After 5 days, 1600 miles, 8 hours on two different ferries, two hotels, two campgrounds, and a COVID-era Canadian Border Crossing (according to the CBC, looks like mandatory testing is coming back, folks!) Team Viking finally hit the water on the afternoon of Tuesday, 13 July. A big part of our project is researching for our book how the landscapes and seascapes of Markland and Vinland would have appeared from the vantage of the Vikings from the decks of their boats. Thus, we are especially interesting in noting and charting the conditions along the coasts, amenable beaches for landings, protected coves and harbors, and river estuaries that offer easy access to the interior. The area around Pinware River, Labrador, at a narrow point on the Strait of Belle Isle with distant views of Newfoundland, offers all of the above. Furthermore, it is of special interest to us to note how wind, tide, and current combine to facilitate or to hinder access, or in fact to render seemingly inviting areas extremely hazardous. Yesterday’s first plunge into the Pinware gave us a lot to think about on every count. Although the entrance to the river is protected by a long, thin point that acts as something of a seawall, the powerful receding tide (in combination with the river’s not-negligible current) is like a great underwater vacuum cleaner pulling one either to Newfoundland or to the Halls of Ran the Sea Goddess, depending upon the Will of the Norns. Couple this with a western cross-wind at an oblique angle to our route of navigation, and you have a good introduction to paddling in Labrador under quite good conditions in a relatively gentle environment. Challenging as it may have been for the likes of Fee, it was about as straightforward as any of the paddling is likely to be on this trip. In addition to gaining a bit of experience in local conditions, however, we also gained insight into our project. As we sought the sweet-spot between the rocks near the shore and the wind further off-shore, we moved briskly towards the fog-shrouded interior landscape upstream. At that moment, it was not had to imagine ourselves in the company of a shallow-keeled, narrow-beamed longship, which would have navigated much the same way, and whose rowers would have been drawn to the same beckoning wilderness just around the river’s bend.
Follow along on our ongoing adventures in ten-minute intervals via this link:
In the Wake of the Vikings 
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