Deer Lake is where western Newfoundland begins for most visitors, because it has the airport, a handful of motels, and the junction where the Viking Trail leaves the Trans-Canada Highway and heads north. About 4,600 people live here, there is fuel in town, and it is the last place with real choice before the long empty miles on Route 430. Treat it as the point to fill the tank, eat something warm, and check the sky.
The lake that gives the town its name is the broad lower end of the Humber River system, and the Humber itself is one of the great salmon rivers of the island. The valley is gentle and forested, with spruce and fir on the hills and patches of bog, and the road along it is quick and friendly, a good place to settle into the bike before the coast takes over. The surface on the main routes is serviceable rather than glossy, with frost heave and patched sections that come with a place where winter tries hard.
Newfoundland has its own rules for riders, and the first is moose. There are a great many on the island, they are enormous, and they step onto the road at dawn and dusk with no sense of drama. Plan your day so that you are not riding the long forested stretches in the half-light, and keep your speed within what you can stop in. The second rule is to carry a layer: even in high summer a wind off the Gulf of St. Lawrence can drop the temperature sharply, and fog can sit on the coast for days.
The ride from here is a story about the far end of the Great Northern Peninsula, where Norse seafarers built a small settlement about a thousand years ago at L'Anse aux Meadows, the only confirmed Viking site in North America and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978. Between here and there lie Gros Morne, fishing coves painted in strong colours, and a lot of sky. Ask at a local counter about the day's weather and you will get an honest answer, usually delivered with a joke attached.