What are you all up to
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Arrived home this morning after a lovely few days away.
It seems our Bluetits must have fledged while we were away as the garden is now very quiet. There were however a lot of pigeon feathers scattered all over the lawn, so assume something must have killed one while we were away.
It was back to the office and work this afternoon.
Good to read about all the trips and lovely photos.
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An afternoon of stunning scenery along the Ardeche gorges.
We stopped off at a lavender farm, too early for flowering, although in some fields you could just make out blue tinges at the tops of the flowers. Will look beautiful in about a month's time. Last picture is just for Brian (ABM) though I'm not sure it really counts as a steam engine!
R&R - I think we are due to bo through that lock in the next few hours on our way to Arles, may well be safely tucked up snoozing by then though.
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Moulesy
I am interested to know whether you have experience of both River and Sea cruises? We have only done sea cruises so far. There are a couple of YouTube channels I watch, Emma Cruises and Tips for Travellers that deal with both sorts of cruises which have planted a few doubts of whether river cruising would suit us. One aspect seems to be that river cruising seems very activity lead where as sea cruises you can do as much or as little. Be interested to have your view.
David
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More great photos, M. Your trip sounds really interesting.
Good to hear that you got home safe and sound, tda, and look forward to reading your tale of it. You will just have to give me notice of when it's there to read as I don't have time to do the Story section usually.
R&R and AD, I appreciate that you both love your continental built vans but the need to have so many expensive items replaced as frequently as you had given me second thoughts about looking at "foreign" vans. Although ours has had a few things wrong with it over the near 11 yrs we've had it, having used it for somewhere in the region of 2500 nights in that time, and these have been infrequent and nowhere as costly as with your replacement parts.
Another good trip, H&T, are you off again soon?
We have moved down to another unfamiliar CL near Penrith for a few nights, and pleased with our choice. Weather has threatened heavy rain but very little materialize, and we now have a quite spectacular, deep red/Orange sky.
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"R&R and AD, I appreciate that you both love your continental built vans but the need to have so many expensive items replaced as frequently as you had given me second thoughts about looking at "foreign" vans. Although ours has had a few things wrong with it over the near 11 yrs we've had it, having used it for somewhere in the region of 2500 nights in that time, and these have been infrequent and nowhere as costly as with your replacement parts."
Nothing to do with continental built vans, nellie. As I said - the build quality of the actual van is in a different league from our former UK vans. It's the third party kit that is letting us down. The Truma boiler is a common fit in a lot of UK vans as is the Dometic toilet which I had replaced because I was so fed up with it failing one way or another. The Thetford has been far superior.
I suppose the only sure way around it is a bespoke van such as the Inos - at a cost!!
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As with any make of LV there will be some "Friday" build vehicles both in UK and over there made ,
One big reason that some complain about UK made is that out of the many thousands made and sold in this country against the the hundreds? of imports There is going to more people who are finding faults with the lightweights that users in this country want with all the bells and whistles,
Compared to the much heavier build of most overseas LVs that normally have less goodies that users in this country seem to "need"?
May not read the replies as must go and catch bus to visit OH
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+1 to that JV👍🏻. We had our Swift Eccles from new for 3 years without issues & talked to many fellow owners who tend to gravitate to new LV’s I’ve noticed to ask about any issues etc. no failures in any of the utilities either. The time we had the LV was never on tarmac only as I do like to get to scenic areas👍🏻. I had to wait a number of months to get the LV due to high demand. I think it’s mostly the unhappy folk who vocalise their discontent rather than the content ones.
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Quite right there R2B, it’s the unhappy chaps that will moan about their caravan, or motorhome, issues! Unlike David we have had 3 Lunars, and have one now, we never had damp problems with any of them, in fact if they were still in business we would buy another as we really like the interiors. Worst damp was a Bailey but JVB is quite right everyone can just be unlucky to get a bad one.
Lovely to see all the France pics Moulsey, we have been to Provence area (also just missed the lavender!) but not seen the Ardeche area, looks stunning.
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I think it’s mostly the unhappy folk who vocalise their discontent rather than the content ones.
R2B, isnt that the same for most things in life? I have a rule that if I am happy I tell people and if not I complain to the supplier but, if people have had issues of some sort and a thread is 'exporing' peoples experiences then surely they are going to mention both positive and negative?
Unlike David we have had 3 Lunars, and have one now, we never had damp problems with any of them, in fact if they were still in business we would buy another as we really like the interiors.
