Erratics along the shoreline in Conception Bay, Newfound- landErratics are rocks that are foreign to the area where they rest. They are foreign because they have been transported by glaciers and dropped when the glaciers melted some 12,000 years ago. The Avalon Peninsula was heavily glaciated during the last ice age in the Pleistocene epoch. In the area of the Northeast Avalon the glaciers moved from the land radially out to the sea.
I don't know how far this erratic was moved but it wouldn't have been more than a few 10s of kilometers.
Its not only the rocks that are erratic. The weather is also somewhat erratic because this was my first spring paddle but felt more like winter. Two days ago, on the first full day of spring, we had somewhere about 25 cms of snow. Not that I was surprised as we can get snow here into May. It was a beautiful day but cool. On the way back to the put-in at Long Pond the wind came up a little out of the north-northeast. Not bad but enough to make my eyes water.
The calendar says its spring and I'll be damned, its going to be spring and I'm going to paddle, erratic or not.
Tony :-)
New icebreaker design by Necky Kayaks. Leaving Long Pond where fresh water running into the harbour has frozen over.
Still too cold for these guys to hit the water. They're still sitting home with their slippers on in front of the fireplace.
Seagulls, I'll let Newfoundland poet E.J. Pratt do the description:"For one carved instant as they flew
The language had no simile -
Silver, crystal, ivory
Were tarnished. Etched upon the horizon blue"
Interesting paddling amoung erratics with Kelly's Island in the background.
Erratic strewn shoreline in Conception Bay, Newfoundland. This is typical shoreline in the places where houses haven't been built out to the shoreline.
Looks like a nice day on the H2o Tony. Erratic is right because that sure describes our weather.
ReplyDeleteStan
Yes it was Stan. There isn't much to see along this stretch of coast though. You can see when I took the picture of Kelly's Island it was oily calm. Would have been a great day for an extended crossing. We'll get out soon.
ReplyDeleteTony :-)
Tony, these are great photos. Erratics are very interesting I recently discovered that granite boulders from Ailsa Craig, a volcanic plug in the Firth of Clyde on the west coast of Scotland have been found in Snowdonia north Wales which is 275km away.
ReplyDeleteThanks Douglas, but I have to say I took lots that didn't turn out so good! The erratics around here didn't travel that far but it makes for interesting detective work to find where they originated. I have an erratic on a walk I regularly do that I call "Harald Bluetooth". All good fun.
ReplyDeleteTony :-)