Is it possible that Norse could have set a route Ireland-Newfoundland?

It is proven that Norse settled in Newfoundland (L'Ainse), but they depended on the 'hopping' route Iceland-Greenland-Helluland (Baffin)- Markland (Labrador)-Newfoundland, so when settlement in Greenland declined, the route broke and the minor settlements in North America were abandoned.

But could have been a chance that they could have set a more direct route from Ireland (let's say Waterford) to Newfoundland? Or was this too challenging for the era? In the positive case, would this allow a more permanent contact between Norse in Europe with American settlements and avoid their abandonment?
 
It's certainly possible to go the other way, from Newfoundland to Ireland - and in fact the sagas claim this was done, albeit by accident.

From Erik the Red's Saga: "Then they left, and sailed northwards along Furdustrandir and Kjalarnes, and attempted there to sail against a wind from the west. A gale came upon them, however, and drove them onwards against Ireland, and there were they severely treated, enthralled, and beaten. Then Thorhall lost his life."

My amateur-level understanding is that the currents of the North Atlantic Gyre would make going west-to-east (what Thorhall supposedly did) a lot easier than east-to-west (which is what you're proposing). To make a journey of that length against the prevailing winds and currents seems pretty unlikely, particularly in a ship as simply-rigged as a knarr/longship.

The Norse discovering that you could return quickly to Europe by sailing due east of Newfoundland sounds plausible to me, as long as it didn't take too long - they seem to have known that Newfoundland and Ireland were at a similar latitude - and that could make round-trips shorter, assuming they didn't end up like Thorhall. I don't think it's a shortcut to Vinland, however.
 
From Erik the Red's Saga: "Then they left, and sailed northwards along Furdustrandir and Kjalarnes, and attempted there to sail against a wind from the west. A gale came upon them, however, and drove them onwards against Ireland, and there were they severely treated, enthralled, and beaten. Then Thorhall lost his life."

My amateur-level understanding is that the currents of the North Atlantic Gyre would make going west-to-east (what Thorhall supposedly did) a lot easier than east-to-west (which is what you're proposing). To make a journey of that length against the prevailing winds and currents seems pretty unlikely, particularly in a ship as simply-rigged as a knarr/longship.

I'm not sure that this 'Ireland' would be actually Ireland. Norse (and later others like English) sometimes referred to an unknown (is)land around Newfoundland as 'Great Ireland' or 'Whiteman's Land'.

As Furdustrandir is now supposed to be the coastline between the mouth of the Saint Lawrence and the area in front of northern Newfoundland (L'Ainse), it is unlikely that sailing right eastwards they would have leave the Gulf of Saint Lawrence without landing first in another place like Nova Scotia or Prince Edward, lands they could have identify with Great Ireland.

Moreover they say "there were they severely treated, enthralled, and beaten". This is more likely to be as a consequence of a Native American attack rather than a similar attack in western Ireland.
 
Tim Severin's Brendan Voyage showed that the Westerly journey was possible but the landfall would be very uncertain. Going the other way a landfall upon anywhere from the Shetlands to France a local could tell you where you had ended up but a landfall from Georgia to Labrador does not inform you where you have made landfall.

On the other hand it would build up a knowledge of the coast further south and that might be more tempting for settlement. Especially if the locals had something worth trading for and a taste for Viking goods.
 
As Furdustrandir is now supposed to be the coastline between the mouth of the Saint Lawrence and the area in front of northern Newfoundland (L'Ainse), it is unlikely that sailing right eastwards they would have leave the Gulf of Saint Lawrence without landing first in another place like Nova Scotia or Prince Edward, lands they could have identify with Great Ireland.

And if Furdustrandir was, say, the Iron Strand in Labrador, then it works just fine. Is there actually anything resembling "scholarly consensus" as to where any of the saga landmarks are?

Edit: Also, it seems like sailing northwards and bearing to the west doesn't make much sense as a way to return home if you're in the Saint Lawrence bay. If Thorhall was somewhere on the coast of Quebec as you suggest, he'd want to go east, and eventually north-east as he approached Newfoundland.

Moreover they say "there were they severely treated, enthralled, and beaten". This is more likely to be as a consequence of a Native American attack rather than a similar attack in western Ireland.

I'm not sure the saga's assertion that he was ill-used on arrival is enough ground to claim that the people he met there must have been "Skraelings" and not Irish. (Especially since, at all other points in the Vinland sagas, the natives don't "enthrall" the Norse - they kill them.) But more importantly, is there any other source we have that suggests the Norse or the saga-writers believed or suspected "Great Ireland" to lie between actual-Ireland and the saga sites?
 
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There was the mythical land of 'Hy-Brasil', nothing to do with Brazil, which supposedly existed to the west of Ireland. Could have been reprocessed folklore about sailors sighting Newfoundland; we do know western European fishermen were going there before Columbus undertook his voyages.
 
I tend to assume that when Erik the Red's saga says that Thorhall landed in Ireland, it actually means Ireland, because the same saga already references "Hvítramannaland" - usually treated as another name for Great Ireland - as a place "on the other side over against their [that is, the Skraelings'] land." Why would the author(s) refer to Hvítramannaland in the sagas and then say that Thorhall landed in Ireland if what they really meant was that Thorhall landed in Hvítramannaland?

Edit: Also, the Norse text dealing with the demise of Thorhall ends with "as the kaupmenn [traders] have said." This suggests that wherever Thorhall landed was a place visited by Norse traders, which is certainly true of Ireland but is presumably not true of Hvítramannaland/Great Ireland/Hy-Brasil.
 
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