Undecided ?
We have a 5 week holiday planned with many stops on the way to Orkney as the main destination and stops on the way back. I have one week left to decide whether to cancel the sites I have booked and the ferry crossings due to the fuel situation. How are other members finding the situation out and about at the moment and a few opinions would be welcome.
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We live in north Devon and usually twice a week do a 110 mile return trip to south Devon. We have had no problem getting petrol.
On May 12th we have a crossing 300 miles away from Harwich to Hook of Holland for a 23 day holiday. We have no plan to change our holiday, but we have accepted that the petrol will cost us more.
At present we are paying £1.50 per L for 95 octane, whilst in NL it is Euro 2.25 = £2 per L.
Colin
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While you may not have too much trouble getting fuel on the mainland, at least as far north as Inverness, the very far north has fewer filling stations and Orkney itself is different again. Everything you buy on Orkney has to be 'imported' and, away from Kirkwall and Stromness, services stations are few and far between and expensive at the best of times.
Petrol Map lists a total of 6 stations throughout the Orkney Island group. Which is pretty much as I remember things.
Personally, I would cancel and stick to the mainland but, when you do get around to going, tack on Shetland as well for a real get away from it all experience.1 -
"We live in north Devon and usually twice a week do a 110 mile return trip to south Devon. We have had no problem getting petrol."
I thought you were near Crediton, EM, which is nearer south Devon than north. Have I got it wrong?The fuel situation in Devon is very different from that in Orkney. There’s no correlation between the two.
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We are in Hatherleigh and travel to Buckfastleigh, about 54 miles each way.
I have taken the OP's question literally:-
We have a 5 week holiday planned with many stops [no mention where travelling from] on the way to Orkney as the main destination and stops on the way back. I have one week left to decide whether to cancel the sites [which sites, could be on the way, could be in Orkney] I have booked and the ferry crossings due to the fuel situation [is this cost or availability] . How are other members finding the situation out and about at the moment [well that means in the UK I'd imagine and Devon is in the UK] and a few opinions would be welcome [that is what I have given].
Colin
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I think the OP is looking for an opinion on whether he should cancel sites and ferries, as he says, and not on how things are in unrelated areas of the country. My opinion is given with the benefit of a lot of experience of the area the OP intends to visit.
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Personally, I don’t think the fuel situation is going to get any better, certainly not in the next week. We are not booking anything in advance at the moment, hoping to go to Cornwall in May, but we won’t book a cottage until week before, then decide if it will be drive or go by train. If things are really bad, then we shall go somewhere closer to home. Worth doing the research if you can to see how reliable fuel top up is going to be. It seems to be localised shortages every so often at the moment, as we found last week out in our MH round the Harrogate area, but we did get some, but the prices are just going up and up.
I don’t really think anyone else can make the decision for you, it depends hugely on what sort of plans you have, and how much money you are willing to risk, sorry.
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We are travelling from Bath stopping at Castleton nr Sheffield, Melrose, Forfar, Culloden and onto Orkney, returning to Brora, killin, Ayr and finally Kendal to home. Availability is my main concern not price.
Thanks all.
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There was a time when fuel supplies completely dried up for us in the far south of France. (A national strike) . We left car and caravan down there and flew home, and only flew back to collect them when things were normal again.
If the worst comes to the worst for you and supplies completely dry up in Scotland you could possibly do the same. But I don’t know you. Are you prepared for that sort of flexibility, or are you someone for whom everything must be exactly as planned?
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I think you will like Melrose and there are large supermarkets with fuel stations in nearby Galashiels and the site is actually within the small town and a few hundreds yards of the good sized coop. Culloden is a good site too.
As for your question, why knows but personally I think it will be higher prices. We're doing a trip down south next weekend and we'll just keep the car 'topped up' all times and no less than three quarters full and just pay up. You could always phone the wardens nearer the time or when at one site to another?
As for cancelling I assume you've just paid the standard club deposit and if that was the case with me I'd leave it and 'risk losing' a relatively small amount. But it's your choice.
As an aside we filled up a few days ago at Sainsbury's and now the prices have gone up by 15p a litre!
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The opening poster has a ferry fare to consider as well, so may not want to lose this.
All I can tell you is that around the Sheffield area, fuel is now £1.75-£1.85 per litre, including supermarkets, and there are queues at the weekends. It’s not the lack of filling stations that’s the issue (other than far North/Orkney) it’s the interrupted supply of fuel to the stations. Every time there’s a news bulletin about what’s happening it affects prices, which sets of people queueing, etc…..
We have been on holiday when the fuel we needed was in short supply, in our case LPG in Cornwall. The fuel was there, but so many of the delivery systems were faulty, we couldn’t fill up. Apparently, at the time, the company doing servicing of LPG pumps at service stations waited until it was worth the trip down and did them all in the same period! Shocking really. We got by using non service station outlets, but it doesn’t half make a trip less enjoyable.
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As I understand it, very little of UK's petrol and diesel comes from the Gulf, it mainly comes from the USA. If this continues then I see no reason why there should be shortages even if the price continues to rise. Price rises may well also choke off demand, therefore if you can afford the prices which will be quite high in Scotland, and can be flexible with your time, I would still go for it.
peedee
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We filled up tonight at Morrison's as again, for the second time in a week our Asda was without diesel, and it appeared that our Tesco had diesel too.
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I suppose you might have to change your usual strategy in that it would be wise to top up with fuel at every opportunity? Proably frowned on a bit these days ut perhaps invest in a fuel can just in case things get difficult.
David
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Already topping up very frequently @DavidKlyne - and have also thought about the fuel can idea, but haven't 'actioned' this yet! 😀
David
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Meanwhile.... (not sure if I have posted this before)... but I do use a phone app for locating the cheapest fuel.... called 'Petrol Prices'.
I also have 2 fuel cards giving me a small discount per litre:
1. A COCO+ Fuel card. (UK Fuels) I got this through the Club - not sure if the offer is still on, but may be worth a look. Saves me 3p a litre on diesel.
2. Several years ago the CAMC had another fuel card offer - Fuelpecker (before the COCO+ card,) which I also took advantage of. The club stopped this offer and I think 'Fuelpecker' eventually passed to Esso. Before my Fuelpecker card ran out of date, Esso offered me a Wex Esso card (free of charge), which saves me 4p on diesel at Esso garages.... it would have been rude of me not to accept.... 🤣🤣
Both my fuel cards don't expire until 2028, but I'll still be in the market for any other free cards that just might save me a few pence on fuel....
I can't remember the last time I paid 'the price at the pump' for diesel. However, supermarket prices are coming close, to my discounted prices, locally.
David
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