Trans Canada Trial Run

Cronks Go Camping

Earl's Cove RV Campground

Greetings from a sunny Earl’s Cove at the northern end of BC’s Sunshine Coast. Almost the most northerly part unless you get the ferry across to Powell River.  

We’re on a "shake-down" trip with the new 25' RV (caravan to the Brits), checking out how it all works, which buttons to press to turn on lights, heating (still haven’t worked out the hot air system yet) etc etc.  So far we’re still talking to one another crammed into a 200 sq ft shoe box, but it’s early days :-)  

Earl’s Cove has the ferry terminal for Saltery Bay/Powell River and, close to Egmont, a small hamlet at the top of the trail that takes you past Brown Lake to the Skookumchuck rapids. 

Egmont is worth a visit as the views across the top of the Sechelt Inlet are lovely.  We first came to Back Eddy’s pub and restaurant during our initial 6 weeks living at this end of the Coast in 2021.  It’s the kind of place where you want to leap into a boat and explore.  Egmont is home to the West Coast Wilderness Lodge which friends from the UK visited last year for a wedding. 

We’re here for the weekend, back down to Gibsons on Monday.  The trans-Canada trip starts June 2nd and we’ll be travelling for 3-4 months.

I started writing this sitting outside in the sun after an alfresco lunch and apart from the occasional dog bark it is extremely peaceful.

Dishwasher

So far we seem to have worked out most of the nuances of how to operate the RV; water, power supplies, fresh water, grey and black tanks …. the list goes on.  We’ve not sussed the hot air system but the dishwasher is functioning OK.  

The RV works well with all 'mod-cons' heating apart.  It was 6c this morning and the electric heater only takes the edge off. The smoke sensor is overly sensitive and is now clad in clingfilm to save Jack’s, and therefore our sanity.  He’s a sensitive fella!  He seems to have taken to the itinerant lifestyle, maybe has something to do with being outdoors so much.

Canada has an amazing number of RV parks and campsites.  Ranging from fully-serviced 'hook ups', where you get power, water and a ‘black tank’ connections and central laundry facilities - through to completely unserviced - little more than a patch of grass.

Our first stop is fully serviced (to test everything is hooked up and working) and is an OK setting, but Earl’s Cove would not normally be a 'go to' destination for a trip.  Half of the spaces here are occupied by semi-permanent residents and only three seem available for people touring.  It does have free wifi, but once everybody starts waking up the already slow speed of circa 18mbps drops to 1mbps or less. So frustrating!

It is a convenient stop-over for the crossing to Powell River (north-westward upper Coast) and from there a ferry crossing to Comox on Vancouver Island.  

April has been busy, well busy in retirement terms!  We’ve had Sebby over for a weekend while Lizzie, supported by Nick, ran a 50k ultra-marathon down in Washington state, which had 9,000ft of elevation.  She finished in just over 8 hours.

Helping Gramps water the lawn seed

Sebby (who was 3 a week later on April 25th) is now chatting away, asking lots of questions including ‘why’?  He has an amazing sense of humour. 

After calling him a donut when he did something silly a few months back, he is now mischievously repeating it back whenever anybody else does something silly. 

As well as providing Sebby day-care the whole family were over the following weekend for Easter.  The obligatory Easter Egg hunt was enjoyed by all.  A week later we were in North Van for his Birthday party.  He clearly understands the concept of birthdays, cakes and pressies. He has yet to sink his face into a cake, as Nick did at a similar age, and at someone else's birthday Party!

April has been an amazing month for wildlife.  A local racoon interrupted our morning walk along the beach, scarpering at the last minute when he saw Jack.  Jack was oblivious to its presence.

A few days later Orca swam past the beach on a day I didn’t have my camera.

Pileated Woodpeckers and Bald Eagles have put in their appearance and quite low to the ground. Pictures below.

Sunday in Earl's Cove we walked the trail out to Skookumchuck Narrows, but were too early to catch the huge tidal race and 'standing wave', where on a 3m tide 200 billion gallons of water flow through the Narrows.

To our pleasant surprise a seafood trailer has set up shop at the end of the walk, so after a tasty lobster tail in garlic butter in a brioche bun and picking up some cakes from the Skookumchuck bakery a few hundred yards further on, it was back to the RV for a cuppa, cake and a further attempt to sort out the heating.

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Pileated Woodpecker

The Garter Snakes are also out and about.

 

Native shrew spotted on Skookumchuck Provincial Park trail

Skookumchuck

And finally.  BC Ferries is catching a huge amount of flack at the moment about the poor service with old ferries serving the Coast.

Their PR department clearly haven't seen their model at Earl's Cove which is used as a seagull perch.

Clearly not seen by the BC Ferries PR Dept