After a fantastic weekend at Harold & Joy we are ready to explore the west coast. And by fantastic, I mean: incredibly delicious culinary highlights, such as fresh lobster; great evenings with laughter and music; Stunningly beautiful locations such as the cabin of Harold’s mother (Everybody seems to have a cabin in Newfoundland!) and a refreshing dip in the beautiful “pond”. In German I would translate a “Pond” as a really, really small lake. In Newfoundland, huge lakes are still referred to as “pond”. Lakes that are so clear that you only need to look upon, to feel refreshed. In any case, it was a bit cold. But even Harold took the plunge into the cool wet after his mother encouraged us all to do so. Do you think we smelled a little bit? To this question his mother answered only with a mischievous grin ?.

In any case, we had a wonderful weekend. Oh, i almost forgot it, we were on the radio too. Is nothing special ?. We were so excited! Listen to how we did (skip to 15.40):

Our story starting at 15.40!

All in all, an excellent start on the west coast of Newfoundland. Several sources refer to it as the “best coast”. We only have not been hiking here yet. So the plan: drive to the southernmost tip of the west coast: Port aux Basques. From there to the “Grand Codroy Way”, then over the “Starlight Trail” to Tompkins and from there over the old railway line back to Corner Brooks, as far as our feet carry us. okey-dokey! After so many great hours, the farewell of Harold & Joy is super difficult. After a delicious pancake, bacon breakfast the two take us to a good spot on the highway from which we want to hitch to Port aux Basques. Joy expresses her care with a time-consuming sign (including flowers and smileys) that shows our wished destination. We are confident, thanks to Heiko’s golden thumb, we have never been on the roadside for more than 15 minutes. The weather is not ideal, but still dry.

But as soon as the two had set off, the thunder grumbles and a thunderstorm unloads. super. It starts to pour. Terrific. Doesn’t matter, surely someone stops right away. We thought. Car after car pulls past. The rain becomes a real storm and soaks us in seconds. We are just wondering what we are actually doing here, as a car is slowing down. Yes! We see ourselves already in the dry. As Heiko runs to the car, the man opens his trunk. Wow, he’s already making room for our backpacks. Bingo!  Shortly before Heiko reaches the car, the man pulls a huge garbage bag out of the trunk, puts it in the garbage and then hurriedly closes the trunk and drives away before Heiko reaches him. Oh man.

Ok, we keep waiting. The rain lasts, but it does not matter anymore, we are wet anyway. While we are “singing in the rain”, another car stops after 20 minutes. Juhu! But as we approach, we realize that the car is fully packed and has no seats at all. The man from Montreal just wanted to stop to explain to us why he can’t take us. Really sweet, but doesn’t help us that much. After 1h, we are completely frozen, another car stops. But, wait a minute. We know this car: these are Harold & Joy! Joy had worried and “forced” Harold to return. “When thunder roars, stay indoors!” said the Canadian weather forecaster. And “their” Germans in a strong thunderstorm outside! Sweeties ?! The sign is broken anyway, so we load our stuff back in and spend the afternoon on their couch. So cozy!

Second try: We take the bus. Not so adventurous, but we arrive at the finish line at 9 p.m.

After a restful night, strengthened with a good breakfast we start. First through the city to the Railway Museum. This is where the old railway line starts, which is now being used as a hiking trail long after the railway has been closed. This path will take us to the entrance of the Grand Codroy Trail, an unmarked Wilderness Trail. No way, no marking, only map/compass and GPS. We are excited. But first of all on the clear path of the old railway line. Right at the start, a mink watches us. What – from these little animals you can make coats? You sure need a lot of them…. We enjoy the curious animal. The weather is great! Only the view of the surrounding mountains tarnishes the grandiose atmosphere. Everything is shrouded in dense fog. That is our aim. Mmh, maybe it will clear up.  Hopefully! As the sun burns on our necks, something seems to brew up there.

