Wander Woman: A Travel Podcast
The monthly Wander Woman Podcast frequently charts in 'Travel and Places' in over 147 countries around the world. It is the first travel podcast to take on a magazine style - rather than the format of just an interview – and has been listened to and downloaded everywhere from the UK to Australia and beyond, by hundreds of thousands of people. It has been selected as “Best of” travel podcasts by The Telegraph, The Guardian and The i newspaper, Globetrender and Tech Times - to name a few.
Every episode, award-winning broadcaster, travel writer, author and photographer Phoebe Smith offers a behind the scenes journey to a different destination which features interviews with locals, audio clips and vivid descriptions to make the listener feel like they are there too - without having to leave home.
The main ‘destination’ story weaves together her passion for finding off-the-beaten track places, undertaking quirky and unusual activities, discovering wild spaces in unlikely mass market destinations, watching wildlife and meeting the unsung heroes behind conservation efforts.
Additionally the Wander Woman Podcast’s regular features a celebrity interview; Best Travel Gear for a life on the road; Travel Hack of the Month; Top 10 in Travel; Hidden Hero; and the Wander Woman of the Month - the traveller whose name is lost in the history books.
Wherever you find yourself - come wander with her…
Wander Woman: A Travel Podcast
Tales and Trails from Newfoundland's Wild West
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
You know a place is special when it can serve you a 10,000-year-old “popsicle”, make you laugh with a single turn of phrase, and still hit you with history that rewrites the map. Join Wander Woman Phoebe Smith on a journey through Western Newfoundland, chasing icebergs along Iceberg Alley, listening to foghorns roll in off the Atlantic, and learning how a coastline built on cod had to reinvent itself after the fishery closed.
We take on big timelines and even bigger landscapes, from Viking footsteps at L’Anse Aux Meadows to the deeper indigenous story that makes this peninsula a true meeting point of worlds. In Gros Morne National Park, we kayak beneath cliffs lifted by glaciers and talk through the Tablelands, one of the rare places you can walk on Earth’s mantle without a mountaineering expedition.
Also coming up:
- TV presenter and expert fly fisher Kastine Coleman
- Travel Hack: How to become an honaray Newfoundlander (that doesn't involve being screeched in...)
- Tablelands, lighthouses, fossils Western Newfoundland's 10 best hikes
- Meet grandson of Lauchie "Lockie" McDougall aka the human wind gauge, who saved countless lives through his ability to predict the wind
- Gear chat: what to pack to go in search of icebergs
- Minnie White – the First Lady of the Accordian – is our Wander Woman of the Month.
If you enjoy smart travel stories, wilderness destinations, and unsung heroes, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave us a review.
www.Phoebe-Smith.com; @PhoebeRSmith
On this month's Wander Woman Podcast.
Speaker 10The largest iceberg we had here was in 2011. It was still eight nautical miles long and six nautical miles wide. But they said you could land a 747 on it.
Speaker 8We're talking tall tales and following Viking trails across the entire length of Western Newfoundland. Thanks to this episode's podcast partners, Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism. I also speak to TV presenter Castine Coleman, the woman who has made it her mission to get more women fly fishing in what is traditionally a male-dominated field.
Speaker 2And they were calling and emailing and saying, Can I register? And I kept saying yes, and 26 women showed up.
Speaker 8And I meet Lockie McDougall, whose grandfather was called the human wind gauge, and saved countless lives through his ability to predict incoming storms and hurricane force winds that could derail trains in Porto Basque in the early 1900s. Also coming up, I help you become an honorary Newfoundlander with my monthly travel hack. Discover 10 incredible areas to go hiking in the western part of the province. In my gear section, I help you pack for an iceberg hunting trip. And finally, I'll be revealing this episode's Wander Woman of the Month, the traveller whose name is lost in the history books. You're listening to the Wander Woman Podcast, an audio travel magazine with me, Adventurer Phoebe Smith, exploring off the beat and track destinations, wild spaces, wildlife encounters, and the unsung heroes behind conservation efforts. Come wonder with me.
Newfoundland's Wild West
Speaker 10What we're seeing here is basically at least 10,000 years old. It can be up to 40 to 50,000 years old. It wasn't born yesterday.
Speaker 8This is Paul Roberts, our skipper on board a small but bomb-proof zodiac boat. He's talking about icebergs and how the specimen we are currently just a few metres away from is twice as old as the entirety of written human history. As he speaks, he grabs a floating shard that's broken away from the main block and proceeds to hack off some splinters for us to eat like a popsicle. As we begin to eat our ancient treat, he starts to tell us more about the icebergs he's seen in this area, known as Iceberg Alley.
Speaker 10The largest iceberg we had here was in 2011. It came from the Peter Marine Glacier. When it fell off the glacier, it was over 200 square nautical miles. By the time it arrived here, and actually that iceberg only took one year to arrive here instead of two or three. They said it was still only about one-third of the original size. It was still eight nautical miles long and six nautical miles wide. Long and tabler. I wouldn't know, I didn't see it myself. But they said you could lay on a 747 level if you want.
Speaker 8Right now, Paul is all about icebergs. But like many people in Newfoundland, he started out his career as a fisherman. Ever since 1497, when fishermen from the UK, Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal first started coming to the seas around this province, affectionately known as the Rock, cod has been the big draw. Fights, both physically and politically, have been had over centuries for the rights to catch this king of fish. And by the 1960s, some two billion pounds of cod were harvested annually here, officially the world's largest source of this species. But it was too much. The fish began to decline rapidly. And in 1992, the cod moratorium, basically a ban on commercial cod fishing, was announced to try to help the species bounce back. But as it slowly began to spawn, the communities in areas like this saw rapid exodus, as Paul explains.
