The Footloose Chronicles: A detour

John Cabot

One our way to St. John’s we made a detour through one of the more scenic areas of Newfoundland - the Bonavista Peninsula. John Cabot, an early explorer, set foot on land here in 1497, declaring it “O Buona Vista!” Cabot told two people, and they told two people, and so on, and by the early 16th Century, the town of Bonavista, one of the oldest communities in North America, was established.

Across the Bonavista Peninsula, tourists find many scenic locations – and I am pretty sure we stopped at them all. Cape Bonavista Lighthouse, completed in 1843, with its unique vertical red and white painted stripes. Dungeon Provincial Park, where the constant wave action has eroded the land to form an inland depression in the earth. The small town of Elliston, that claims to be the Root Cellar Capital of the World, and home to one of the largest and most photographed colonies of puffins in the province. And Tickle Cove, with its majestic carved rock arch.

Tickle Cove?

We’ve come across the word tickle a lot in Newfoundland – from seeing place names on the map we refer to every night as we plan our next day’s route, to road signs we pass along the way. There’s Tickle Harbour, Leading Tickles, Burnt Island Tickle, and my personal favourite - Pinchgut Tickle. Apparently, there are over 300 place names featuring Tickle in Newfoundland and Labrador.

So, what is a Tickle? The Dictionary of Newfoundland English defines a tickle as, “A narrow salt-water strait, as in an entrance to a harbour or between islands or other land masses, often difficult or treacherous to navigate because of narrowness, tides, etc; a ‘settlement’ adjoining such a passage.” With over 17,000 kilometres of coastline in NL, it’s no wonder there are a lot of tickles.

Well, I’m just tickled that we’ve been able to visit a few of them on this trip, along with all the other beautiful places we've seen.