George St Bested Me

So we're done. Done! DONE!

Whaaaaat!? This is crazy!

We cycled about 130 km from Argentia to St John's, our final destination, in about 6 hours. Newfoundland is beyond gorgeous. It was a tough and hilly day, mostly against the wind, but as my friend Ethan put it, "Newfoundland is the perfect end credits" to our journey. As we cycled in to St John's we were met with green rolling hills that were hosts to boulders and glimmering lakes scattered throughout. It really was breathtaking.

We got to Mayo's place around 6:30 pm, quickly showered and went out for our final meal together. We found a place that served excellent Newfie cod, and possibly the best soup I'd ever had: a succulent spicy crab chowder. Lordy was it good.

Finally, we celebrated our accomplishment with Mayo and another surfer he was hosting, Bobbie, on George St. (a street that's famously crammed with bars). We attended a "Screech In" which made us honorary Newfies. It came complete with a certificate that I shall proudly mount on my bedroom wall.

The ceremony involved a charismatic Newfie fisherman official with a really thick accent. He spoke really fast and led us in some traditional Newfie chants and songs before having us all "kiss the cod", eat some balogna, repeat an oath and take a shot of screech rum.

We then hopped from bar to bar with our new Newfie friends and drank like true east coasters. All the bars on George St seem to try and out-compete one another and so there were fantastic deals to be had. Many places had three drinks for $5. The beer here is great. Mayo's friend Matt bought us both celebratory beers from Quidi Vidi brewery. The beer is called 1892 and commemorates the year of the great fire in St John's. It's a great beer - probably ranks number four or so on the list of best Canadian beers.

We then waddled home and I wrote a really bizarre "post-George St." letter to Mayo. I read it this morning to much confusion. I can only imagine how confused Mayo must have been.

All in all, it was a great final night. I'm now off to the airport and should arrive home by 9:15 pm tonight. Thank you so much for reading, and for your amazing support. It means a lot to both John and myself.

Stay tuned for a final post by John either later today or tomorrow. Lucky bastard is going whale watching. We'll also be posting a best of/worst of list, and a page of stats in the coming weeks.

Thanks again for all your support.

Matti + George St. = This

Newfies LOVE Long Dick's

The end.