where Johan & I had beers and discovered there was a nightclub upstairs on the weekend, plus where I've watched multiple NHL drafts while killing time before my ferry left for the mainland.

Unfortunately, the internet tells me that the Port Club closed back in 2018. No wonder I'd found a locked door here in late 2018, 2019, and now 2020.

Parking the car and going for a long walk through Channel-Port aux Basques' convoluted streets, I came across this empty building lot.

I wonder if a house used to be here?

Recently I'd read the news about how Port aux Basques was finally going to do something with the old concrete foundation of their arena that burnt down way back on September 24, 1995. As a developer is building seniors' housing up here, I wanted to grab a before shot.

Aside: how good of a DIY biking/skateboarding spot would this have been? Away from the whole wind factor that is, lol.

In addition to paths, arena foundations, and dive bars, I also tried to check out the Anglican Church, but I was thwarted by a locked door.

It's hard to now post pictures of Port aux Basques without thinking of 2022's Hurricane Fiona and the storm surge that either destroyed, or led to the condemning of 101 homes here.

Without the satellite imagery or StreetView updated, there's no way currently for me to know which homes are gone without personally heading down to Port aux Basques. There is some drone video of the immediate aftermath and I see that this home I really like (29 Charles, above) is still standing, but there were a lot of homes where damaged oil tanks led to contaminated water being soaked into the basement and surrounding ground, leading to houses being condemned.

Not to mention that Fiona also made residents and town councillors think differently about living so close to the water, where Port aux Basques has now talked about possibly buying out precarious oceanside homes in the future.

It's pretty crazy to think back to walking around for a couple hours on this day, enjoying picturesque and unique Port aux Basques, but then having it all change in the next calendar year.

In terms of riding, I was going to skip over the PAB's very basic skatepark, until I noticed something peculiar about their A-frame rail.

Someone cut and welded the A-frame rail down to beginner height?!?

In a province where the Canadian Ramp Company goes around giving every town the same skatepark with the same exact ramps, this change was enough that I excitedly pulled my bike out for a short session!

Another point I'd like to make here has to do with how I see the Canadian Ramp Company put A-frame rails, knee-high rails, and rails going down stairs in some of these remote towns with 2000 people and a six-month riding season. I always think this is so silly because how many people in places like Port Aux Basques, Port-aux-Choix, or Placentia are going to stick with it until they can grind rails like this? If you're going to swoop in and deliver three ramps to every town offering $40,000 for a skatepark, I think you should cover the ramps needed for beginners before you get into any intermediate ramps.

I guess someone in Port Aux Basques agreed with me that it was silly for them to get an 18-inch-high A-frame rail.

A little girl on a scooter showed up soon after, and since she didn't take turns, I rolled over to a quiet street spot by the mall.

Continuing with my new way of travelling where COVID forced me to slow down and stop driving constantly to the newest and most exciting stuff, I finally hiked the Grand Bay West Trail, which came highly recommended and looked beautiful from the pictures I had seen.

The only problem was that it was incredibly windy out here, but thankfully the wind was moderately warm and either behind or across me for most of the 6km (3.7mi) hike.

I would highly recommend the Grand Bay West Trail, except that I see Fiona wrecked this too, by destroying a couple of bridges and exposing nails with overturned boardwalk.

I also decided to finally stop at the John Falls Hiking Trail in South Branch, about 30 minutes outside Port aux Basques. I hadn't seen this trail online much, but I'd always noticed the sign while driving between the PAB and Corner Brook.

After a handful of creek crossings back and forth, I finally came to John Falls after a half-hour of hiking.

Oh man, if it was only just a little bit warmer, this would make a fantastic swim reward after hopping along rocks and pushing alders out of your face.

Unfortunately for me it was still early spring. Even if there was no swimming though, today I had a pleasant 11 km walk around the PAB streets, rode a new skatepark ramp, and checked off a couple of trails that'd been on the to-do for too long.

Tidy business for a random Saturday in a usually crummy month.