It’s August 17, my big day. The once-a-week ferry to Francois departs today at 2:30. From Francois there are daily ferries going west, to Gray River, Ramea, and Burgeo. From Burgeo I’m on a road again and cycling towards Port aux Basques and my ferry home. In the morning I go to the supermarket to stock up; I know there will be nothing worth buying in the next three or four days. I even buy a dozen eggs and boil them up at the hotel. After I’ve done that I have nothing else to do so, at 1 pm, I make my way to the dock to await the ferry. I don’t see the ferry but there is some contraption of a boat there, with a large stainless steel box-like affair, with foot-wide hoses coming out of it like tentacles on an alien from space. Half a dozen guys are scurrying about doing who knows what. A supervisor comes out of the fish plant that’s there and I start chatting with him. He tells me it’s the boat used in the salmon farming and right now it’s unloading a load of salmon. He points out the hose at my feet, it’s see-through and, what do you know but there are salmon shooting up it and into the plant. They are being sucked up! I didn’t know you could suck salmon!

We continue chatting away and I tell him I’m awaiting the ferry to Francois. “Oh,” he responds casually, “ferry’s already gone. Left hours ago.”  I’m gobsmacked! His comment hits me like a whack to the back of the head with a 2 x 4. For a moment I hear no sound, see no sight as the gears in my brain slowly begin to turn to process this little bit of information. It cannot be!! But the workers on the boat confirm it is indeed so, they had seen it go. I feel like somebody had just given me a bag of dog shit to hold and I’m left standing there wondering what to do with it.

Head spinning, I plod back to my bike wondering what to do. Shag it, I’ve no option but to get on and start those legs pumping. It’s 200 kilometres to Bishop’s Falls, the next place I can get food so, at 2:30, I set off. I go til the sun hits the horizon and I make about 70 or 80 kilometres. I find a deserted cabin in the woods and sleep on the porch. It’s peaceful and quiet and I quite enjoy my little stay there. I’m not upset about missing the ferry, I had come for a bit of an adventure and, well, this is it.