Speaker 10When I went to school there, there was basically 370 odd kids here. There used to be another school in St. Nair Grigate, which had another 370 odd kids. With the outmigration, with the fishery being closed, the wounding grigate right now is closed, and this school's got 23 kids. There's no kids left around here. In Carp Room, where I'm from, there's one little girl which is 10. And then the uh second youngest one is actually my partner. So most of us around here is now seniors.
Speaker 8It may sound like the end for any community in this situation, but in typically resilient Newfoundland fashion, there has been a slow growing replacement for the fishing industry. Tourism. With intrepid travellers seeking out more remote and windswept places far from the crowds. And where we were set right now was really far from the crowds.
Speaker 10We are now sitting on the Atlantic Ocean. If we head to steam directly straight east to stay on that easterly line for about 22 to 2300 miles, we should end up somewhere around the southern point of Ireland. Unfortunately, we don't have enough gas for it, Brett.
Speaker 8While we weren't going to be headed for Ireland, Paul's accent, as you can hear, is a wonderful mix of influences, including Irish, much like the place itself. And every single one of the residents that colour its past has been brought here on the tides. And nearby Iceberg Alley is a site dedicated to one particularly significant group, perhaps the most renowned seafarers in the world, the Vikings. Despite many of us being taught in schools how Christopher Columbus discovered North America, he wasn't actually the first European here. Rather, it was a Norseman from Greenland, via Iceland, who did. The son of Eric the Red, Leaf, who set off on an expedition to find a place with the trees that his country lacked, and began to set up shop and give birth to the first European baby on North American soil, a boy named Snorri, as my guide Kyla, on a tour at Leance Meadows the next day explains.
Speaker 12We see that the groups who come here at most would be 60 to 90 people at one time. They'd come between one to three years. So they would arrive in the spring. Well, first they build their houses, and it takes six to eight weeks to do that. Then they leave a crew here to make provisions for winter. Well, then we see there are other crews that are traveling further south, gathering resources, coming back here in the fall to overwinter. And then while they're overwintering, they're repairing their boats. Over the next 30 years, we see that the group from Greenland spend about 10 years at Lansa Meadows. So again, that's in one to three year increments. And at the end of those 30 years, they abandon the site forever.
Speaker 8They may have abandoned the site, it's theorized because of the tough conditions, or because it wasn't enough of a sizable colony to stay permanently. But in an ironic twist of fate, because of the Viking history here, leading to UNESCO status in 1978 and subsequent building of a tourism industry, with hotels, BMBs, and cabins popping up for travellers to stay in. During the summertime, the population swells to what would have been once unthinkable levels.
Speaker 12Now, folks, that's incredible when we consider the local communities. Hankover, I live, I told you folks, we've got 25 residents there year-round. And me, my husband, and our child, we take the average age down about 25 years from shore. Lancer Meadows, which as I pointed out through the fog there, they've got 10 year-round residents. So some tours I take out, I have more new friends on the tour than actually lives in my surrounding community.
Speaker 8Despite the UNESCO designation possibly helping put this far-flung location on the map, thanks to a Norwegian explorer and his archaeologist's wife, who located the site in 1961 with the help of a local, visiting this part of the far north peninsula is nothing new. The archaeological records dictate that the first indigenous group to come here were the maritime archaic people 5,000 years ago, with their ancestors arriving in Labrador 9,000 years ago. Following them were the Grosswater people, the Dorset people, and a group called the Proto-Inu, who were the ancestors of the now extinct Newfoundland Biothic. What these groups shared in common though is that none of them lived at Leansee Meadows permanently. In the Viking sagas and oral history, we are told that they did meet the indigenous people of Canada. And if they did, it is likely it was here. Which makes this site and this province a truly significant landmark in human migration, the meeting of two worlds, the old and the new, which all began in the same point, Africa. I left Leance Meadows pondering that point as it was time for me to head south by road rather than boat. And along the way I stopped at Dark Tickle, a museum, gift and coffee shop run by the same family for three generations over the past 100 years, as owner Keir Nudson explains.
Speaker 11He came from a family of fishermen, unfortunately got really seasick. So he had to find a way to make a living, basically. So what he he started, kind of set up a shop uh in his father's fishing stage, and then kind of evolved to selling all kinds of stuff, but also buying and collecting fish from people. And then that just kind of grew from you know him at the age of 16 in 1919, right up until the close of the card fishery in 1992.
Speaker 8After the fishing industry closure decimated the area, the family decided to diversify, calling the place Dark Tickle, after the newfie name given to the nearby narrow point where the water goes between two land masses, and began foraging Newfoundland berries, partridge, cloud, squash, and blue, using them to make jams and preserves, which they are perhaps most famous for.
Speaker 11We kind of pivoted, uh, sold off our trucks, sold everything related to the fishery, and just went into tourism full time.
Speaker 8Have you seen tourism increase then since then?
Speaker 11Every year.
Speaker 8Before I left, I wanted to ask about the name of the place we were in, Saint Lunier Griquette, which clearly sung of French rather than Norse or Irish influence. This area is actually known as the French shore, because from 1713 up until 1904, the French had exclusive seasonal rights to land, dry and salt their cod on the coast without building permanent colonies. Meaning at the end of the season, they should have returned home. But not all of them did, as co-owner Stacy explains.
Speaker 7They didn't want to go back, so they stayed. And pretended to be Irish.
