Wednesday, August 17, 2016

La Scie


La Scie is a small town by most standards, but the largest on the eastern end of the Baie Verte peninsula.  It has an arena, a ball field, a couple of gas stations and several small stores, but no big shopping centres.  There are three places to eat, including the Outport Museum and Tea Room, which unfortunately we didn’t get to visit (and the two reviewed in this blog).  At the end of town is an RV park for camping, near a beach.  The next nearest large centre is Baie Verte, about 45 minutes away.  The harbour is dominated by a fish plant, but with the cod moratorium, the plant was closed.  Although fishing is still a big industry in the town, everything is now shipped out for processing.

Entering La ScieScenes from La Scie
Scenes from La ScieScenes from La Scie
Scenes from La Scie
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Scenes from La Scie
La Scie also boasts some scenic trails.  We were fortunate to have the entrance to two right behind our B&B, next to the arena.  The first we did was the Overfalls Trail, which is marked with a wood border and covered in loose rock, so it’s easy to follow.  It winds through the woods with a gradual slope, finally crossing a small river where there was just a trickle of a waterfall, but which is probably beautiful when the river is running strong.  The trail ends at the cemetery.  We decided to walk back via the road, and the whole trip took just over an hour at a leisurely pace.

Not much water in the "falls"

The second trail is Boone’s Hill Trail, also accessible from the arena.  We did this trail at the end of a long day, so we went just far enough to watch the sun setting over the water.  The trail starts out fairly easily, but becomes a steep slope covered in loose rocks after crossing a dirt access road.  With the slope and loose pebble covering, I found this section very slippery and difficult.  However, once you get to the top of that section, there’s a bench where you can sit and look back over the town, and the trail flattens for a while and leads out to the edge of the cliffs over the harbour.  From there, you can continue towards another climb to a lookout platform a little higher on the hill, or down towards the RV park and Island Cove Beach.

Looking back towards the townThe trail goes down to a beach and up to a lookout


Beautiful sunset
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Supper on our second night was at Critch’s Restaurant & SnackBar.  With a casual name, we expected a small place with a couple of diner tables along a large counter, but attached to the area with the counter was another room laid out with several small cloth-covered tables and a surprisingly varied menu.  My husband decided that the chicken tasted exactly like KFC.  I had a wrap that was stuffed full of meat, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese.  The staff were friendly, not only remembering us from stopping by earlier to get some sandwiches for the road, but sitting down with us and chatting about things to see and do in the area.  The snack bar portion also has a selection of ice creams, slushies, and desserts as well as some quick take-out options.

I definitely recommend at least two full days to really get to visit each community along the peninsula, and although there are a lot of similarities, each is unique with its own beauty.  What follows will be a series of posts about each of the communities we visited and some pictures of what we found there.  One tip:  Most of these communities are very small and do not have or need a lot of public services, so don’t expect to find places to eat or access to washrooms.  You will need to plan accordingly.

Next post:  Shoe Cove


2 comments:

  1. It's sad how many communities can't just use fishing as their main industry any more. Although it looks like a lovely little place to visit. People don't realize how special it is to still see communities like this in the wake of so much progress and technology. Thank you for sharing and keeping us updated!

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  2. Thank you for the comment! It is a special community.

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