On the road again! We are happy, even if we enjoyed the time with our new friends very much. But since we see them again before we leave Newfoundland for good at the beginning of September, the farewell pain is limited. With the easy way and the great prospects, we are making good progress.

From the start of the Grand Codroy Way it gets more strenuous. The paths ascend rather steeply. Puh, you can feel the weight of the backpack again. After a few kilometers we leave the path and now we start backcountry. Navigate yourself. Suddenly, the fog is so dense that we have no view. It’s probably an amazing view up here when you see something. Navigating with map and compass is of course also difficult, so we are happy about the GPS. Once we have found a water source, we let it be good for the day. Maybe we’ll be luckier with the weather tomorrow. After the tent is standing, it even clears up a little. Nice!

The next morning, we start rested our wilderness experience. At the beginning it is a stony ground covered with ground cover. We are making very good progress here. Easy! The weather lasts, i.e. no rain, but the fog is still dense. I see the “puschel flowers” from Greenland again. Ohoh, they’re actually only growing in the swamp. As soon as I thought this, we were already in the midst of the wetness. “Puschelblumen” plus mud plus no way around is  = ? Right! Wet socks and shoes and a not so happy Alex. Well, it doesn’t help. A carelessly executed small stream crossing, eh voila – in the shoe it swoops at every step. Wonderful, it doesn’t matter now anyhow!

The fog clears a little and immediately we are amazed by the great surroundings. We look for a point of reference and stick to it. In the meantime, the vegetation has changed. Between the swamp pieces and the stones covered with ground cover there are always small patches of tuckamore. Close to each other, partly chest-high (Heiko’s chest). There’s almost no way to get through. From a distance it always looks feasible, but when you are in it… phew. Meter by meter, we keep fighting. Careful, because you can stand partly on the branches. Sometimes the branches collapse which makes me disappear completely in the tuckamore. But we get through, a little green cannot stop us. It can scratch us badly though… ?A piece of mudmeadow is almost a cause for joy. Only almost…

Again and again the fog travels up and you look into the valley, beautiful! In addition, the empty area. It’s so beautiful! Slowly, slowly, we are making progress. After four hours we are tired, wet and ready for a break. There we see a small hut. In the middle of nowhere, as made for us! It starts to rain and we hurry to get into the dry. Nope, its locked! Well at least we can sit comfortably on the wooden planks. We ignore the weather and enjoy our lunch. Wrap with tuna – a real classic! After that we are better off and we keep running. And, that’s where the sun comes out. Oh, that’s nice. The fog completely disappears and it’s just beautiful. For two hours the sun accompanies us and we are happy, no matter what the way throws at us: stones, streams, scrub, mud.

Unfortunately, dense fog rises again and the sun disappears behind dense clouds. But it’s not raining. That’s worth a lot! We finally see a caribou! Heiko takes a few photos. Later we find that he caught the animal while peeing. Hilarious!! Not everyone can do that! We enjoy the animal for a while and then continue to hike. The wind is getting stronger and stronger and driving ever more dense fog towards us. Since it is already 5 p.m., we decide to look for a campground to hopefully pitch the tent before it starts raining. This time the criteria of the place is not: as flat as possible, but as wind-protected as possible. There are no trees, so we walk around any tuckamore patches to get a little wind protection. With our old tent we wouldn’t have had to spend so long on the search as it is storm proofed, but we don’t trust so much in the current one… After a long search we find a few little bushes behind which we squeeze ourselves with our tent. Perfect!

After eating, the sun suddenly comes out and the wind falls silent. Crazy. We are satisfied. The tent dries, the feet are dry, the wet socks and shoes are a problem of tomorrow and we enjoy a well-deserved piece (well, let’s be honest: a bar) of chocolate to an excellent whiskey!

