Following my Mom & Aunt road-tripping here and all of us visiting Port au Choix and L'Anse-aux-Meadows on the Northern Peninsula, my friend Shelloo and I returned to the Northern Peninsula two weeks later, stopping again at Port au Choix and L'Anse-aux-Meadows.

This was quickly turning into the summer of the Northern Peninsula.

One exciting thing involved asking Shelloo if we could try driving to the other side of the cove in Goose Cove East. I've been out to GCE's coastal lookout a half-dozen times at least, but I'd never braved the rough road to this west side of Goose Cove.

Parking the truck and leaving the road behind, it was that great Northern Peninsula land cover, where you can walk over heath right to the cliffs standing above the water below.

This area of the cove is the Goose Cove part of town, while Goose Cove East is on the other side. They were separate to the point that Goose Cove didn't receive services from Goose Cove East as late as the early 1980s and it may still not receive those services today. There were only a handful of homes and/or cabins over here and we didn't chat up the two fellows who were working on one of the homes/cabins.

Back in St. Anthony, I discovered that they made a significant addition to their skatepark - a new spine and two new quarterpipes. Plus they put the ramps on a small enough asphalt pad that you can easily transfer across the quarters!

Where St. Anthony used to rank pretty low as a basic Canadian Ramp Company skatepark with four total ramps, this new addition really bumped it up and I was excited to break the bike out.

...only to get a flat after about five minutes. And not having had a flat tire in a while, I didn't think to bring extra tubes on this trip.

Shelloo had a meeting, so she dropped me off at the Ragnarock Brewing Company to kill a bit of time. There, I needed to channel my inner Brad Simms and figure out where I could buy a bike tube in St. Anthony.

After checking a few places, the best I could find was at Shears Building Supplies, where amongst strange basement aisles of kitchen knickknacks and rubber boots, there was one of those crappy Park Tools patch kits.

This failed to fix my tube in time before we had to leave St. Anthony, but I was going to try again whenever we stopped for the night.

Down in Nameless Cove, I asked Shelloo to pull in so I could check to make sure I don't count the new Nameless Cove "lighthouse".

It turns out that I don't as the lighthouse is too much like a meagre light-on-a-pole, but in a happier development, we must've been here at low tide and an exposed bar led out to the island between Nameless Cove and the Flower's Cove Lighthouse island.

Oh boy do I love being able to walk out to an island without the help of a boat.

Unfortunately we couldn't dawdle though, as we had to race to the Plum Point Home Hardware before it closed.

Arriving at 345 when they closed at 4, the only thing they could help me with was a patch kit for a car tire, which was way too big and unpliable to work on a BMX tire.

At the Foodland in Port au Choix, I laughed at the misspelling of their Point Riche Lighthouse, but also enjoyed how the dated photo showed the keepers' house before it burned in 1998.

We spent the night and the next day at Tucker's Cottages near Reefs Harbour and I utilized every last bit of my patience trying to get that Park Tools patch kit to work. I would try, let the adhesive set, then walk over to the gas station next door, only to hear air once hissing out.

At one point a missus walked by, "got a flat tire does ya?" "Yep. Not many places to get a new tube up here."

She replied, sadly, "oh no, yeah no."

So instead of riding one of my favourite places in Hawke's Bay or the new skatepark we discovered in Port au Choix, at least we salvaged the day by checking out the weird dollar store in Hawke's Bay.

I hate when you go into a building that was clearly an old church or arena and they've put up just enough drywall and drop ceiling to cover up the previous uses. That wasn't the case here in Hawke's Bay though, as this dollar store felt like the Scholastic Book Fair. Like they'd wheeled all this stuff in for a few days before they'd move along again.

A Robin's Donuts also occupies part of this space and I additionally like that they haven't changed the washroom signs from "boys" and "girls".

Down in Gros Morne, we made one last stop as Shelloo showed me one of her Dad's favourite trails; one which I hadn't hiked or even heard of before.

This was Steve's Trail, which is only about a kilometre (0.6 mi) in length, but it provides stunning views out over Western Brook Beach and Western Brook Gorge. I don't think many people come to BRN for Gros Morne tips, but this is a trail I'd highly recommend if you find yourself in Western Newfoundland's National Park.

I always think of the Coastal Trail if people are going to be up in this northern part of the park, but from what I know of the Coastal Trail, I'd say Steve's Trail knocks its socks off.

Only three days later, Isy wanted to fit in a night of camping and where should we head?

Why, the Northern Peninsula of course!

This is the old zinc mine in Daniel's Harbour, which I wanted to check out even if it didn't look like there was much left on the ground.

I wanted to camp here, but this was likely the only night Isy, Kingsley & I were going to camp this year, so there was pushback with regards to finding a more scenic place.

Camping at the old zinc mine would have to wait for another day.

Further up the coast, past Bellburns, we came upon a small quarry which I always thought would make a decent campsite.

I planned to set our tent up down in the quarry and walk over to the ocean, but Isy made the better call of putting the tent up on the hill between the quarry and the ocean.

There were a half-dozen cabins down here, but no one was around tonight.

It ended up being a lovely night beside the North Atlantic.

And heck, we even had an old saw table to put our drinks on (and tie Kingsley to).

More great times along the Northern Peninsula.

And oh yeah, if you need a tube on the Northern Peninsula? They have them at the Clover Farm in Cow Head (which I find funny as there's almost no BMX spots between Deer Lake and Hawke's Bay - so stock up as you're heading thru!)