Aires in the UK
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Kj
If you have a smart phone there are Apps that tell you where local toilets are. The risk is that information becomes out of date. I suppose one advantage of going out for the day in your motorhome is that you can use your own toilet!
David
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Years back, we always took a picnic lunch, these days we hardly ever do as if we do not "eat in" then finding a toilet is almost impossible.
France is even worse for public toilets but at least there I have the option of nipping into the nearest bar/cafe for a microscopic expresso and using their facilities.😂
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Have you not noticed that the disabled toilets are usually open?
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Radar key operated toilets are normally still open if the others are closed ,thought you would have noticed that?
Bus and Taxi drivers are very aware as are many mobile workers,
although the mobile LV service man says he has a porta poti in his van now
Ps the club site where our LV is stored ,the storage pitch card holders have use of the unisex loo on the main site
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As are many countries in Europe. However, most didn’t offer much in the way of public toilets anyway, so nobody misses what they never and popping into a local bar isn’t frowned on as it might be here.
‘Toilets for customers only’ - It’s bazaar that you’re expected to go in someplace to top up your bladder when the main purpose of your visit was to empty it!
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Years ago in France I nipped into a cafe with friends, whilst one of them ordered a drink the rest of us headed for the loo. It was in a cupboard under the stairs, no light and the usual hole in the floor. One to be missed, literally.
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This is the great advantage of having a motorhome with everything on board, you get a bit spoilt and forget the dramas of a loo search in a car.
One of the problems we noticed on the South Hams coast recently was seeing the motorhomers behaving responsibly but the car owners had broken pathways into the Slapton Ley nature reserve to use for their bodily functions. It was very unpleasant to discover.
(There were facilities at other nearby car parks, a short drive away!)0 -
We have some very popular Lakes around our town ,one lake the parking is free with no time restrictions,which is normally the MC ovenighters stop ,there is now talk of puttin height barriers there because of the "few" who empty their waste water and toilet cassettes into the lake
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No one can forget a Paris urinal for the ultimate outdoor experience.
I quite envy the relaxed attitude the French have to taking a pee. Nobody is embarrassed about taking a pee at the roadside without hiding in the bushes and, if the ladies section has a queue they’ll simply join you in the gents without the slightest bit of embarrassment.
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Prior to COVID one of our little pleasures was to go into coffee shops, both brands and independent , for a coffee. Watching the world go by I often noticed people walking in off the street and using the toilet even without buying a microscopic expresso!!! I can't remember it's name but there is an organisation that encourages establishments with toilets to make them available for non customers and they have a notice in the window to that effect.
David
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Sorry Peedee, we dont need MH's/camper vans , particularly as many come stacked to the rafters with food and booze, so spend precious little in the local shops,
That may well be true of day trippers but it is unlikely to be so for those touring for more than a couple of days. They may still use a pub or cafe or even the ice cream vendor.
peedee
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When we had a caravan and of course a car, we did shop local to our destination. Now we have a MH we tend to shop on moving on day, generally every 2 / 4 days. This is often remote from where we are staying. Perhaps a farm shop or supermarket on route that I have checked out on Google. So although somebody benefits, it is not necessarily the local community. The number of pubs, cafes and ice cream vendors we visit is small, even in normal times. This year it will be absolutely zero.
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That may well be true of day trippers but it is unlikely to be so for those touring for more than a couple of days. They may still use a pub or cafe or even the ice cream vendor.
Won't they still park up and do that? OK they may only have the one pint instead of two! At Canterbury without the so called cheek by jowl 'aire' motorhomers would still use the P&R to visit. OK it might attract a few overnighters heading to or away from Dover
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"This sort of behavior is OK on a short holiday but has to be toned down on long trips."
Hi David, we are just back from a stay with our MH holiday buddies. We again, for the umpteenth time, discussed the holiday V lifestyle situation.
We go away for holidays, max of 3-4 weeks, whereas they have trips of 8-10 weeks which is, to them, a lifestyle choice as 'holiday mode' is not sustainable for that length of time.
When we holiday together its for the 3-4 weeks period and may be tagged onto the end of their trips.
So far as shopping is concerned they will fully stock up with as much food as possible before leaving-last week they were having a Tesco delivery on Friday which would see them over their 4 day stay in Dorset this weekend-whereas we just take what is in the fridge rather than waste it.
When away we will shop in supermarkets, with maybe the odd item from a local shop, they, if not with us, will shop at the nearest Aldi/ Lidl.