The night was horror. Protected from the wind (did I mention that the wind had stopped?), but crooked and steep. Under my back was a pointed stone, too big to dig it out. It was placed just under my upper back. super! We were almost happy when it was finally time to get up. In the morning sun greets the fog is gone. What a great view! After breakfast and especially coffee we dare to go down the descent. First slowly without a trail. Then you come across the “Starlight Trail”, which leads down into the valley. great! The going is so much faster with a trail! The trail ends at trans-Canada Highway, 5km away from Doyle. Doyle is a “village”, but has a supermarket, or rather a small convenience store.  That is our goal. No problem, we will hitch! The failure of the last time we blame on the rain. Who wants to take wet hikers? I can fully understand that. But now, right at the end of the trail, in bright sunshine, we are confident of being picked up. You don’t see that we smell a little bit! Countless cars roar past, all empty, no one stops. No way! A man walks past us. At first, we thought he was also trying to hitch. Crap, competition, we think. As he gets closer, he looks more like a jogger, however he is not jogging. We exchange a few words, he asks where we are heading, then he moves on. funny. After 10 minutes he comes back. Mmmh?!? Must be his early sport. Irrelevant. We give up and decide to hike the 5km. After 20 minutes, a pick-up suddenly stops next to us. Whether we want to go to Doyle. Oh, that’s nice! We should just jump up. Heiko throws his backpack onto the loading area and wants to go straight to the rear car door as the driver points to the loading area. Really?!? As soon as we sit (somewhat) we’re off. Crazy. Are we already stinking like that? A short time later we are in Doyle. We thank them for stopping. They tell us that the “jogger” is their father-in-law and asks them to give us a ride. Ah, that’s how it works in Newfoundland.

We treat ourselves to a 2nd breakfast and plan the next days. The next bus stop is about 80km on the old railway line. That’s what we’re doing! By the way, we passed the 2000 km mark with the Codroy Way! Cool, we are approaching the target of 2570km (1600 miles).

After the Wilderness experience – by the way, the clouds are still hanging in the mountain, down here it is fantastically beautiful! – we enjoy the straight path on the old railway line. Here you can do some miles! We track the first hours and make a constant average of 5.5 km/h. Not too bad! In comparison, we managed 1.5km/h up in the mountain… But of course, the way here is much less varied. Time to let your thoughts roam. We don’t meet any other hikers, only ATVs. A large group overtakes us. Where do they want to go? The puzzle is solved when we reach the river that we have chosen as the stage destination for today. There we see them again at a cozy picnic. When the group sees us, they call over to see if we would like burgers and hot dogs and beer. A now brainer! Mmh, delicious! We are cheerfully pampered and chat with the eight Newfoundlands who used the good weather for a trip with friends. Great end to a successful day. Before they go back to Port aux Basques, they leave us 2 beers each (they explain the saying: You can’t fly with one wing) and chips. Great group! So equipped we enjoy our evening by the river to the fullest! Hoping for a moose sighting in the morning, we leave the upper tent and sleep only in the mosquito net. Bad idea. We haven’t seen moose, but now everything is wet due to the cooling. Sleeping bags, tent,… Bäh! We are comforted that the sun wakes us up in the morning. No cloud is on the sky. We tinker for a long time to be able to pack tent and sleeping bags as dry as possible, then we run off. Goal: As many kilometers as possible. With the easy way you run into an art trance, hang on to your thoughts and put one step in front of the other. This is a completely different hike than we used to have. And, even if it sounds weird, it’s totally beautiful. In the afternoon, after many kilometers it gets a little tough. But we bite through until we reach our longest hike so far: 34km. We camp again directly on the river. Yesterday’s gifts leave even a beer for everyone that we carried around with us. Since I don’t want to carry it another kilometer, we have to drink it. Life is hard! cheers! Satisfied with us and the world we enjoy the evening!

