GRiSO trip to Labrador and Newfoundland

Getting sorted for the long trip from Toronto to Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and finally end it at Lavigne Ontario for the annual Ontario Guzzi Riders rally Aug.23-25. (Ontarioguzziriders.com).

This is the plan :

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New tires for the trip : Avon AV54/53 Trailrider :

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Extra fuel tool box

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... and of course the Guardian Bell :

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Now there's a decent bit of a ride. Enjoy.

Via Sydney too, look us up while you are here! Enjoy the ride.

Have a great time!

Looks like a great trip, I'm envious!

I lived for 14 mos in New Brunswick. Australia is my home, but I'd be very happy to live in Canada again. Loved the Cabot Trail.

Sadly the trip didn't end well, I crashed and totalled my lovely Tenni on a desolate bit of road some 100kms south of Labrador City.

Headlamp popped and crushed, forks bent, left cylinder head cracked, tail cracked, rear rack ripped and bent, tank and saddle bags ripped and destroyed.

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Thankfully I came out of it unscathed but for a few bruises and a stiff neck for a couple of weeks.

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So now that the king is dead, LOVE LIVE THE KING !
Bought a beautiful Rosso, now Christened by the wife as Ruby:

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Last Sunday took Ruby our for her first outing with the boys from Ontario Guzzi Riders around the Kawarthas.

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It's all good.

Impressive. How did that happened ?

Fortunately you are safe and not seriously injured.

Congratulations for Ruby

Sorry to hear that mate. Glad you are okay.

Happy to hear you survived disaster & bounced right back onto a red one. Well done.

Glad you're OK, and well pleased you got another GRiSO!

Can't keep a GRiSO rider down.  

It appears you made out better than the Tenni. Look after the neck, I'm still dealing with neck pain from an accident 30 years ago, as a passenger in a car.  

A sexy red ride is just what the doctor ordered. Right?

Man, Luca, glad to hear you weren't hurt worse. And Ruby looks beautiful!

Pete (Street)

Wow. Just seeing this now. Sorry your trip ended like this. I don't think people will appreciate the endeavor you undertook. That is a tricky ride at best. And that's if it's dry. For those that don't know, the Trans Lab highway is actually about 15 feet of gravel fill piled on top of the Muskeg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskeg) which is basically swamp. If you crash off of the edge in some of these spots, the vehicle isn't really recoverable. The cost to have a tow truck come out and haul it out would probably be close to the value of the bike. We saw cars and snowmobiles abandoned down there.

I did the trip a couple of Summers ago on my Stelvio. If I had seen this before, I actually would have advised against the trip on a street bike. I think there is more pavement now, but when I did it, the section from HVGB to Red Bay was tricky on an Adventure bike. The day before I hit that section, a guy totaled a BMW GS and had to be airlifted out. A guy in front of me on a Super Tenere almost bought the farm. The section just after Manic 5 was dicey in spots too. What makes it tricky is when they're grading the road. It basically makes the surface soft and hides deep potholes that aren't' really filled but just kind of covered over. I hit one that made my back hurt for a month and bent the upper bolt on my rear shock pretty substantially. Another issue that I hadn't thought of was when tractor trailer trucks would go the other way at speed and kick up baseball size rocks. I took one in the chest that even through the excellent armor on my Motoport jacket, left a bruise the size of a grapefruit. It also destroys visibility for a minute or so to the point that you can't see anything. There were sections of that road where it was like riding on 6 inches of marbles. The trick was that you had to carry enough speed (I found about 55-60mph worked best for me) to float on top. This of course adds to the sketchiness cuz if you take a digger at that speed, the risk of injury is greater.

I did have a great time though and Newfoundland was amazing. I would love to go back. It poured the whole time we were there, but it was still incredibly beautiful. Once the road is all paved, I hope you do the ride again, because it is worth it.

Here's some pics of my trip.

Loaded and ready to go.

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Manic 5 hydroelectric plant. We did the tour. It was impressive. The lake for this is a giant crater/meteor impact. It's very impressive.

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This is what it would look like riding behind a tractor trailer rig. Near zero viz. We pulled over a couple of times because it was impossible to see large rocks or holes when you were behind them.

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Middle of nowhere between Happy Valley Goose Bay and Red Bay.

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Last stop before Red Bay and the ferry to Newfoundland. Actually a pretty neat little hotel with pretty decent food. We were glad to relax there for the night. We made excellent time and made it from Labrador City to this spot about 70-100 miles from Red Bay in one day.

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Coming down into Red Bay I saw this. At first I thought it was a ship, but nope. A real iceberg. First I've ever seen. The color of it was amazing.

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We barely made the ferry. We didn't make reservations. We were the last two things they loaded. We arrived in Newfoundland and started looking for a place to eat and stay for the night as it was raining pretty hard, and we really weren't interested in setting up the tents. Another thing I didn't realize that tourist season is very short in Newfoundland because of the weather and because of that, people book stuff months or a year in advance. Everything we found was basically full. We happened upon this place and they happened to have a cancellation and we jumped on it. Great room, great local seafood right next door.

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We started North in Newfoundland because we wanted to see the Viking settlement which was amazing.

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We left there and rode all over. Spent some time around Gros Morne which was amazing too.  The next day, we caught the ferry to Nova Scotia (made a reservation this time). It was about a 10 or 12 hour trip to Nova Scotia (if I remember correctly) and it was an excellent chance to nap, have a bite and relax. We were especially lucky as it was sunny and the seas were like glass. Great trip.

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We landed in the Bra 'Dor lake area. Rode around there for a bit and headed home the next day. We found a nice little campground, had a nice meal and turned in. We had an epic lightning storm overnight, but it cleared and was beautiful for the ride home. I left the Bra 'Dor area and got home to Wales, MA at 9:30 p.m. It was about 1000 miles.

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I've ridden Nova Scotia before, so I didn't do any extensive riding this time, but it's always a treat. The people in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia are the nicest people I've met anywhere in the world.  Anyone in North America should absolutely put this trip in their planner. It's amazing. All tolled for the trip, I did almost 4000 miles.

I recall seeing the OP's first post and then, darn it, missed the rest.  

Condolences on the ill-fated trip & Tenni ... and congratulations on getting back into the game with Ruby!

Thanks, too, to WCB for reviving thread (so I and likely some others) might see it.  And, even more thanks for the travelogue and pix.  It's a trip I'll only take by photos and reports, so especially appreciate the details.

Bill