Vanlife Archives - Page 19 of 39 - Our View From The Road

Twin Shores Campground

We’ve spent the past two days relaxing at Twin Shores Campground on the North shore of PEI. This is a large campground with hundreds of campsites able to accommodate everything for tents to the largest RV rig. Trees or open sites, electrical, water and sewage available in differing combinations suiting whatever one might need or want. The park also has several snack shacks and a café as well as gift shop / camp shop should you have forgotten something. Doggie park and wash for those with pets, games arcade, mining exhibit, bike rentals for those with kids. They’ll even rent you a golf cart if you find walking around the park a little too much.

The owners put a lot into this park, right down to keeping small flowerbeds about the park like the one shown below between a couple of campsites. If back this way we will stay here again. As June is just out of prime season it was quiet and yet we had access to most of the amenities available in the prime summer months. Thumbs up from us!!

Of course, the star of the show at the campground has to be the amazing red sand beach. Below are a few pictures we took while walking one afternoon.

And of course, here’s a selfie to prove that it was actually us at the beach taking these pictures.

In the earlier morning hours you can watch the lobster fishing just off the beach, or on the other inner side of the park you can watch the oyster/mussel farm being tended to from your campsite.

Above you can see Barb enjoying the afternoon sun stretched out on the beach while reading her latest Coleen Hoover novel.

The weather was great while we here, we timed it just right it would seem. Tomorrow we head East across the island to spot a few more lighthouses. Have a great day!

North Cape and Twin Shores

Another quiet night and I’m early to go for a walk. Yep, for the first time in a few days it’s dry enough and warm enough to convince me to get out there. I complete a short 4km loop outside of the park on local roads and am passed by 0 cars during the walk. Quiet country roads are so nice early in the day.

Breakfast, shower, prep for the road. And we’re off. Today we will visit the North cape lighthouse and then make our way back toward the center of the island on the North shore to the campground we will be staying at for the next three nights.

We take the scenic coastal road along the west side of North cape and see some stunning vistas across the Northumberland strait to New Brunswick. The road dips and turns as it follows the red cliffs and hidden coves.

We arrive at the North cape and take a walk around the lighthouse which is over 150years old. As you can see in the following photos, the sun has finally made an appearance.

We drive south along the eastern shore of the cape towards Tignish Shore where we stop to take a look at the decommissioned lighthouse that stands there. We also take the time to enjoy a quick lunch in the van before heading further south where we pass over several inlets where we see oyster farms in the quieter waters.

After passing Summerside we turn North towards the Twin Shores campground. A few miles before arriving we pass the following church which has, for its size, an enormous wind vane balancing on its steeple.

Twin Shores campground is easily the largest campground in which we have yet stayed, and yet our campsite is quiet and yet close to the beach.

After setting up we take a late afternoon walk down to the beach. It is a huge red sand beach with shallow water that would be perfect for younger children to play in. Barb has to take off her sandals and wade into the water, it is cool but not frigid as she expected.

We find a flock of swallows nesting in the cliff tops and they dart above our heads, clearly not happy that we are there.

As you can see below, the beach is not busy, one of the key advantages of visiting ahead of the main summer camping season.

Barb revisited the beach after our hamburger dinner and caught the following sunset. This will do nicely for the next couple of days.

Cedar Dunes Provincial Park

It’s still grey and overcast when we wake, the forecast is for better days ahead, will today be the day we find the sun? Or it finds us?

The morning is the typical routine, awaken slowly and too early to be of much use for anything ahead of the morning coffee. Coffee, banana and a yogurt and we’re feeling the day. Clean up the interior of the van, disconnect the electrical service, remove the leveling blocks and we’re away. Today we head to Prince Edward Island, or PEI we are used to referring to it as.

We head toward the Confederation Bridge, the 12.9km (8miles) long concrete structure that connects mainland Canada to its smallest province. Opened in 1997 the bridge has made it significantly easier to visit (and leave) PEI. The toll is $50.25CAD (in 2023) which is paid upon leaving the island.

You can above that from our van we had a very good view from the bridge, those driving cars will barely see above the concrete wall that forms the edge of the bridge deck.

We stop at the PEI visitors center at the far end of the bridge and pickup a lighthouse map and few souvenirs as well as a few alcoholic beverages from the liquor store.

We head to the West across the island stopping in Summerside for groceries. The potato crop is just being planted and we take note of the fact that trees are 3-4 weeks behind Ontario. The same is true of people’s yards as the garden centers are doing a booming business and people are busy planting their gardens.