Also the next day we don’t let ourselves be lumped and log 32 kilometers on the straight path.  Now, after 5 days without a shower, we consider a break to be inevitable… That’s why we only do half a day on day 6 with 20 kilometers to St. Georges and spend the rest of the afternoon in the cozy bed and breakfast with the beautiful name: Palace Inn. The two incredibly nice hosts Ivan and Loretta drive us to Stephensville the next day so we can buy a new gas cartridge. Since we wouldn’t have had coffee otherwise, I consider this a life-saving measure (for Heiko…?). As it is only 87 more kilometers to Corner Brook and the weather seems nice, we decide to walk all the way. So, we resupply all we need. Satisfied with this day’s work, we spend the rest of the day sleeping and reading. Perfect!

After a fantastic breakfast, many good wishes from our hosts and even a donation we start the next morning. We are fit, the kilometers fly by! Maybe we’ll break the 40-kilometer mark today! After the lunch break, Heiko suddenly slows down, after another break in the afternoon nothing goes at all. A very nice Newfoundlander, who passes by in the ATV provides us with juice and water and invites us to her cabin. Mmh, until we decided to give up the 40 kilometers for today, she is gone again. Heiko gets chills. Shoot! Ok, air mattress and sleeping bag out and pause in the shade. Especially at this time, no ATV comes by. We decide to wait 1h, if things don’t get better, we’ll see. But after 1h Heiko is back to the point where we can continue to hike. Only to the nearest water source and then look for a place to sleep. After a few kilometers we found a place, not super nice, but leveled. That must be enough. Heiko rests, hopefully it will be better tomorrow. Just as we have set up the tent, it starts to rain. After so long great weather, this seems fair to us. It is better anyway, because in the tent you can no longer see the not so appealing tent spot anyway. In the tent it is super cozy, Heiko is already well enough that we can drink a little whiskey – purely medical measure of course and so we spend a fun evening. We sleep fantastically and start the day refreshed. Unfortunately, it is raining. Oh man. Today the 40 kilometers are to fall! The new tent has a big advantage: We can pack the inner tent individually while the fly is still standing. So we bring the inner tent relatively dry into the backpack. super! It’s still raining, but once you run, it’s not that disruptive. The advantage is also that the track is not so dusty. wonderful! The first 15 kilometers the weather shows us what it has to offer in terms of rain. It pours out of streams, bah! We pass a picnic area by a lake. Mmh, actually it’s still too early for lunch, but to have a bench and table is also nice. So, lunch break! Despite the bench, there is no real coziness with wind and rain. So, we keep the break short and keep hiking. In the afternoon the rain stops and the sun even spikes out again. beautiful! It has to be said that the kilometers seem to be harder once you reach the 30 mark. The feet start to hurt and the backpacks feel heavier. The break intervals are getting shorter. Why are we actually doing this? Oh yes, in honor of my upcoming 40s, the 40 mark is to fall. We are still young; we can do this! At some point we reach the place that we had chosen on the map as a good campground. Unfortunately, the place in reality looks very tent-unfriendly. No leveled space. Crap. So at least we fill our water supplies and continue to hike to take the next possible place. The 40’s mark has fallen and so all motivation leaves us and the exhaustion becomes noticeable. Mmh, right here on the way is a small bulge. Really not a nice place. No matter, it is ours! Conclusion of the day: 42 kilometers! Yes!!! The long days have brought us very close to Corner Brooks. Only 18kilometers left, yeah! This is a slap in the air, which we tackle the next morning in bright sunshine. Google Maps shows us that the path leads directly past the company “Barry”. Cool, Harold works there, we can say hello! When Barry is in sight, I get the phone out to “warn” Harold. Before I can send a message, Heiko calls out, there he is. funny. He tells us that he was standing in a colleague’s office and talking, looking out the window and seeing us trot down the street. After a joyful exclamation “The Germans are back” he left his colleague standing to greet us. It’s like seeing an old friend again after a long time. While he still has to work, he gives us access to his house to refresh and relax.

