Friday, July 22, 2016, St. John’s, NL
Day 55

Checked into the Pippy Park Campground and a 50 amp full hookup pull through site is ours for the next 3 days. We visited Signal Hill National Historic Site which rises 525 feet above St. John’s harbor.  It was the site of many battles between the French and the British. The British defeated the French in 1762 which was the last battle between the two in North America. We hiked to the top, including the Cabot Tower and up and down and around the hill. The park trail ends along the battery where several houses are now built precariously on the side of a cliff who only recently got running water. We did not realize that the 1.7 km trail only included the portion in the park. We had another km to go to get back to the park’s parking lot. The hike took us almost 3.5 hours.  We did stop and admire the scenery along the way, including the Fort Amherst Lighthouse across the harbor entrance and the Cape Spear Lighthouse in the distance. And we did take our time during the narrow spot where we needed to hold onto the chain implanted in the cliff in order to avoid experiencing the bottom of the cliff. This spot was near the end of the park trail and a good thing too. If it was near the beginning, I am sure Rosemary would have opted to turn around. We also saw a humpback whale in the distance which was exciting. Dinner at Portobello’s Restaurant overlooking the harbor was good. After dinner, we headed to Middle Cove which has a beach where the capelin are rolling. Capelin is a fish similar to sardines. During July, they return to the beach area to spawn and the fish literally wash up or “roll” onto the beach by the thousands. It was a real happening with people catching the fish in any way they could - nets, buckets, garbage bags.