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Labrador road trips

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Labrador is the home of the Innu and Inuit, and has been visited by Basque whalers,
European fishermen, and possibly even the Vikings. A land rich with wildlife and an
enduring people, you cannot visit this inspiring region without being forever changed.

Expedition 51°: South the oldest known burial mound in North
Start: L’Anse-au-Clair America, dating back 7,500 years.
Length: About 807 km. Add a 1 hour and Archaeologists have discovered
45 minutes ferry crossing from St. Barbe to campsites of the Maritime Archaic people
Blanc Sablon. Add a 1 hour ferry crossing along the coast, as well as those of
from Mary’s Harbour to Battle Harbour. Pre-Inuit and later Indigenous groups.
Point Amour Provincial Historic Site has
the tallest lighthouse in Atlantic Canada.
It rises 109 feet to aid navigation through
the sometimes-treacherous Strait of Belle
Isle. An interpreter will guide you up to
From St. Barbe, take the ferry across the top for a magnificent view – keep
the Strait of Belle Isle to Blanc Sablon on your eyes peeled for icebergs, seabirds,
the Labrador-Québec border, a great way or breaching whales – while the lower-
to see whales and seabirds. floor displays are both imaginative and
It’s a short drive from Blanc Sablon to informative. Back on solid ground, hike the
L’Anse-au-Clair, the beginning of Route coastal trail or picnic on the sandy beach.
510 on the Québec-Labrador Highway, Further along this route is Pinware
also known as Expedition 51°. Provincial Park, known for its beautiful
This area has thousands of years of stretch of sandy beach. This park is also
Indigenous history. French settlers arrived home to the mighty Pinware River –
in L’Anse-au-Clair in the early 1700s to fish another popular spot for anglers. Pinware
off the coast – today, it remains a also has the oldest known Indigenous site
picturesque fishing village. The Gateway in the province.
to Labrador Centre has displays on the Red Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage
history of the area, and what to see and Site and tells the intriguing story of the
do. Nearby, the Jersey Trail leads to an 16th-century Basque whalers who built
interpretation area on Channel Islands the first industrial complex in the New
fishermen who fished here in the 19th World, to render whale blubber into oil to
century. This is also the start of the light the lamps of Europe. The Basques
Labrador Pioneer Footpath. Prior to roads, left in the early 1600s and were forgotten
these paths linked communities from until researcher Selma Barkham found
L’Anse-au-Clair to Pinware. their records in Spanish archives.
Anglers should be prepared to meet The interpretation centre contains the
their match on the Forteau River during preserved remnants of a chalupa, the
the months of July and August. If you’re a small boat used by whalers to chase down
non-resident, you’ll need to hire a guide. their quarry. During the excavation of the
North on the highway is L’Anse-Amour site, underwater archaeologists from
National Historic Site, where you will find Parks Canada found a wreck, believed to

394 | For more info call 1-800-563-6353