When together our routine is that we each cook one day and on the third eat out so we do spend locally on that aspect.
We live in a village with a very high number of holiday lets and over the weekends it seems an almost constant stream of deliver vans entering the village but there are still queues at the one shop.
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I've been accused in the past of not being a typical CMC member - a compliment I thought - and we certainly spend more on food, restaurant meals and good wine than most.
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I think, thinking back, that we probably eat lunch out at a restaurant or pub about once (sometimes twice) every 5 days although on most days we will have tea and a scone or maybe the odd sandwich. Only recall eating an evening meal once in 15 years and that was across the road from the Leek Site, maybe I did not feel like cooking. Normally we have been out for 6 or 7 hours and have no desire to go out again for a meal.
When abroad we eat out nearly every evening. For me I love a large platter of fish and shellfish that I rarely see in most UK places.
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We go away for holidays, max of 3-4 weeks, whereas they have trips of 8-10 weeks which is, to them, a lifestyle choice as 'holiday mode' is not sustainable for that length of time.
Holiday mode is certainly sustainable for us. Normally we have 3 tours a year of 30 to 35 days, 35 to 40 days and 50 to 55 days and a 15 night one stop at Christmas.
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All you need to do is look, I rarely have issues in finding seafood platters in most places. Then again living on the coast does make getting good fresh seafood an easy option👍🏻
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For us it doesn't matter if we take the MH or the caravan I will always have sufficient food in the fridge and cupboards for 4 or 5 days meals.
The biggest issue for us is milk as we do get through quite a bit.
Recently we have been using the MH and going away for up to 6 days at a time. Generally the only shopping we have had to do is for milk and bread everything else came with us. However Covid has made us choose to do that as we are keen to keep down the visits to shops.
Eating out is something we rarely do when away in the van, we much prefer to take a picnic when out for the day rather than have to find somewhere to eat that suits us.
We also prefer to eat in peace and quiet not in a noisy establishment with everyone talking (some rather loudly) its something we comment on when walking through towns abroad, how noisy the restaurants are, as most are on the street and usually lots in one area it can get very loud.
Back to the OP though, we have recently gone back to owning a MH this time a PVC. We have found it much better for getting about in Scotland than our previous MH.
The one thing we have found is that parking in towns and supermarket etc is much easier. The lack of day parking in some towns and cities is still sadly lacking for most MH's. I'm not talking about over night stays just somewhere decent and safe to park while you look around.
This country is way behind our European neighbours in that respect. So far we have not spent the night in the MH away from a site, we might however once the summer is over and it gets a bit quieter try one of the Forestry Commission permitted night halts. The biggest issue for us personally about not going onto sites, is that there is very little choice in places to empty chemical toilets. I know that some of the ports/harbours have a place to use but if you are not near one of those then your choice is restricted.
I recently had a conversation with a CL owner when using his site. He said that he had, had MH's coming in asking if they can dump their chemical toilets. He was quite annoyed that they should ask when they are not using his site. We had a long conversation about it and I would like to think that he might change his mind on that. In many cases it takes a good conversation for folk to see that for a small fee folk could use a suitable place to 'dump' and there just might be the chance that, once they see how nice a CL it was, in a nice area they just might choose to stay for a few nights. If not on that visit probably another time.
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We find that there is, for us, a large difference between UK and abroad in our eating habits. We would eat an evening meal out with friends when I ran the social group that I gave up some 5 years ago I think but as a couple I can count just on the thumbs of both hands the number of evening meals that we have been to just as a couple in 20 years (or is it 21? OH would know
). In normal times we eat lunch out once a week if not on holiday.When we were spending 8 weeks in mainland Spain, or island territories or Greek Islands or Malta we nearly always ate out of an evening but our habits varied depending on the Island. In Greek Islands and Spain we would nearly always return to base around 5pm. If we had spent all days walking or had a full lunch on occasion because we had been tempted by a local restaurant then we might decide on a baguette, some salami or similar, cheese and apple slices on a balcony or patio. The difference would be that in the Greek Islands when we ate out I always had a carafe of local red wine. OH rarely drinks - maybe a drink about 4 times a year. Me only about 300 days of the year!
In Malta I only had water or soda water because after a day out I would spend an hour over a couple of Hopleaf pale ales in in a local bar and often have a natter and then return to our apartment and have a scotch whilst reading the Maltese Times and then off for a meal.
So, for us, a difference between 'over there' and over here.
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