travel dates: June 2023
We drove off the ferry in Newfoundland into some of the strongest wind we’ve ever encountered. There’s a visitor information center just a few minutes from the ferry in Port Aux Basques, and we stopped there to let the dogs out and to pick up some brochures and laughed about how incredibly cold and windy it was. But it was also a little worrisome. Was our whole trip going to be this way? Would we be blown off the road before we made it to our first stop–Grand Codroy RV Park about 30 minutes up the road?
The answer to both questions was, thankfully, no.
It turns out that the stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway leaving Port Aux Basques is notorious for its winds. One spot along the road is called “Wreckhouse” because the high winds there used to occasionally blow trains off the track (back when Newfoundland had trains). Nowadays it just blows trucks and RVs off the road. There’s a sign next to the road to warn people about particularly dangerous conditions. We passed the sign, but didn’t know what it was and didn’t manage to catch what it said before we were already past it. Some people want to move the ferry north to Corner Brook to avoid this issue of trucks having to drive through the winds (or wait them out).
But we knew none of this when we got off the ferry. Somehow I’d missed it in all of my very extensive research about our Newfoundland trip. We took it slow and made it to the RV park just fine, so, given that, it’s probably just as well I didn’t know to fret about the wind.
Grand Codroy RV Park is the first or last stop for a lot of RV visitors to Newfoundland, and for us it was both. We stayed there for both our first night and our last, and it was great to have somewhere like that so that we didn’t have to drive all day right after getting off the ferry nor all day to try to get to the departing ferry on time.
It also happens to be a terrific campground, with tidy, spacious sites, friendly owners, and great views. Honestly, I was a little nervous going into this trip about Newfoundland campgrounds in general. It was often hard to find many reviews, and the websites were sometimes not especially informative (or full of photos). Grand Codroy set my mind at ease right away; and, in fact, the vast majority of the campgrounds we stayed at were terrific, if sometimes more on the rustic and undeveloped side compared to Grand Codroy.
Booking and Arrival:
For most parts of Newfoundland, we found that campgrounds don’t book up nearly as early or as regularly as US campgrounds (Gros Morne is the primary exception). In fact, for most places it simply wasn’t possible to book until late winter or early spring, as the tourism industry is pretty well shut down over the winter. So we had no trouble getting a site here nor booking another site last minute at the end of our trip when we changed our plans to stay here on our way off the island.
I wasn’t sure how things would work with check-in, since we were getting off the ferry around 7 in the morning and anticipating an arrival well before traditional check-in time. But they are very used to working with the ferry schedule and assured us on the phone beforehand that they would have a site ready for us whenever we got there. This was lovely, as we were able to pull in right from the ferry, set up, and take naps before heading out to explore.
I’ve already mentioned this, and I’m sure I’ll say it again: Newfoundland campgrounds are cheap, particularly if you’re coming from the US and have the exchange rate helping you out. We paid $43 Canadian here, which, according to Dave’s spreadsheet, translated to around $32 US at the time. That’s for a huge full hook-up site. I’ll also mention here that booking and cancellation policies are generally a little more informal than at US campgrounds (or at Canadian campgrounds elsewhere, I’m learning as I book them for our summer 2024 trip). Grand Codroy politely requests you let them know if you’re not going to make it, but there’s no cancellation fee and they don’t charge until you arrive.
Campsites:
We stayed at two different sites here, and both were great….huge, easy to back into, nicely maintained with level, gravel pads.
This second site was in a circular area that backed up to other sites, so it was a little less private, but still great:
I don’t think you can go wrong with sites here, really…the water/electric sites are in a loop where the sites are a little smaller and closer together, but still totally fine.
So the more private sites are generally going to be those ones in the outer part of the loop; inside the circle they’re still very big but all kind of in an open area so less privacy.
Amenities:
Nice, clean bathhouses, a laundry room that we didn’t use, a cute store stocked with locally made crafts.
There’s no wifi at the sites and no reliable cell signal. There’s wifi available by the office.
We thought we might sleep all day after the ferry, but Dave had actually slept well on the ferry and was up for exploring. I had slept…less well, but I didn’t want to hold everyone back. So after a short rest, we checked out the nature trail in the campground, complete with awesome views and signs with inspirational sayings:
Don’t cross the streams!
I guess we were still a little tired:
Local Area
The campground owners publish their own newsletter with lots of information about the Codroy Valley, including some suggestions for doing a driving tour of the area. So we spent the afternoon following their maps and exploring. The area is beautiful, but it’s not a hotspot for tourism like somewhere like Gros Morne, so you won’t find a lot of restaurants or shopping. If you’re up for a longer drive, the Rose Blanche Lighthouse is an easy day trip. We were not up for a longer drive on our Grand Codroy day, so we skipped this and stuck to places closer by. Like the Southwest Coast walking trails network. Only we didn’t make it far there, because we were sleepy and conserving our strength. But we encountered this all over the place in Newfoundland: there are well-maintained trails everywhere –pretty much every town has its own trails, and they’re always at least pretty and very often spectacular.
We drove to the Cape Anguille Lighthouse, at the westernmost point in Newfoundland. You can’t go in the lighthouse, but if you brave the winds there, you can stand at the westernmost point and make Ws for west with your fingers.
We saw some friendly sheep and felt like we were in Ireland again:
There’s not much in the way of facilities at Codroy Valley Provincial Park, but there is a rare-for-Newfoundland long sandy beach:
Cold and windy that day, as I’ve mentioned, so we didn’t do any sunbathing, but we did enjoy checking out the view.
There were other sites, hikes, etc. in the area that sounded intriguing, but that was enough for us after a long travel day/night. But both the campground and the Codroy Valley area served as an excellent introduction to Newfoundland. I think it was somewhere on our drive that Dave first turned to me and said, “Newfoundland was a great idea, Gretchen.” Indeed.
2023 Newfoundland Trip Posts
Visiting Newfoundland: Overview and General Thoughts
Grand Codroy RV Park and Codroy Valley
Water’s Edge RV Park in Gros Morne
Gros Morne National Park: South
Port Au Choix and the Great Northern Peninsula
Gros Morne National Park: North
Sanger Memorial RV Park/Grand Falls-Windsor
Fogo Island/Brimstone Head RV Park
Twillingate and Dildo Run Provincial Park
Pippy Park, St. John’s Campground Review
Four Days on the Bonavista Peninsula
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