Where once they stood

One lone house remains standing

One of the lines in the "Ode to Newfoundland" goes "Where once they stood, we stand". That is so apt for Newfoundland today. Many, many communities in the past 50 years have been abandoned and the people resettled into larger centers. So its gone with the community of Tickles.

On Sunday 6 of us paddled in Pinchgut Tickle and stopped at the former community. There's one house left standing surrounded still by a grassy field.

In 1921 Tickles had 40 citizens in 7 households. They were named: Linehan, Nolan, Dobbin, and Conway.

We got out to have a look

In 1935 Tickles boasted 8 families with 48 souls. Of the 48, 23 were still living there from the 1921 census. Some had passed on or moved away; one new family of Kelly moved in.

Sons of Linahan and Dobbin had started their own families. Though Tickles didn't grow by much in the intervening 14 years, there were 24 new faces.

I wonder who owned the last house standing? The Linehans, Dobbins and Nolans had sizeable families requiring numerous rooms to house them all.

The truck has seen better days

In 1945 the census showed the population was the same as 10 years earlier - 48 persons. The family Kelly had moved on and the families who were living here in 1935 were stable and growing. Of the 48 from 1935, 34 were still living in Tickles in 1945. Five of the 6 families had 15 new children.

Fourteen individuals were still living in Tickles 24 years after the 1921 census.

Then Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. The campaign was led by Joey Smallwood. Though elected Premier, he ruled as dictator. He decreed that fishermen should burn their boats and people in far-flung, remote communities pull up roots and move to larger urban centers where modern services could be provided.

In the 1960's the last of the people in Tickles moved away.

In 50 years time there will be many more such communities for kayakers to visit and wonder who the people were, what they thought and how they lived.

Sean was here!

Looking around the place I found this bit of PVC pipe that had been fashioned into a square for some reason. I brought it over to the guys and suggested Sean had been here before us. Anyone who knows Sean will know he has an affinity for making things out of PVC pipe. We had a grand chuckle and even though Sean couldn't join us today he wasn't forgotten.

In a pinch (gut)

Pinchgut environs

The forecast called for 10 - 15 knot winds out of the north so we drove the 80 kms south west from St John's to St. Mary's Bay. There was light dusting of snow when I got up this morning and the temperature wasn't going to get much above zero. We were in a bit of bind to find a paddle destination we could enjoy under the circumstances. In a pinch, Clyde came up with 20 km paddle leaving from Harricott, out the outside of Tickle Island, back down Pinchgut Tickle and return to Harricott.

Rituals

One of the rituals of sea kayaking is loading the boats and the anticipation of the days paddle adventure.

The sun came out

After we put in the sun came out for a while and we were on top of the world.

In the lowlands

The area of Pinchgut Tickle in St Mary's Bay is made up of low laying land that at times is no more than a few feet above the high tide mark. There are lots of emergency take outs so its a great area to bring beginner paddlers for their first taste of salt water paddling. Or anyone else for that matter as it was today.

The air was alive today with the chirping of birds where the trees grow so close down to the water. But ya had to stop and listen.

Speedy Gonzales

I think Gerard had tooooooooo much coffee this morning. He was like the Energizer Bunny and kept sprinting ahead. Some days are like that when the paddle has extra bite and the boat just flies along.

Here he's paddling along on the outside of Tickle Island. I don't know if all the dead trees are a result of a natural life cycle where they've reached their maximum age or the salt has wreaked havoc on them because there was a lot of dead wood.

Shallow water

You'd never say it from this picture but here the water was barely 1 foot deep.

Underwater life

Pinchgut Tickle is as shallow as the land on both sides of it are low. That means that the scenery below the water is as accessible as the scenery above it. While I did take time to look beneath my boat, I need to take more pictures like this one.

Tickles - some individuals

Fellow Board member Marie. Marie said "So this is what all the Board meetings are for". That's right, its all about paddling. Peter led us out from Colinet to Tickles for an overnight kayak camping trip. I volunteered to act as sweep so most of the pictures I was able to take were from the back of the pack.

Nadine and super chef Cyril as we're leaving Colinet. I'm not sure if Nadine is smiling because she's on the water or she's thinking ahead to the gormet meal waiting in Tickles. Salmon with rice, gingered turnip, peas and carrots. Now that's what I call roughing it!

Jackie laat zien hoe het gedaan moeten worden. In Dutch for our common ancestry. In English, Jackie shows how its supposed to be done - putting the boat on edge that is.

Hazen paddling his Valley Aquanaut

Jackie and Herd in the frothy waters below the falls on Rocky River.

Kayak camping in Tickles

On Saturday a group of Kayak Newfoundland and Labrador members met at Colinet in St. Mary's Bay to do a kayak camping trip at the abandoned community of Tickles. It was billed on the club's website as an introduction to kayak camping and a number of paddlers took advantage. The weather in St. John's was not great but we knew the weather in St. Mary's Bay is often better when there's a northeasterly wind. Tripleader Peter made a good call and when we got to Colinet the weather was beautiful while we had left the city in fog and drizzle.

13 singles and a double were loaded with all the camping necessities and shortly after 3:00 we were ready to put-in.

After a short 3.5 km paddle from Colinet down Colinet Harbour we ducked inside into Pinchgut Tickle.

There was a light breeze blowing from the northeast so we crossed over over the Tickle to get shelter from the mainland shore.

Tents set up at Tickles Point. Tickles is an abandoned community at the end of Pinchgut Tickle. One old house remains standing but its quickly returning to nature. There's still a grassy meadow to camp on and when we arrived Tickles lived again. There was a flurry of activity as people set-up tents and prepared supper.

After setting up the tents and eating Dean, Hazen, myself and others collected firewood for a campfire and to heat the rocks for our outdoor sauna. We needed a good fire to heat the rocks to place in the sauna. There's something about a fire that keeps you spelbound as the happy campers here were. The sauna is under the blue tarp behind the firepit.

Around ten we had the rocks glowing red-hot and we moved them into the sauna along with a bucket of seawater to pour on the rocks for steam. Peter. Dean, Barb. Hazen, Marie and I got in and the heat was unbelieveable. After about 30 minutes we ran into the cold waters of Pinchgut Tickle to cool off. Splashing around in the water, the sparks of bioluminescence danced on the water.

After breaking camp on Sunday morning we paddled towards Pinchgut Point with the plan to make a short 2 km crossing of Colinet Harbour to John's Pond if the conditions were good. When we got to the Point conditions were good with light tailing wind and everyone was comfortable with making the crossing.

After leaving John's Pond we paddled down the shore of Colinet Harbour to stop for lunch at Half Island and then towards the Rocky River estuary where we were going to check out the falls. I don't know what makes a "half" island but I believe its part of the mainland at low tide and its an island at low tide. Here trip leader Peter paddles along with Nadine. What luck we had with the weather, another beautiful sunny day

After paddling down the coast from John's Pond we paddled up Rocky River to have a look at the falls. I had been here before so I knew what to expect. Others hadn't and I could sense the anticipation as we paddled around the bend.

The must see falls under Rocky River bridge. This was the last stop of our trip before paddling back to Colinet to unload our boats and the 80 km drive home. All good things have to come to an end. When we got back to Colinet it was hard to believe that we had only put-in the day before because we had done so much in 1 day. It was a great experience with a great bunch of KNL members, thanks everyone!