Before we start the last hike in Newfoundland, we drive with Peter and Harold to Peter and Sandys Cabin. There is a huge party at Labor Day weekend. We have offered to help with the preparations. The cabin is wonderfully located, it is a fantastic view of “white bay” and an enchanted place. Instead of hard work, it’s more of an early party weekend. We go cod fishing, Heiko fishes the biggest (the blower)! – which, of course, is work. Totally, hard work! Of course, we still have to eat the fish – also work. We also melt iceberg ice. In drinks. Also, a lot of work ?. Iceberg ice, is something very special. An absolute luxury, but one that you cannot, by nature, hold. Due to the tightness of the ice, it melts much slower and it “crackles’” in the glass. Really something very special! In the evening we enjoy an incredible starry sky by the campfire. We even jump into the cold sea! For our rescue of honor, we are actually doing some work: splitting and layering wood, small repair work on the jetty, cleaning up. But most of the time we enjoy the company and this spot!

Before we tick off the last hiking highlight, namely the “Long Range Traverse”, the second highest mountain of Newfoundland is still on the program: Gros Morne. Of course, this is a mandatory program if you are in the Gros Morne National Park. According to the description, it takes 6-8h. phew. Honestly, I’m not an absolute fan of hiking. Does that sound weird? Mmh, maybe that’s the way it is, let me explain: I love pitching a tent somewhere, simply because it’s a dream place. I love the challenge of mastering something. I love being able to eat without any worries that you are putting on weight. I love meeting new people in new places. I love being out in nature. I get all this when I walk. Hiking is what I have to accept ? So day hikes are always more of an evil for me. But of course, we have to climb this mountain! Despite predicted rain, the sun shines and we start after an excellent breakfast on the 800-meter-high mountain. It goes easily and quickly the first 4km to the actual mountain and then steeply up on boulders. But without luggage it is very easy and we overtake all hikers. After 1.45 we reach the windy summit with a magnificent view. Time for a lunchbreak and then back. We are surprised for a moment because we see a path. Where do you think it’s going? Irrelevant. I already have a bit of respect for the steep descent on loose rubble, especially since I am not sure if my knee will speak again. But nothing helps. When we have already worked ourselves down a good bit – very slowly of course –, a friendly hiker asks us if the circular trail with the flatter descent is blocked. ?!?!?! Ups, that’s what I call sloppy planning. Of course, the be-all and end-all when hiking: always prepare well, study the map… We must have forgotten ?. No matter, so it goes the steep way. Super slow and difficult for me – Heiko has mountain goat qualities – but we are making progress. While I’m still fighting my way down (I said earlier, I love challenges?!?), Heiko is already holding a chat with oncoming hikers. Two young Australians travelling the world for 2 years. Not bad either. The last piece is easy again, so that we reach the parking lot after 4.5h. Just as we get in the car, it starts to drip. Perfect!

The last hiking highlight in Newfoundland begins: The “long range traverse”. It’s a wilderness route, which means there’s no marking, no trail. The trip takes 3-4 days and you need a permit. Access is limited, usually you have to book well in advance. Of course, we didn’t do it. We think we will be lucky again; it always works out somehow. When we call the national park, to our disappointment, we get the answer: Everything is fully booked until mid-September. No chance, even if you are flexible. Oh man, that’s a shame! Of course, we expressed our disappointment at our radio appearance. And indeed, it helped! First, an employee from the park reaches out and informs us that we can register with the orientation course and then be informed if someone does not use his reserved spot. Great, that sounds good. We are flexible! But it’s getting better! Steve from the “Gros Morne  Outdoor Company” writes to us that he is on a tour, but it is only occupied by one paying guest and we are allowed to join – for free. Wow, what an offer! We are very happy! The only catch: we have to stay with the group and so we cannot do the traverses as planned in 2.5 days, but rather in 4. Ok, we can manage that! More time to admire the area. Heiko, Harold and I are betting on the nationality of the paying guest. My tip Canada – which is a pretty safe thing, because the majority of the tourists we’ve met so far come from mainland Canada. The stakes: the winner will be served at the upcoming party at Sandy and Peter! Yes! On the eve of the hike we meet our fellow hiker, Joan, from Canada! ????