Speaker 8I stopped to grab a hot drink and traditional bread with some Cloudbury jam, naturally, and listened to some classic Newfoundland music, courtesy of local accordion maestro Davy Jones. This song is called Off Dawn, one of his own. Named after a plane accident he was involved in when the door flew off mid-air and they had to do an emergency landing. You can get a sense of the newfy humour right there. Between songs, he explained how ubiquitous the accordion is here.
SpeakerOh my god, everything in Newfoundland can play the accordion. Well not everything, but the every family has got a member that of in the family that is.
Speaker 8Bidding Davy Jones au revoir, I headed south again, occasionally stopping for a moose idling across the road, or to check out some thrombrolites on a short hike right from the main road. More about them later in my top ten, all the way until I reached Gross Morn. Here I swapped wheels for paddles to explore this national park using a kayak. Between the piece of the gentle lap of the water, my guide, Natalie, explained a bit about the geology and how the cliffs here are actually part of a former horizontal seabed that, when the weight of the glacier that carved out this bay retreated, it pushed this rock upwards. The upshot of which was the creation of an interesting species of fish found only in these waters.
Speaker 3There's a type of fish, the Akkadian redfish, that is genetically different from all the other Acadian redfish because they've been trapped over the Easter for over 10,000 years since the last ice age. They're pressurized down at the bottom. So if they tried to leave and come up across the like sill, they quite literally explode.
Speaker 8In addition to the exploding redfish, she also wanted to point out a key site: the tablelands.
Speaker 3So these are the Earth's mantle. So it's typically like 10 or 15 kilometers deep in the middle of the earth. You're not supposed to be able to see it. But when about 470 million years ago, when Laurentia and Gondwana collided, the tectonic plates, instead of sliding over one another, they kind of crashed into each other. So this kind of pushed upwards, and then when Pangea separated, we were left with Newfoundland as well as the Earth's mantle. So there's only a handful of places in the world that you can see it, and this is definitely one of the most accessible considering you can walk on it and there's a parking lot that goes all the way up there.
Speaker 8Coming back down to Earth, it was time to grab some lunch, and that's how I met my next guide, Trina, owner of Under the Stump, a company based out of Rocky Harbor, that tells the indigenous story here, with local foods from the land and sea served al fresco in the site of her grandmother's old homestead. She took us along a path, pointing out alder seed pods that can be fried and pound to make a natural seasoning, like pepper. The sticks would be debarked and used to barbecue the Capelin fish found in the sea. We used to pick them up with our hands, she tells me. Then she pointed out the bulrush.
Speaker 9See how thick they are? These things are amazing for doing baskets. So our ancestors used to make baskets out of them. The bottom half, if you look up, you'll see that like there's a center core in it. And you see where it starts turning white? Yeah. When you dig right down in the ground and you cut it off, the bottom half, if you take the leaves off of it and peel it down, you can eat it. It tastes like cucumber. If you dig the roots up, it tastes like potato and turnip.
Speaker 8With all this talk of eating, I was definitely building up an appetite. And so Trina set up a very bougie picnic by the sea. There she cooked up mussels steamed in seawater with no seasoning required. And as we ate, she told me how for years she never knew she had indigenous ancestry and why that makes her so passionate about sharing it now.
Speaker 9My mum found it the same day I did that she had Mi'kmaq culture. Nan didn't tell her. That was that was a no no, you know, you don't talk about that stuff. And a lot of people around here didn't talk about it because it was shameful, it was shunned. But now it's not. So we were trying to reclaim with that reconciliation piece what we've lost.
Speaker 8Leaving with a better understanding of those who came before, I continued south still, going all the way down to Porto Basque, the point where the ferry from Nova Scotia arrives, still bringing with it vital supplies as well, the more recent desired commodity, tourists. That night I stayed at Cape Aguil, the most westerly point in Newfoundland. At the Lighthouse Inn. As expected, the sunset was immense. But in the early hours, I awoke to the distinct sound of a Newfoundland coast. At breakfast, the fog still rolling in, the horns still blowing, I asked Patsy, who ran the place, what it was like to live here in these westerly reaches.
Speaker 5My mom was the strongest woman I know. And you you have to be strong. A lot of back not so much now, but my mom's got fifteen brothers and sisters, and my dad had 15 brothers and sisters. So the women had to be strong. The men went out and worked, and you looked after the children, and it's still the same, really, I think. We're still a little bit old-fashioned. We still bottle our jams and our moose meat and bake our bread, and we're still like that. You've got to be strong.
Speaker 8My final stop before flying home from Deer Lake, the unofficial capital of Western Newfoundland, was in a place we now know as Cormac, but which was once known as the Humber Valley Settlement, an historic post-World War II agricultural community established in 1946 to give returning war veterans a fresh start and revive the island's farming industry. Here today, BB owners Laurie Lee and Mark LeDru, with Mi'kmaq and French heritage respectively, not only offer beds but stories from the hardy past residents who tried to carve a life out in this sometimes unforgiving environment. Following on the tradition of their ancestors, they practice regenerative agriculture, attempting to be as self-sufficient as possible, as Laura Lee explains.
Speaker 4We focus a lot on our soil health and soil biodiversity. We like to look at the natural ecosystems that are thriving and we mimic the things that happen in nature and we try to recreate that in our farm to help us produce food in a very natural and thriving way. So we consider ourselves to be pretty resilient. We don't bring in anything from the mainland, whether it's organic or non-organic, it's the manufacturing, manufacturing, it's the processing and it's the shipping and the carbon footprint of all of those different kinds of inputs that a lot of farmers typically put on their farm that we try to eliminate.
