George Cove Mountain

This is a short distance to cover, but involves an uphill climb.  The whole point of the walk is the magnificent view from the summit.  Bring your camera and binoculars.

If you are unfamiliar with Holyrood, start from the beach area and take Route 60 west to the junction with the Salmonier Line, Route 90, on your left.  Drive a few hundred metres to the large yellow sign for George Cove Mountain and drive the short unpaved road to the trail.

The trail was developed several years back, with steps and some handrails added.  The improvements have since deteriorated, so the going is rough and you must have sturdy footwear.  The hike to the top is less than a kilometre.  You can do it in 15 minutes, but feel free to stop at the benches along the way.  If you find yourself out of breath, fear not; it's not far and you'll be delighted when you get there. 

Near the top the main path twists to the left.  If you continue straight, in a short distance you come to a lookout.  Here you get a view of the valley where the Holyrood Access Road and Maher's River wind there way down to the town.

The main route takes you to the top. A large lighted skeletal cross is one of town's principal icons. But you are here for the views -- the town, the harbour, the layered hills and headlands tapering off in the distance.  

On the clearest of days, at top left of the view straight out the harbour, you may glimpse Baccalieu Island, 80 km. distant.

Centre rear is Healey's Cove and the entrance to North Arm.

Looking toward the main beach and the Holyrood Marina.

See approximate trail location at lower left.

Distance:  ~1 km. 

O'Rourke's Road to Seal Cove

September 10, 2013

An almost-perfect hiking day. Dry and pleasantly warm but very windy. We begin where the T'Railway intersects with O'Rourke's Road in Holyrood.  A cyclist swoops past as we get out of the car, a man whose hair is tinged with grey.  He is the only other trail user we see for the day.

The first km or so has us bounded by woods on both sides.  The trail is level and there is a rare long, straight section.  Then the woods thin on our left side (northwest) and we have a fine view as the land drops drops away sharply into Conception Bay.

The trail here is sparsely covered with light gravel and the walking is easy.  There's an occasional large pothole, or small pond, but mostly it's in good shape.

After a couple more km we stop to gawk at the remains of a long-ago train wreck down the bank. We've seen the relics many times from the ocean. Some of the rusty steel was removed a few years ago.

This is the pier that serves Nalcor's thermal generating station.  Fuel is offloaded here and moved to the plant via pipeline.

 The three stacks of the power plant appear inland from the trail.

On our left, a view across to Harbour Main.

 Ahead, the trail curves down into Seal Cove.

Offshore, the birds take a break from riding the winds.

As we reach the beach, the walking becomes very difficult.  The beach -- actually a barachois between Indian Pond and the ocean -- was washed out in some of the fierce storms of recent years.  Remediation efforts used large stones which lie loosely on top and roll underfoot.  We were wearing sneakers but for this section we needed hiking boots for ankle support.

This is a view looking south, back toward the power plant, showing Indian Pond, the first of a series of saltwater 'ponds' along this shore.

Jim is standing on the newly constructed bridge over the Indian Pond inlet.

Ahead: Seal Cove, Conception Bay South.  We have reached the town limits of Holyrood.  

Distance:  6 km one way

Joy's Point to O'Rourke's Road

Friday, August 23, 2013

The walk begins at the picnic table on Northside Road and parallels the road with the ocean close on the left side.  We pass the Catholic church, a defunct fish plant, remnants of a very old cemetery, houses with attractive gardens and a couple of small coves where people come to catch capelin or have bonfires.  As we approach the main beach the trail is covered by a boardwalk which the town built about 10 years ago.  I wonder are there others between here and St. John's.

A mural covers a concrete retaining wall.

Here is a glance back to the Marine Institute's Ocean Base, a new building constructed just a few years ago in a style meant to reflect traditional rural architecture.  The mouth of the harbour is seen in the background here as you look north.

The long curve of Holyrood's main beach is the first location along the Conception Bay Highway (coming from St. John's) where it is possible to pull in and enjoy the ocean.

The Town of Holyrood has built benches, erected story-boards and maintains flowerbeds for the enjoyment of visitors and residents.  This a favourite spot for dog-walkers and picnickers.  Three restaurants bracket the beach.

A short distance past the end of the beach we cross Maher's River, with the marina on the seaside and a pretty spot of undeveloped land upstream.

The trail intersects with Sir Alfred Walsh Drive and we walk behind what passes for Holyrood's business district, including a bank, some fast food restaurants and a fine grocery store.  It dives into a wooded section with fencing and Private Property signs on the left (ocean) side. The fenced section belongs to the fuel storage facility, the old Golden Eagle Refinery property.  Not scenic, but we all need to have our share of the facilities necessary to supply today's world I guess.

This bush had the most beautiful red berries but I have no idea what it is.  Not chokecherries or chuckley pears.

Home (Healey's Cove) is still visible across the harbour.  

Towards the end of today's leg we arrive at the Marina Shores housing subdivision. The developers received permission to realign the T'Railway and today I came to understand the concept.  Instead of the trail paralleling a street, which would have resulted in multiple intersections, it appears to be routed to run behind the building lots, creating better separation from houses.  Spindly maple trees have been planted on a berm along the trail.  This could work.

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Distance:  5.5 km. one-way

Skibbereen to Joy's Point, Northside Road

July 29, 2013   

We joined the T'Railway at Skibbereen, Woodford's Station, part of the Trans Canada Trail.  From the Conception Bay Highway, take Woodford's Station Road, which turns inland opposite the North Arm Irving.  Drive about 0.6 km to the intersection with the T'Railway.  Walking to the left (i.e. south), the trail slopes gently downhill through spruce woods as far as Country Path.

The trail elevation gave us a fine view of the harbour in North Arm, Holyrood, including the dock where our boat is moored.

After crossing Country Path, the trail takes you over North Arm River, which is flat and slow here but has a pretty set of falls which we had seen as we descended the hill.

From the river we crossed the Conception Bay Highway.  The trail now followed the southeast side of North Arm.  A mountain (by local standards) was on our right and the the land dropped sharply off to our left, down to the shore.  Again we looked down at the harbour and the boats.

We concluded at Joy's Point on Northside Road, with our house in sight across the water.

Looking north to the opening of Holyrood harbour.

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One-way distance: 4 km.

Welcome to Holyrood -- Start Walking!!

When you live in one of the prettiest towns in Newfoundland and Labrador it's not hard to persuade yourself to get outside and get moving.  Holyrood has lots of options for walking -- old woods trails, about 15 km. of the provincial T'Railway, country laneways and a few purpose-built walking trails. 

This blog will collect some of my favourite walking places, with descriptions, photos and maps to encourage others to come along and enjoy the outdoors. 

View from George Cove Mountain

The first three trail posts were walked as part of a multi-stage trek from Holyrood to St. John's in 2013: trektotown.blogspot.com 

Others are walks I have done many times, usually with my husband and walking buddy, Jim Miller.  I welcome suggestions for other Holyrood walks to include.  E-mail me at bonnievagrant@gmail.com