We meet our guide Steve and Joan in the morning at the parking lot of the “Western Brooks”. After a short 2.5km path we reach the boat pier. The boat, which is mainly booked by guests for a round trip, takes us via the Western Brook Pond to the start of the hike. During the one-hour crossing, Heiko sees a bear cub. Cool! The first bear sighting! Mama Bear is hiding unfortunately. Then we’re there, and we’re off. First through a beautiful valley. One can well imagine encountering moose here. But we see nothing but traces and moose poo. After the valley we walk through the forest. Slowly, the ascent begins to 450 meters of altitude. Slowly we are working our way forward.  Joan is fit, but there is still a clear difference between our usual speed and the current one. I didn’t notice how I built up a little bit of fitness and endurance. Well, in direct comparison it becomes obvious.  We enjoy the movement and the ascent. At a beautiful waterfall we take the first break and start with a tradition we learned from Harold and Peter: “Trailshots”. At every break, a trailshot… Oh, we immediately realize that we made a fundamental mistake: the bottle is too small. With many breaks, that won’t be long enough. Luckily, neither Steve (it probably wouldn’t look good for a guide to do that…) nor Joan wants to share this tradition! More for us. After the break, the steeper part of the ascent begins. Over boulders, partly with a little climbing. We already enjoy the gigantic view of the “Western Brook” during the ascent. Wow. It’s fantastically beautiful! After an extensive photo session at the summit, we walk over hills, past lakes to the perfect campground. Great if you have a guide and don’t have to worry about things like camping, water finding, the best way. All we have to do is enjoy the way to the fullest and follow Steve. Perfect!

At night it gets really chilly. wow. For us, Newfoundland is “sunny island” – the sunny, warm island, because we had such fantastic weather. Newfoundlanders who hear this laugh at it, because that seems to be an exception. In any case, it was much cooler at night now. But we have good sleeping bags, none of this is a problem. The place is wonderfully flat and therefore also a good night sleep. Even in the morning it is really chilly, the clouds hang low, but it is dry. Very nice. While Joan and Steve are still packing, we play a little Frisbee. Yes, we carry a Frisbee around with us. Might as well use it then ? Motivated we start the hike, always looking out for moose. We follow a kind of trampling path but then we turn off. It’s good that we have Steve, we probably would have followed the path, which sooner or later would have led to tuckamore and scrub crossings. Really good to have Steve! Heiko suddenly exclaims: A moose! Very close to the path, he looked at Heiko directly before he trotted away. We can only admire him from afar. Still cool!

It remains cloudy until noon. The landscape we walk through is incredibly beautiful. Lakes, wide groves, rocks. Fantastic views. At noon we reach Hardys Pond, a beautifully located lake where we enjoy our lunch break. And the last “Trailshot” – it was a short tradition.

After noon, in fantastic weather, we head over hills to a mountain plateau. Infinitely wide view, unfortunately no moose, but clear lakes. We make our kilometers comfortable. Due to the weather forecast for the next day – which looks rather windy and rainy – Steve wants to reach a place with platforms. No problem for us, but it will be a long day. The campsite is beautifully located for this purpose. Steve cooks up big again. While we have already eaten our mashed potatoes from the bag, he still throws in great ingredients in his rice pot. That’s why his backpack is so oversized, all the good food… You would have to be a paying guest, then you will be absolutely spoiled from a food point of view. But, we’re lucky! Joan and Steve are not up to the huge portion, so we can get on with it. Or, Steve can’t bear the big, starving eyes and has made an extra-large portion. Anyway, of course we don’t say no! Mmh, delicious!!! But now everything is perfect. We share our last Whiskey – this time a 12-year-old Balvenie. He totally deserved it!