Speaker 8After listening to one of her historical stories served with food that had some of the lowest food miles I've ever eaten, I slept well. But before leaving the next day, I had time to pop into one last local business, the rumour mill pub and brewery. Over the course of the week, I'd heard tales of Vikings who braved the rough seas of the Atlantic and learned about the indigenous peoples who understood the land in a way that few of us ever will, though with people like Trina, some of us can definitely try. I'd discovered the legacy of the French who disguised themselves as Irish in order to stay here, despite the tough conditions in winter, as well as the World War II resettlers who toiled to make their land productive. And I'd shook the hand of the foragers and preservers, and let's be honest, badass women like Patsy, and her mother and grandmother before her, and I had been inspired. I toasted them all for their hardy spirits and tenacity, their determination to succeed in an environment where success is never guaranteed, and for their always welcoming nature, and above all, I raised my glass to their enduring sense of humour, which never failed to make me smile. Then I left, with a good beer in my belly, a heartfelt farewell from the barmaid Victoria Asman, which she said was not only from her, but from the whole of Newfoundland. And that accent, I found it so evocative of our ancestors. I absolutely fell in love with the place. Thank you, Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism, this episode's podcast partners, for an incredible trip. I cannot wait to return. And when I do, I want to be sure I blend right in with the locals.
Travel Hack: How to Become an honorary Newfoundlander
Speaker 8Which brings me nicely to this month's travel hack. And this one's a good one, my dear. What are you at? For this Newfoundland special, we're going to have a bit of fun with the travel hack, and I'm going to teach you how to seamlessly blend in with the locals in Newfoundland. Not that they're not friendly, they are and exceedingly so. Nor admittedly have I ever been mistaken for a newfie. But strolling into a restaurant and confidently ordering a Jigs dinner, that's Newfoundland's comfort dish of salt beef, turnip, cabbage, potato, carrot, and peas pudding, will at least be a conversation starter. So here we go. How to become an honorary newfie. First of all, practice the accent. It's a wonderful mix somewhere between Old Country Irish, West Country English, and occasionally. A bit of friendship. And here's a top tip. Some general banter will always go a long way. Punctuate the occasional sentence with boy, roughly boy, but can mean friend, mate, man, or just to fill a gap. Equally, another endearing term is use it liberally, and you'll get bonus points for pronouncing the province Newfoundland, not Newfoundland. And then learn a few key phrases. What do you ask? Is what's up? Or how's it going? To which you reply, that's kind of going, which means couldn't be better. Wouldn't you get to know them a little bit better? You could ask or be asked the best ever phrase. Who knit you? Who's your mother?
Speaker 6And when you leave, you can wish them big gym roll.
Speaker 8May you have good fortune. Once you've made friends, take them for fish and brew. Salted cod and hard bread softened with water, traditionally with scruncheons, which are small cubes of salted pork fat. Two tons, which is a fried bread dough, often served with molasses, or a bake apple pie made with locally grown or wild cloud berries. Oh, and don't forget to try the cod tongs too, a firm favourite, even though it's not actually a tongue at all, but rather a muscle in the fish's neck, though that's rather a mouthful to say. Pun definitely intended. If you're going in winter, you'll learn about Newfoundland's wonderfully peculiar Christmas tradition of mummering, where people dress up in disguise and visit friends and neighbours and they have to guess who you are. But at any time of the year, it's a kitchen party that you'll be invited to. And if you are, then go. You'll find music, singing, storytelling, food and drink. If you can tinker on an instrument, so much the better. And for full Newfound points, learn The Night Paddy Murphy Died or I's the Boy. But the best way to be an honoring Newfoundlander, really, is to be friendly. Tell stories, help people, feed people, have a song ready, and never take yourself too seriously. Okay, my dear? That was my Wonder Woman travel hack, the advice I offer each episode to make your travels a lot more fun. And trust me, there was no one more fun than a newfie. Their self-depreciating sense of humour is as legendary as their love of
Wander Woman meets... Castine Coleman
Speaker 8cod. Speaking of which, my first guest is a master fisher, Castine Coleman. Not only does she teach people how to fly fish and improve their casting, but she also presents two TV shows, Tight Loops, Tight Lines and Fishing the Rock, and guides anglers through rivers in Newfoundland and Labrador, targeting Atlantic salmon. I met up with her in a salmon river outside the town of Cornerbrook, the largest population centre in western Newfoundland, to ask her what hooked her into this activity that has traditionally been very male-dominated and if more women are getting involved.
Speaker 2I fly fished when I was a kid. It was one of those things that I just kind of grew up with, and um it was a I guess a family thing. So we would be at our cabin and just go down in the morning and fly fish. My dad used to take a couple of us fly fish, there's four of us, so uh he would normally take one or two of us fishing with him when he left in the morning, and so I always tagged along and I loved it as a kid growing up. I couldn't wait to get on the water. I found the drive was absolutely torturous, but once I was on the water it was okay. And so I've been doing it ever since. Probably when I finished university, I moved home and realized that I needed it in my life. It was a great way to get outdoors and just be in the peace and quiet and flies.
Speaker 8What was it about fly fishing? What what how would you describe how it makes you feel when you're doing it?