Heddlo, We have had 2 Lunars, including current van, a Clubman SR, and love the interiors but have had problems with both, this van being collected by the dealer after our local repair centre refused to deal with water major ingress.
In fact, of all the 5 new vans we have had the only one that did not need to have work carried out under warranty was a Hobby 495ufe that we bought in Germany, but would still be more likely to go for the Lunar if, as you say, they were still in existence!
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I semi disagree, there are pristine places I’ve found in North Yorkshire that are akin to-‘the land that time forgot’, I was there on Sunday. It is a joyous retreat, Trees that are whole the UK equivalent of Spanish moss hanging from branches for over a metre. With barely a footprint other than mine & close family. I have no intention of broadcasting that even though it makes my heart sing👍🏻
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JVB
I think you have a point. I don't know what the latest sales figures are for caravans and motorhomes but prior to COVID caravan sales were in the region of 20/25000 a year and motorhome registrations around 15000. Now if a significant number of those were dodgy this forum and others, plus Facebook would be wall to wall complaints which it seems is not the case. We are coming to the end of a 25 night trip which included using roads around the Solway of Firth both in Scotland and in England. Some of those roads would be like spending 24 hours on the Millbrook Testing Ground!!!! So is it any wonder that things work loose? We have been fortunate enough to have been able to purchase four new caravans and two new motorhomes in our camping career and yes we have had to odd thing that needed attention but given the use we have given them all nothing has been on the scale that you are lead to believe if you read some posts! Yes third part products do go wrong but so so washing machines and microwaves at home!
David
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DK - David you were asking Moulesy about River cruises v Sea cruises. I've not been on any but Mrs WN and her mother have. Now as you'll probably know MiL is getting on in years and prefers river cruises, mainly to be honest due to there being less nausea on a river than on the open sea.
However whilst the River ones do indeed provide quite a full itinerary for the passengers to either engage in or be taken to or shown around both of the ladies do not partake of them all and management seem more than happy with that. It depends how tiring the day may seem or the contents of said itinerary. They will often be quite happy wandering into the place where the boat ship has docked and finding their own amusement. If they happen to fancy a display of say lace making then they'll join the group. It's apparently quite laid back. Not much point telling you about the Sea cruises as you seem well versed in those anyway.
As for caravans and reliability we have had 7 units over a 32 year period. All were UK caravans. 2 were an absolute disaster and that was purely down to bad workmanship, nothing to do with third part products. One delaminated for goodness sake! The other 5 have been, touch wood for the present one, excellent and even the products have been reliable, give or take the odd problem. When our last caravan to this one was written off we had a look at foreign makes and thought about a Knaus. After inspecting it we rejected the idea as we thought the interior was poorly made. The actual body shell etc may well have been good but we really didn't like the inside at all for our kind of living/touring. We were quite open and unbiased about which make to buy, even looking at a couple of French ones but we have had 2 previous Coachmans and they were fine so that swayed us.
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Not a great deal happening today due to heavy squally showers and gale force winds blasting away. We did attempt a walk but were beaten back after 5 minutes.
Had to make do with some shopping for food. Off on our next trip tomorrow. Hope the weather calms down a bit.
Moulesy should enjoy Arles. We like it especially on market day, which if memory serves me is usually a Saturday. Has good Van Gogh associations.
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In our very long caravanning times we owned 7 vans, the first one was an old one which we shared with my parents. We never had any damp in any of them. They were all stored under cover in a barn. In fact, apart from one, we had very, very few problems with any of them and all various uk makes. Almost all were purchased from a local reputable dealer, who has now sold the business. Only 2 were new and one of those was an Elddis, this was the one with all the faults. So many, we barely had a break away in it without something going wrong, including the spare wheel leaving its cradle and bouncing along the road beside us! It never reached its first service with us, we part exchanged it to give us peace of mind and a more restful holiday.
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On our way back through France just over a week ago and was amazed how many Motorhomes dealers and even saw a couple motorhome factories and all looked to be full of stock so no shortage here same for some caravans as well mainly in Brittany.
just had a heavy downpour so glad I managed to cleared some old plants and a tidy up of plant pots in the front of the house, OH been busy with putting an outside tape and found short of one piece of kit so will get the next time we go shopping. much cooler the last two days lower 20's instead of 30's much better for doing outside chores.