The night stays dry, but you can already see that it will be a wet day. There is a strong, cold wind blowing – no Frisbee today. Steve has offered us that we can leave the group to “hike out”. It may be that he and Joan camp for another night, depending on the day. Putting up the dry packed tent again in the already onset rain does not seem tempting to us. In addition, it itches in our legs to go back to our speed. Ok, decision made! We say goodbye to Steve and Joan. Really unique that Steve took us with us and gave us the Chance to be on this unique hike. Best free guide ever! For those who don’t want to make their way through meter-high forests, the Gros Morne Company with Steve is the perfect choice. Not to mention the delicious food and that Steve is just a cool guy!

Gros Morne Outdoor Company

And then we are back on ourselves, with a clearly visible path for today. A small climb takes us to a plateau. The wind is so strong that you can lean against it. The rain feels like small needles. It’s great!! Somehow it doesn’t matter today, on the contrary, to feel the raw force of the wind is fun!! From time to time the wind blows the fog away, so that one can catch a glimpse of “Gros Morne”! Great. Then the descent begins. At about 11.30 a.m. we reach Ferry Gulch, the original destination of the day. A good place for a break, which we spend with two couples from Canada, who are just descending from Gros Morne. The rest of the way is easy and so we finish the last hike in Newfoundland at half past two. We briefly consider already going to Peter and Sandy’s multi-day Labour day party, but the shower and opportunity to wash is too tempting. So off to the hotel and then arrive clean and fragrant the next day. The other guests will surly thank us!

I won’t reveal much about this fantastic weekend with many great people, after all the motto should apply: What happens at Sopsie Housie, stays at Sopsie Housie. Just so much: Thanks to the bet, I was served drinks all weekend and thus more than lived up to my new nickname “Princess”. Peter and Sandy had even organized a crown for me, which was of course worn consistently. The little girl to whom the crown belonged to was a little jealous but too shy to take it back. Every day there were fishing trips to the sea, so that we could enjoy fresh cod and mackerel in the evening. During the day Frisbee was played, music was made (Heiko and I rather on the listening side), a lot of laughter and some iceberg ice melted in the glass. The evenings were celebrated with bonfires and fireworks. In short, it was a gigantic weekend. Although my 40is is still a few days away, there was even a cake with candles and a great birthday singing for me. Highlight, thank you Jacqueline!!On this way a thousand thanks to the hosts Sandy and Peter!

Now we have a few more days on “sunny island” Newfoundland before we will start the last part of our journey: The Canary Islands. There is a hiking trail that connects all seven islands. I’m curious to see what awaits us there! Newfoundland was not only a scenic highlight with the best weather, but also an absolutely incredible time thanks to the encounter and the developed friendship with Sandy, Peter, Joy and Harold. I cannot express in words what these are for exceptionally great, warm, generous people that I already miss dearly.

As you, dear reader, see, we have a fantastic year and are enjoying ourselves. Due to our experience in Haiti we maybe appreciate even more, how lucky we are to be doing what we are doing, to have this wonderful live without existential need.

On the occasion of my birthday I asked on Facebook to donate if a) you like the blog or b) you want to do something really lasting good or / and c) you want to give me a smile for my birthday. Many have already responded to this call, a thousand thanks!

Over 2000 US$ were given on this occasion!!! That is amazing and helps us to achieve our goal of three wells in Haiti! I remember well the faces of the people of Haiti, the rays of happiness at the thought that their children no longer get sick because they have clean drinking water. The second well has been solemnly opened. The community is called Bohoc/Haff. We have been visiting the community during our visit in Haiti. Read here about it:

Haiti – or – What became of your donations?

We are truly happy that this wonderful people now have what they dreamed for.

So, two down, one to go. We already have about 20% of the third well. Any further help is appreciated, so that we can help another community on its way to more responsibility and clean drinking water. We have so much, let’s help others who have less!