Speaker 2Oh, fly fishing is very peaceful, and you just kind of get into this rhythm where you're casting and you're watching your fly, and you can't really think about anything else because you're staring at your fly the whole time, you're reading the water, you're looking at the rocks underneath you so that you don't trip up, and it really doesn't allow your mind to wander. So you get that kind of time to decompress and just relax until you get a fish, and then it's the complete opposite. You got that adrenaline rush, the excitement and the thrill and the feel on your line, and it just changes, it's like a whole different sport right away. And so you get that, you know, it's like two opposite things, but it happens at the same time, and you could you can fish for years without getting a fish. So it's obviously that the fish is not the most important, but it's why you're out there, and it it's just uh it's a great thing to do.
Speaker 8And tell me about the people that you tend to take out with you fishing with your with your job. Are you taking a lot of beginners? Do you take more experienced people? What's the kind of people that you end up meeting in your job?
Speaker 2Uh well, it's a little bit of both, to tell you the truth, because Newfoundland and Labrador has over 60% of the scheduled Atlantic salmon rivers in all of North America. So we have a lot of people that travel here that are looking for Atlantic salmon, they're looking for that experience. They've fished it before and they know like I can come to Newfoundland and I can catch or you know, try to catch some Atlantic salmon, and that's like a it's a bucket list item for a lot of anglers. And then the other side is pure beginners. So I get people, um women mainly, that come and say, I've always wanted to fish. Um, my late husband fished and now I have all of his gear, or my grandfather used to take me fishing and he's not here anymore, but I want to get back on the water. And it's a lot of those really beautiful stories where I'm able to take a person and kind of reconnect them to their past through a new sport. So just taking them out and starting from the beginning and kind of creating independent anglers so they can go on their own.
Speaker 8And you mentioned women there, like quite a few women, all that many women in the sport of fly fishing.
Speaker 2Here in Newfoundland, there are. Yeah, there really are. The first casting lesson that I ever did, um I was doing my casting certification and we had to get a little bit of experience under our belt. So I put off this casting event and I was expecting four or five women to show up, and I I couldn't say no to people, and they were calling and emailing and saying, Can I register? and I kept saying yes, and 26 women showed up on the first for my first casting lesson. So I was definitely over my head, and I kind of said to my dad, quick, I I need you and other people. And he showed up with three or four other women anglers that were like really skilled people and just helped you know put that casting event off, and it was it was so much fun. But right, it was then that I realized that there was a need for it here in Newfoundland, and people really did want to learn.
Speaker 8Do you think you said with your clientele quite a lot of the nuance of women? Do you think they seek you out because you're a woman guide?
Speaker 2Possibly, yeah. And I mean it's um it's sometimes intimidating when you are going off and you want to learn something new. Like today, I dragged you guys down the highway, down a dirt road, and then down a train track and through the woods. And if you were following a man or somebody you weren't comfortable with, you'd be a little nervous. And and I always was when I was growing up. And I was I started off, I think I had my guide license when I was 16 or 17 years old, which meant I could take people into the woods. And my mom said to me, I don't I don't want you doing that. I don't want you going off in the woods by yourself. There was obviously no cell phones or or anything like that. So she said, You can't go off in the woods with all these strange men. And I kind of said, Well, I won't. What what if I just go off into the woods with strange women? And for some reason that worked. She was okay with me. She was okay, and you you kind of learn that you can pick and choose, so you don't have to go to these really remote locations. You can pull over on the side of the highway and learn the skill just as well as you can, you know, three hours into the deep wood.
Speaker 8So there's a there's probably a misunderstanding with people who don't fish that any kind of fishing is bad for for fish supplies, but would you say that people who fish are kind of way more invested on what's happening to the fishing rivers than perhaps those who don't? Like, is there a kind of conservation feeling among people who fish?
Speaker 2100%. So when I'm out here and for the whole rest of the year, I think about salmon a lot. I volunteer on a bunch of conservation boards and uh protecting the species and just trying to do anything I can to ensure their survival. Like I I have three teenagers and I want them to be able to fish and I want their children to be able to fish, and just knowing that the possibility is real that they won't be able to if our numbers continue to decline. So just the people that are on the river, I find that they really care. And they're out here all the time, and they don't want to see people poaching. There's a lot of poaching that happens. Um they don't want to see the rivers in bad shape, they're picking up garbage and just you know, making sure that it's a beautiful, pristine place, and those are the best people to have around. So, yeah, a lot of the salmon anglers are 100% conservationists, um, and it doesn't matter if they keep their fish or not, just being on the river and and like watching out for the salmon and being there to help, that's the best thing.
Speaker 8And then the final question, which is something I ask everyone who comes on the podcast, which is um, what's the one piece of travel gear that you never go anywhere without?
Speaker 2I take my fly rod with me and my reel because you never know when you're gonna be able to uh to get out for a little tiny fish.
Speaker 8That was Fly Fishing Casting Instructor and TV presenter Castine Coleman with me on a beautiful river in Newfoundland. Do check out her on tightloopstightlines.com where you can find full details about her trips and TV shows. I have to say that stood out there in the water in some waders, hearing the sound of the river, focusing only on my line, felt properly mindful. But if fishing isn't your thing, there's no need to worry. Because when it comes to Western Newfoundland, there's always hiking and lots of it on a variety of terrains for both hardcore hikers and those who crave an easy stroll. Want to know more? Walk this way.
