MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
I'm not sure how I feel about this.... 😕
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Likewise. The idea of having a base, somewhere like the Tweed Valley*, each summer appeals. Otherwise.... not so much
*other wives may not be motivated by trail proximity
I was away overseas on a work trip and my (then) wife texted me stating she'd bought a caravan. No warning.
I arrived back to the UK and she was very excited, taking me straight to the dealers to have a look. I hadn't slept for 48 hours by that stage so didn't take anything in....
A week later, after receiving a phone call telling me it was ready to pickup, I took my T5 down to the dealers and was quite shocked at what my ex had bought....
A 28' twin-axle behemoth!! I looked a proper pikey with that being towed by a van. The dealer asked whether I'd towed before.. "yes, small boat trailers etc, but not twin axle"....
Anyway it was nice inside but a total headache. Country lanes were a nightmare and manoeuvring in campsites hell on earth! Plus I now was a 'caravanned' blocking the roads like all the others and horse box drivers. I loathed myself for that. Couldn't get rid of it quick enough.
I still curse myself for once being a shed-dragger. Moral of the story is don't let your wife buy a caravan!!
That said an old road-shed to be left at a decent beach-campsite appeals, but It'd only do one journey and be left there all year round.
I want a Kip shelter. You can get them with stronger floors to get the motorbike in too...
[url= http://www.widepathcamper.com/new-bicycle-camper.html ]http://www.widepathcamper.com/new-bicycle-camper.html[/url]
You could tow that with an ebike zilog! STW would be doubly enraged!
😆
All the more space in the house for you, right?
A static appeals and they're well cheap, like some as little as 9k, permanently somewhere nice to travel to and nice to lend out to family and friends. Having a moss covered shed sat in your drive for 50 weeks of the year bot so much. You'd feel obliged to use instead of flying somewhere hot like normal people.
I love my static which is nestled in the upper Teesdale valley. I'm inwardly debating whether I should go on the bike this afternoon along from Cowgreen to High Cup Nick or pop over to Hamsterley.
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My wife bought a caravan a couple of years ago and at first I wasn't pleased. But for the last two years we have it on a seasonal pitch just outside Pickering which is great. An hour to get to and on the doorstep for Dalby so it get used nearly every weekend. We bought an awning so it has extra storage for bikes, boots, furniture and it makes for a really useful space when we are there. I wouldn't want to give it up now!
periwinkle blue?
Are you sure you did not mistake "caravan" for "divorce?" 😉
We have one on a seasonal pitch in the Cairngorms, which we use at weekends between April and October. Best £8k (latest new to us one) I've ever spent. I'm not convinced of touring with one though.
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Mrs W wants one too.......I've tried to explain that towing a caravan with a van and a very strong Irish accent with result in well the post above comments!! 😆
Wookster - Member
Mrs W wants one too.......I've tried to explain that towing a caravan with a van and a very strong Irish accent with result in well the post above comments!!
What is it with Wife's and Caravans?
I prefer the idea of a motorhome, and towing anything frightens me.
That said, I bought a static in Belgium last year, and it is flipping brilliant! After more than 10 years of camping across the Continent, the knowledge that I can throw a few things in a bag, and be at my 'second home' in less than a day's drive, surrounded by great cycling, is fantastic!
Has she been on any swinging sites ?
Do ya like dags
Why would I want a caravan wit no wheels
Off to the FOD in ours on Tuesday.
It's great
I might even get the wife & I matchjng fleece jackets, with a moonlit wolf scene on the back.
Don't come a knocking if you see the van a rocking.
We're in our holiday home now.
Tis lovely.
[quote=zilog6128 ] http://www.widepathcamper.com/new-bicycle-camper.html
I particularly liked "?Cooking is possible outside" - just like taking a tent then!
bought a static in Belgium
Not sure which is more dead to me... You or Belgium.
We bought a caravan last year, it's a tourer but on a seasonal pitch on a site near Dalbeattie. Best thing we've ever done. We're here most weekends, absolutely love it. Just over 30 seconds ride to Dalbeattie 7 stanes. Happy days.
We didn't really plan on buying one, but we were looking at campers last year and had a look in a caravan while we were at the dealers, that was us sold on the idea.
We have no intention of towing it though.
My deepest sympathies burnsyboy
We had a couple of caravans in the past, non now.
We really enjoyed them. Dragged them to France for a couple of holidays but the reality is, you only really need to go around the corner to enjoy caravaning.
Those mammoth excursions take it out of you some what.
Keeping it local worked best for us but our holidays away in them were ace too.
Embrace it. You'll love middle age.