Leaving Summerside we drive westward towards West Point where we will camp for the night at Cedar Dunes Provincial Park. We get setup on our site and after a short rest in the van take a walk to the West Point lighthouse.

This is our second time here, the last being in 2000 when we visited with our children and camped in a tent that we carried in our minivan. The park was damaged quite extensively by hurricane Fiona in 2022 with many of the cedar trees being uprooted. There are still some around but the damaged areas are easily spotted and will take many years to recover. As you can see below, our site had a spruce tree on it but it was one of very few. The beach is beautiful and in the summer the water very warm as it faces south. A very nice smaller park to stop at with family for some beach time.

Parlee Provincial Park

We spent Thursday relaxing and reading in the van whilst the rain showers continued. We did get out for a walk from the campground to the bottom of the ski hills (they don’t allow hiking up them for some reason) and I’ve include a few pictures below.

Sugarloaf Provincial Park, Campbellton,NB

Friday we packed up and headed out of Campbellton towards Cap-Luminiere, NB. We had no planned stop for the night but there are a couple of campgrounds right on the shore that we felt should have some space.

We stopped at near Bathurst at a Tim Horton’s for a coffee and sandwich before heading on to Mirimichi where we pulled into town and stopped by the river next to the marina. It was raining again. The town claims to be Canada’s Irish Capital, something that I will need to research as this was news to us. It was while stopped by the river that we changed our plans for the night and decided to continue on to Shediac, NB. It is only a little further than our original destination and we’d get to see the worlds largest lobster!

A short drive later and we’re pulling into Shediac, and there’s the lobster! It is rather large. We stop to take the required photos. It’s stopped raining but is windy and cold.

The town of Shediac is clearly very popular with summertime tourists and the town has some very nice looking stores to browse through. We cross town and pull into Parlee Provincial Park. They have lots of camping sites available and decent, clean restrooms and showers (although it takes a $1 coin for the shower to run for 5min). Shower skipped as we showered at Sugarloaf.

We got setup and walked about 1.5km to a nearby restaurant where we enjoyed bacon-wrapped scallops, clam chowder and a lobster club sandwich each. Yummy! The walk back to our campsite was welcomed to allow dinner to settle before tucking in for the night.

The weather forecast is for sunnier days ahead and we’re about to drive over to Prince Edward Island so fingers crossed that we can spend a little more time outdoors in the upcoming days.

Sugarloaf Provincial Park

Good morning. Power at the campground is still out but we have full coach batteries and so are fine. By 10am we have eaten breakfast and organized the van. It is a till raining but we have reservations in PEI for Saturday and so need to move along a little in order to keep the driving days reasonable.

We’re aiming for a campground in Percé, QC with views of Percé rock. It’s one of the most picturesque places along this coast and in the Summertime can become quite crowded with tourists. We’re hoping the weather eases somewhat as per the forecast.

The drive along the coast is slow and relaxing, albeit wet. We arrive in the town of Gaspé and stop for some lunch. We enjoyed homemade soup and seafood at the Brise Bise restaurant before heading to the Oh les Pains bakery for a few baked treats to take on the road. A quick stop for fuel on the way out of town and back on the road.

Any hopes of the weather breaking are coming coming to an end. The clouds are so low that for most of the drive we can barely see the shoreline or treetops from the van. Corners on road appear out of nowhere as do the hills. We arrive in Percé and it becomes clear watching those outside that it is not a day to sightsee. The campground with a view has none and we decide not to spend money on something we couldn’t see. The weather is not supposed to improve much here over the next 24 hours and as such we decide to push on. We will have to return another year when it’s drier and warmer.

I think there’s a lighthouse somewhere out there.

We aim for Sugarloaf Provincial Park in Campbellton, NB. The forecast looks to be better with only light drizzle, let’s go find out.

The drive along the South shore of the Gaspé peninsula is completely different from the North shore. It is far more populated with many small towns along the way. Agriculture is much more prevalent and the terrain is flatter and not as high. Carleton-sur-mer appeared to be the main touristy center along the coast with a large harbour.

Boutillier Brothers museum, Pasbébiac, QC

A couple of hours along the coast and we’ve turned South to cross into New Brunswick, Canada’s only officially bilingual province. We stop to top off the fuel tank and head just out of Campbellton to Sugarloaf Provincial Park where we plan to stay for the next couple of nights. The campground is only just getting going for the Summer and there is lots of room for us even without a reservation. The site is level and treed, a good place to kick back while we wait for the last of the rainy weather to move out.

Although we grumble about the rain, our thoughts are with friends and family in Ontario suffering with the smoke from the Quebec forest fires. Hoping that everyone is OK and staying safe.