Top Ten Hikes In The West of Newfoundland
Speaker 8At 10, we're starting with the famous one, Gross Moor National Park. To climb the 806-metre summit of Gross Moorne Mountain itself, you're looking at a full day's 17km hike. But you'll be rewarded with unbelievable views down into the fjord-like 10-mile pond gorge. At 9, we're still in Gross Moor National Park. But this time you'll need a guide and a boat to tackle the Western Brook Pond Gorge hike. You begin with a 3-kilometre stroll to the boat launch, followed by a shuttle across the water. Then a 12-kilometre trek, it feels like an adventure. And that's because it is. Found on the South Shore Highway, Route 450, is number eight, the Southhead Lighthouse Trail. This three-kilometre hike leads to a lookout at the site of the former lighthouse of the same name. Dismantled in 2010, its original top sits in the car park at the start to give hikers a sense of scale. Not only is it a good path for stretching the legs, it's also perfect for spotting whales. So keep your eyes appealed. At seven, we're journeying south to the beautifully named Starlight Trail. Found on the side of the Trans-Canadian Highway near Route 407. It's a five-kilometre out and back route that climbs up into the long-range mountains with views over Little Caudroy River. At six, we're in Porto Schwa on the Point Rish Peninsula, treading in the trail of one of the largest ancient Dorset Palayascimo settlements in the eastern Arctic. It's only a one-kilometre route, but takes in Phillips Garden, a 3,000 years old site that features the depressions of over 50 semi-subterranean winter houses, which have yielded tens of thousands of preserved artefacts, tools, and bone fragments. At five, we're going to the brilliantly named Cape Glow Me Down Trail on the Bay of Islands. A 7.5 kilometre return hike, it offers a proper climb uphill to the mountains of the same name, which offer huge views across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This is the perfect mountain meets ocean hike of Newfoundland. In fourth place, for something super easy but knock your socks off stunning, go to the Sir Richard Squires Memorial Provincial Park near Deer Lake. There's various short walks to follow, but the best is the Big Falls Trail, which in just 100 metres will see you reaching the Humber River, where you can watch the salmon leap upstream between June and August each year. At three is one for the more experienced hikers only, the long range traverse in Gross Mourn. This 35km three to five day hike is a big wilderness expedition, crossing the long range mountains above Western Brook Pond through Alpine Barrens, ponds, forest, and fjord country, which forms part of the International Appalachian Trail. Note that this is an unmarked route and navigation skills are essential. Second in our list is the thrombolite walking trail in Flowers Cove. Just an easy two kilometre stroll, but that's two kilometres out and back from the car park off the main Trans-Canada Highway, is one of the very few places on earth where you can view such gigantic, ancient fossilised formations of unicellular primitive life forms that appear as giant bun-like stone structures. And at number one, it's the Green Gardens Trail. Just three kilometres from the traditional little fishing town of Trout River, worth a look in itself, it descends through the barren tablands, another worldly plateau at 806 metres elevation with pink ancient seasand and sparse Arctic plants. And through a Boreal Forest to a volcanic coastline of seastacks, coves, beaches, and meadows, there's even a pre-bookable primitive campsite you can stay in for a real ends-of-the-art feel. Go. You won't regret it. That was my always inspiring, even to me, top 10 slot, where I share the absolute highlights of a region you really should be taking the time to discover. In addition to hiking, as you heard earlier in this episode, a real highlight in western Newfoundland, especially at the northern tip, is Iceberg Alley. But how do you stay warm on such a chilly adventure? Rest assured, my regular gear section has the answer, and it's up next.
Gear: What To Wear Iceberg Hunting
Speaker 8Icebergs, or icebergs, as my wonderful guide called them, are a quintessential sight in this part of the world, witnessed late May through June every year. To access them safely and take an ancient popsicle off their carcasses, you need to take a zodiac tour like I did. But what do you wear to keep warm? Listen up. First, reputable companies like Dark Tickle Tours will give you full heavy-duty immersion or floater suits to ensure you stay warm and safe. But you will still need to layer up underneath. So, starting at the bottom, you need some warm socks with sturdy, warm, no-slip footwear to ensure that you don't slip while getting on and off the vessel. Long underwear helps you retain heat, like thermal long johns under windproof walking trousers and a merino wool base layer up top. Underneath a fleece, add some extra warmth. To be certain you won't feel the chill, add on a down or wind and waterproof jacket to complete this triad. And don't forget your hat. I suggest one with ear flaps, especially when you're bouncing along the waves. And gloves, take waterproof ones so that you can hold a piece of iceberg in your hand without them going numb and turning as blue as the 10,000-year-old ice itself. Bon voyage. That was my monthly gear chat where I do all I can to help you keep safe from the elements. Speaking of which, someone whose self-made job was to keep a great many more people safe is coming up next. Back in the 1930s, a
Hidden Hero:: The Human Wind Gauge Of Wreckhouse
Speaker 8man called Lockie McDougall had an innate knack for being able to read the weather just by looking at the mountains behind his house. Known as the Human Wind Gauge or Wind Whisperer, depending on who you asked, so accurate were his predictions that he was eventually paid by the Newfoundland Railway and later the Canadian National Railway to predict hurricanes and storms in the wreckhouse area of the West Coast. He sadly passed away in 1965, whereby his wife Emily took over the duties for a further three years. Because yes, she could predict the weather too. While in Porto Basque, I caught up with his grandson, who's also called Lockie McDougal, to ask him to tell us about this month's remarkable hidden hero.
Speaker 1He was a farmer and a trapper who lived in a place just north of Porto Basque called Rechouse. And he was hired by the railway for $20 a month to, I guess, keep trains safe. When the winds would come up, he would radio ahead, tell them to stop the trains uh from coming through, uh, and then radio again when it was safe. Um he did that for a number of years and till he passed away in 65, and then my my grandmother took it over for two years.
Speaker 8And tell me what what was it about the area? What is it about here that makes it so bad for the wind?