Met up with friends yesterday and poor old Lynn fed up with her left broken wrist with what chores she can do also got serious family issues with family in South Africa and not much she can do so we helped to cheer her up as feeling very low at present and said no swimming so just dangling her feet in their pool, she has just over a week before plaster comes off so hope all goes well.
Now down to 13.8C outside a bit chilly now.
Great photos Moulesy of the Ardeche a place we must go to sometime it looks great.
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Some better? news with OH she has been given the all clear. on her hip replacement , the lead physio has ,agreed that it would not be acceptable for her or fair to me, to be discharged home
So she has recommended to a our local rehabilitation centre in the village but could not guarantee it
Made a quick call to the lady who phoned me last night to see how OH was coping since ,her full hip replacement, , and she has assured me that she will make sure that OH would not be discharged until space was available in our local centre, which may take a few days
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A good half way house for your OH JVB.
We're being rained on at the moment, thunder and lightning but we're on a very nice private site alongside the Tweed. Down to one phone and poor communications so will post a photo or two later. Looking forward to be seeing a bit more locally tomorrow before we turn and head south. Happy to be back in the Borders in a peaceful spot.
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Today has been quite full on. After breakfast we walked into Arles which is famous for having one of the 3 best preserved Roman auditoriums in the world (the others are in Rome and Pula, Croatia) and for its association with Vincent van Gogh, although they don't go over the top with it the way you suspect would be the case at home. At various points around the city, exactly where he is thought to have painted his masterpieces, there are reproductions of his most famous works, with notes. (Saves a fortune in gallery admission fees!)
There is also an exhibition of "modern art", supposedly inspired by him, though it may not be worth quite as much h in 100 year's time!
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And then, this afternoon, one of those unforgettable "wow" occasions- a trip to the Roman Pont du Gard.
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David K - in answer to your question about river cruises, W has summed it up very succinctly.
The thing which appeals to me, personally, about river cruising, is the constantly changing scenery (the "sea days" on ocean cruises, we've only really done 1, just do my head in!) and the fact that you stop off each day at a different port. You can usually choose whether or not to join the included excursions or just wander round doing your own thing wherever it happens to be. Occasionally, just once this week, the shop sails on to a different point and you have to decide whether to join the excursion or stay on board, both options are perfectly OK. I can certainly recommend both the ones we've been on, this one and the Douro.
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Hi David, Most of the issues have been relatively minor but the water ingress was quite the opposite!
That was with our current van and, having had fixed beds on the offside, the Hobby, the nearside, Bailey Unicorn Valencia and transverse, Lunar SI the Lunar SR we have now is pretty much perfect for us.
The bed is a tad short but other than that it allows us to have the grandkids with us but gives us all privacy due to the centre bathroom and doors into our bedroom.
The Hobby was bought in Germany after being invited to view or Dutch neighbours van at Bella Italia and both jean and I saying, emberrasingly rather loudly, WOW!
We visited friends in Holland and went to Obelink to view the van, videoing the whole thing, and then ordered with Joeressens at Monchengladbach.
I was either lucky or the famed quality and reliability is actually true, but the van had no issues and remains the longest term, at 7 years, that we have ever had.
Hope the rest of your holiday goes well, and we cant wait to get onboard the Pont Aven before too long!
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Definitely a "Wow" place, what a spectacular piece of architecture! Love all your photos, M.!
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We were woken by a Cock crowing at 4:20 this morning but hey ho that's part of the fun being out in the countryside, and we soon got back to sleep. The day has been fine and dry, although somewhat windy and chilly early on. Firstly we went to Brougham Castle, as it has been a while since we last visited. Then into Penrith for some essentials.
This afternoon we had a pleasant walk through Beacon Woods, above the town, before returning to the van for afternoon tea then my pre-dinner walk.
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The last two C/vans we have had are both Bailey and have been the most fault free and driest of any before, ,and we have had quite a few in the years we have been members (53 this month)
Worst was an Eldiss followed by a twin axle Swift but even they were better than the first vans with gas lights and glass single glazed windows with if you were really posh a catalytic heater,and a foot pump for the cold only water
The very old Autosleeper PVC shows how really well built and solid they used to be ,compared to the plastic of later models to enable the fitting of all the latest "must haves?"and still stay within the weight limiits
Bus catch time
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Not only beautiful M but pure genius, nearly 2,000yrs old😱. ‘What did the Romans do for us they made me personally stand in awe of their engineering skills & general can do/will do attitude. The pics are excellent👏🏻👏🏻
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