Cycling The Globe

L’Anse aux Meadows. A name with a fascinating sound to me. Not so much because of the interesting mix between French and English, but because of the history of the location. It was right here, way up on the northern tip of Newfoundland, that the Viking Leif Erikson arrived by boat some 1000 years ago.

I had thought about ending my bike ride in L’Anse aux Meadows, but now I have a flight ticket leaving from St. John’s. Instead I went to a car rental office and got a car for the day. It was raining hard, so I was glad I had four wheels below me, and not the usual two.

The west coast of Newfoundland is rough and beautiful.

As I continued north the road got smaller, the villages more and more remote, and the weather worse. I felt I was on the way to the end of the world.

Almost in Greenland!

It was wet and windy as I stepped out of the car at L’anse aux Meadows and walked towards the museum. I understood that my ancestor would have felt at home here – typical weather over in Scandinavia.

And suddenly I was there, at the very bay where Leif Erikson had arrived a thousand years before. He came by boat through Iceland and Greenland. I had taken my bike for a long ride, coming up through South and Central America. It very much felt like everything was coming together up here at this windy spot on Newfoundland.

While I’m travelling I don’t normally visit a lot of museums, but the whole history of this place had a deep impact on me.

Before long it was already getting dark, and after yet another walk through the museum it was time to turn around the car and start the 500 km drive back to Corner Brook.

I had been an unusual day on the road – driving a car instead of riding the bike! It all made sense though!

I would almost say that emotionally the whole America ride ends here for me. In the physical world I still have some 700 km to cover before reaching St. John’s and the easternmost point in North America.

Tomorrow it’s back on the bike.