Speaker 1Well the the wreckhouse exists in a in a natural wind tunnel on the southwest tip of Newfoundland, and I guess the conditions are just uh perfect for uh high winds. Just there's a natural tunnel there, and that's uh the directors to the the building that my grandfather lived in uh sat right at the end of that tunnel.
Speaker 8And why was the train here? What was the train doing? What was this whole route all about?
Speaker 1The the trains were used to ship product, serve uh merchandise from uh Marine Atlantic, which was the only way for goods and services to get to the island at one point. So they would come by boat to Port Ass, be loaded on trains, and then be shipped across to the rest of Newfoundland.
Speaker 8So it was a bit of a lifeline for people here.
Speaker 1A lifeline, yes.
Speaker 8How how did he first discover that he had this ability to be able to predict the wind?
Speaker 1I guess it just came from the experiences of living there. Um, you know, uh being in that place for so long, you pick up on signs of when uh bad weather or winds were gonna pick up and uh marine Atlantic, or I guess we call it Marine Atlantic, but at that time it was CN. Uh I guess uh deep came to be to be be dependent upon him for his skills to keep that train safe and to know when it was safe to pass through.
Speaker 8And how um how did he know what were some of the signs? Can you tell me?
Speaker 1Uh he uh well I never met him. What my dad always says he used to look at the mountains. If the mountains looked to be in your face, if they looked like they were really close to you, closer than normal, say, then there was bad weather coming. Uh if they would had a dark color to them, there was rain coming. He would also look north to Cape Anguil shoreline, and it was signs within that that he would identify uh bad weather as well. So there was certain way things looked within his surroundings, around his environments, certain land land features that he looked at that uh you know gave him the indication that bad weather was coming.
Speaker 8And what did people used to call him? And what about your grandmother then? She took over from him.
Speaker 1Yeah, well she took over for well, my grandfather passed away in 65, so she took over for two years after that, before she moved to Portobasque off the farm, yeah.
Speaker 8And did she was it all the same for her, all the same signs? She just could pick them up?
Speaker 1I'm guessing living with somebody for all those years, uh, you pick up on some of the signs as well. Uh you know, sitting around a table or having your yarn, you know, uh I guess the same way I'm kind of picking up on some of it from my dad. Uh, she would have picked up some of the signs from her husband as well.
Speaker 8And so your dad kind of took this over. Did anyone take it over? Actually, went to your grandmother?
Speaker 1Well well, no, no one took it over after my grandmother. My dad, my my dad still tries to predict the weather and he's he does pretty good, but he'll always call me because he'll pick up his signs and say, check your check your your phone and tell me what the weather's saying because he's seeing signs and he wants to confirm what he's seeing with the technology that we have today with the you know the apps, the weather, the the weather app and the winds and you know, all those the technol technology stuff that we have today never had back then. But he always says, something coming, check your weather, check your app, see if it's if it lines up what he's seeing, you know.
Speaker 8Yeah, and does it how often is he write?
Speaker 1Uh I'm not sure. He knows he's pretty good. I gotta say, he's pretty good. He has a friend who also lives on the uh on that uh mountain range at the foot, and uh they're always predicting weather together. They're pretty good. I won't say they're as good as the apps anymore, um, but uh they're they're pretty good, yeah.
Speaker 8And tell me a little bit, because you live here, you're from here, what are these winds like for people who don't live here and can't imagine how bad these winds can be? How powerful, what have they done, these winds?
Speaker 1These winds will blow trains off tracks, they'll blow transport uh trucks uh over. They don't blow the truck over, they blow the trailer over, and then the truck goes with the trailer. Uh just this past week we had high winds and uh an enclosed trailer and a camper trailer. Trailer were both blown over in the wreck house area. For people who who are not aware of these areas and I guess ignore the warning signs that are posted on both ends when the winds are high. When you get into it, there's nowhere to turn around. When you're in, you're in. So your best bet is to obey those warning signs prior to going in because if you do get out, you're going to be white-knuckled before you do get out, I can assure you that.
Speaker 8And what sort of speeds are we talking?
Speaker 1We're talking in excess of 200. Kilometers an hour, yeah.
Speaker 8Wow. Okay.
Speaker 1Not a nice feeling. Well, yeah, I've come through in small vehicles. You can, you know, you can get through in more wind with a s with a smaller vehicle, but even then rocks are coming off the side of the road and hitting the windshield in the side of the vehicle. So it's it's not it's not a nice feeling. And wintertime is worse because that adds the weight-out conditions. So yeah, it's not a nice feeling when the winds are high coming through there for sure.
Speaker 8And then you put in me a song before about your uh grandfather, and it said that there was a time they got rid of him, but only for a couple of days. Could you tell me about that?
Speaker 1Yeah, the song, the song, uh, the song by Sherry Ryan's called Stop the Train, and she talks about uh a manager uh saying that my grandfather did the the railway shouldn't be dependent upon one person's uh expertise, and so they replaced him with uh some weather devices, and uh shortly after that a train welfare track, so they hired him back. So I guess if my my dad is as good as the his grand my grandfather will replace him with the apps.
Speaker 8Did he ever take a day off?
Speaker 1Um well I guess when the winds weren't blowing, he had a day off for sure. Yeah, because the winds are not always blowing. Um, you know, we get high winds in the winter and in the springfall. Summer's normally pretty good. Yeah. Um but the winds can get high in the winter in the summertime as well.
Speaker 8And tell me, how do you think, how important was your grandfather to the people of this area?