Go and sit in a few to see what layout works best for you. Caravans hold their value quite well also, better then cars.
Caravans are ace. Although I wouldn't want to leave mine in one place. The world is full of places 🙂
My eldest said that the best thing about caravanning was getting to see new places.
My youngest said it was all the blankets and cosy.
I wouldn't want to leave mine in one place. The world is full of place
It is but I don't need to go in a caravan to see them all.
I don't need to either, but I prefer it to tents.
If you do seriously consider it have a look at how the financial side stacks up. We are about to put our 6 berth tourer up for sale after a year of ownership as the cost / convenience just does not make sense. Ours was bought as a just over 5 year old full aluminium construction (no rot to worry about) for a smidge under £10k with full awning etc thrown in.Purchase was funded by a loan over 5 years. Having now worked out the cost for the 16 nights away we used it last year ( site fees,extra fuel when towing, insurance,loan payments etc but not including food and so on) it has worked out as £240 per night!
Obviously if we used it for double the amount of time this figure would almost half all things being equal, and the loan repayments are something not all people would have along with the fact that there would still be a residual value in the caravan at the end of 5 years before but pretty expensive nonetheless. We are lucky that we can afford it, but feel that with the advent of the likes of airb'n'b the money would be better spent having 2 weeks abroad and 14 nights spread through rest of year as we please without having to fight with an awning for hours in the wind or trek across a wet field for a cxxp or a shower 🙂
The other thing to consider is the ball ache of servicing, storage,having to give it a good clean to get rid of all the sand/mud/grass that four kids tend to drag in every time you get back and sheer lack of space if you end up with foul weather when your away.
All in glad we did it, had some good times but easier ways of having good times for same expenditure:)
Or, you could do what we did and buy a £1500 van, don't service it, keep it at your house, use it loads and pay £9 a night!
Like most things, there are options, and you can make it cheaper or more expensive.
Ours cost £500.
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Where's the other half?
Where's the other half?
proper LOL.
Do you have kids? I can't see the attraction of buying a caravan unless you know you're only going to be having UK holidays for a good few years. I can't believe it's worth the hassle/expense if you intend driving it to Europe on holiday.
I can't believe it's worth the hassle/expense if you intend driving it to Europe on holiday.
Touring holidays are great. A tent would be a ballache for touring, and motorhomes - well they are insanely expensive.
A European caravan trip isn't much different to a motorhome one except that you might lose the ability to stay in car parks. On the other hand you gain the ability to do easy day trips without packing up.
Costs about £450 on the train at peak times as opposed to what, £200 in a car. The extra fuel cost is probablyu another £150 to the south of France. But that's similar to a motorhome I'd guess.
Where's the other half?
Bolted onto the back of some of the vans pulled about by by massive wheezing cars.
Its big enough for the 3 of us and a dog. Has a two tables, stove and fridge..no bog though.
Agree with molgrips, everybody has a budget they are happy with and different requirements. For us with 4 kids under 12 we needed a good size caravan,and we are fortunate enough to be able to afford to what we chose, just think there are more cost effectivel/ lazier ways of spending the money in our case. Always good to have a few case studies for people to compare
Also, AirBnB is a different kind of holiday to caravanning or camping - I'd not say they were directly comparable. Also not saying either is better of course. Likewise hotels and normal B&Bs are a different thing again.
Caravan compares to motorhoming and big tent camping, imo.
Has a two tables, stove and fridge..no bog though.
Having now worked out the cost for the 16 nights away we used it last year ( site fees,extra fuel when towing, insurance,loan payments etc but not including food and so on) it has worked out as £240 per night!
We were at our van something like 80 days last year so we get plenty of use out of it, although it did cost a touch more than £10k. We've used it for holidays that we wouldn't have had otherwise, so every weekend can be a holiday now. We still go on other holidays too, same as we always did.
Yes, we went to the US last year and camped in a small tent for obvious reasons 🙂
Burnsybhoy does your wife find camping too intense?
That's my coat, 3 layer goretex with the OS map in the pocket.
Do you have kids? I can't see the attraction of buying a caravan unless you know you're only going to be having UK holidays for a good few years. I can't believe it's worth the hassle/expense if you intend driving it to Europe on holiday.
6 year old twins. I think I've managed to delay the issue for a while.
Sandwich - Member
Burnsbhoy does your wife find camping too intense?
I imagine it drives her up the pole.
A colleague of mine said that his wife wanted a caravan. He bought one, we took the mickey out him mercilessly. Soon afterwards, she left him, and didn't take the caravan with her. Be warned.