Speaker 1Well, if if they if if they weren't using him, then would a lot more trains would have been blown over for sure. Uh and all those services, I mean that that that line, that service line to the rest of the Newfoundland would have been on hold until those trains were cleaned up.
Speaker 8Do you think he saved lives?
Speaker 1Uh I would say, yeah, probably. Uh have being in a in these trains that we just came out of and sitting, I wouldn't want to be sitting in one of those seats when the train blew off the track. Uh especially in that area as you're only a hundred yards and there's uh the water, just the salt water, so yeah, no, I wouldn't want to be in a train if it had to blow over, for sure.
Speaker 8That was this episode's hidden hero, the person who has done something incredible for travel, but who very few of us even know their name. This month's human wind gauge was certainly well deserving of the title. Having undoubtedly saved countless lives in Newfoundland, Lockie McDougall, we salute you. And just like that, it's nearly
Minne White is our Wonder Woman of the Month
Speaker 8the end of the episode. So nearly time for me to reveal my utterly inspiring Wonder Woman of the Month. I hope you've enjoyed what you've heard. Please do subscribe so you never miss an episode, and please do leave a review, it means so very much. You can follow me on Instagram at Phoebe R Smith or go to my website phoebensmith.com where you can sign up for my occasional newsletter and of course send me a message. Now, this episode we head to the Codroy Valley, near the southwest tip of the west coast of Newfoundland, where a small, unassuming, 63-year-old woman is playing traditional accordion music to an admiring and bustling crowd. In 1979, on CBC's TV's The Root Cellar, a somewhat surreal musical variety show introduces a woman as the first lady of the accordion. Even in rather shaky footage, she seems a little bemused and a tad shy. But as soon as she takes to the stage an accordion looking large against her tiny frame, the audience begins to cheer loudly. This little lady, grey hair, spectacles, and a duck egg blue dress is who they have come to see. The band begins, and the magic starts as her hands dance effortlessly over the bass buttons and keyboard. The audience cheer again. She owns the stage. This is Minnie White, a 63-year-old who, at that appearance, was at a high point of her musical career, which is not that bad, considering her career only started when she was 55 years old. Mary Agnes Hoskins was born in St. Albans, Newfoundland in 1916. It's a small town on the Bay de Soie, on an arm of Hermitage Bay in the south of the province. Her home was always full of music. Her father, Samuel, played accordion, fiddle, and mouth organ. Music was just a way of life, a skill picked up at home rather than through formal lessons. By the age of eight, Minnie was already recognised for her talent on an instrument that was almost as big as her. At 16, the entire family moved to the Codroy Valley in western Newfoundland, and she would accompany local fiddlers on the piano at community dances. In 1937, Minnie married a local farmer called Richard White, and together they had six children. I came to town, fell in love, and you forget all the rest, she told a typically jovial CBC interview. Once I got married and had all my children, well, that was music enough. There are lovely photos of the six of them singing together, with Minnie supporting on the house's pump organ. There wasn't an accordion, even in her home. And then, at the age of 55, a friend discovered it was her first musical love and gave her one. She hadn't held an accordion on her lap for 39 years, but she hadn't forgotten a thing. In the 1970s, traditional Newfoundland music was experiencing a revival, and Minnie became part of it. The time was coming for me to sit in the rocking chair and knit all the time, or get out and do what I want to do. And what I want to do was get into the music. And that's what I did, she told reporters. She started a 13-year regular Sunday afternoon stint at the Starlight Lounge in Tompkins, and people would flock to hear her jaunty blend of Irish, French, English, Scottish, and Acadian musical traditions. As her popularity grew, she started composing and arranging her own music, appearing on stage in a formal gown and sparkly jewellery. She hired backing musicians and performed on accordion and mandolin. In 1973, she cut her first record, Newfoundland's First Lady of the Accordion, at the age of 57, and then expanded her popularity even further. She appeared on TV shows and toured Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Her 1994 album, The Hills of Home, contained 22 tunes she had not previously recorded, including several of her own compositions. In 1993, she received the Order of Canada. In 1994, she was inducted in the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council Hall of Honour. And in 1998, during the summertime, her local community of Upper Ferry declared a special Minnie White Day in her honour. She was a prodigy on the accordion, and she clearly represented a part of Newfoundland life that is still one of the things you associate closely with the province: music, joy, and good times. Minnie played almost until she died, aged 85 in 2002. Yet even though most outside her home country have not heard of her, her legacy is immeasurable in Newfoundland. She carries the traditional music of the province from kitchens and community halls onto television and stages and is frequently cited by musicians in Newfoundland today. Her journey through music brought joy to millions and still does, while preserving and expanding the traditions of this region. And that's why Minnie White is this month's Wonder Woman of the Month. That was our incredible Wonder Woman of the Month, the traveller whose name is lost in the history books purely because of her gender. Do go and check out her music, and when you go to Newfoundland, be sure to head to the Codro Valley and, in particular, the My Dear Minnie Museum of Heritage and Culture, which is located in the former family home of the late Minnie and Richard White. On the next episode of the Wonder Woman Podcast, I head to Zambia with my five-year-old Wonderboy in tow to experience our first safari together. Will it be more raw than snore? You'll have to tune in to find out. See you next time, Wonder Woman Out. The Wonder Woman Podcast is written and produced by me, Phoebe Smith. The editor and writer of additional material is Daniel Nielsen. The logo was designed by John Summerton. A huge thanks to this episode's podcast partner, Newfoundland Labrador Tourism. Check out more from this incredible province at www.newfoundland Labrador.com. A final shout out to all the people I met on my journey and were willing to talk to me. It's because of you that this episode was able to happen at all.