Making pitching quicker and easier
We’re always learning from the more experienced caravaners that we meet on sites and indeed caravanning friends and I might be telling fellow caravaners ‘how to suck egg’s as it were, but here goes..
One tip we picked up from caravanning friends was to be well prepared before visiting any Club site as to how we wanted our caravan orientated to take best advantage of any sun and at what time of day.
This is especially so since some pitches are ‘tight’ and some are more generous in that if large, chairs can be moved around to take best advantage of any sun but the smaller ones don’t give that freedom.
So we print off the Site Plan from the website and then highlight those pitches that suit our requirements best. For example if you want sun for most of the day then the “towbar facing west” gives the best orientation, etc. To assist in this there is always a compass rose on the site plans.
So after registering on arrival you can check which of your selected sites are available with the Warden and drive straight to it. This saves the otherwise inevitable drive around to find suitable vacant pitches.
Comments
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Hmm, in my experience site plans are not necessarily drawn to scale and the pitches can look nothing like you imagine. For instance, plans give you no clue to topography and level is always our preferred option no matter which way it faces.
Doing a tour that involves some dozen sites would involve more research than I care to bother with. However, each to their own.
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I also study the site plan, but take into account the fact that the sun is usually somewhere in the south, moving east to west, and if I want the evening sun on my awning/canopy, then I need to face north or west.
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I simply used to try to stay away from most of the dogs, but gave up in the end.
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We don't get much sun in Scotland so orientation doesn't matter up here.
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Confess that I usually try to get some idea of the layout of the pitches by viewing site plans prior to setting off.
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We don't get much sun in Scotland so orientation doesn't matter up here.
Go far enough north and every pitch is south facing.
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It would be very easy for the CC to do, and very usefull to us happy campers, if the compas on the site plans also showed the direction to the nearest, usable televesion transmitter(s).
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Wardens often cannot tell you which pitches are vacant if there are many arrivals.
We had a little smile to ourselves when we visited Lady Margarets park on a Sunday in late June. We arrived 4 minutes before midday, unusual for us but we had to be with friends at their house by a certain time, and the roads had been quiet.
On arrival we found a scene of mild chaos with several outfits just leaving, blocking the exit, 3 or 4 cars trying to go out and finding it impossible, and 3 outfits already in the queue ahead of us.
As OH headed off to get in the queue, the first outfit disappeared onto the site, so we all pulled forward a bit. As OH entered the office, 2 people emerged, for the other 2 outfits she thought.
But not so. When she went in and gave our details the warden seemed surprised, and asked if the outfit now at the door was ours. It was a folding caravan. OH said no, we were the next one, the twin axle. Warden said she was sorry but we would have to wait till the owner of the folding van came in, otherwise we would all get out of order.
At that point 2 people came in and said they were with the folding van and had been waiting to pull forward. (why could one not stay with the outfit and the other get in the queue is anyone's guess)
Warden smiled nicely, said sorry to OH and started booking in the outfit. On asking whether they had been before they said no, this was their first time on a CC site, and produced a site plan, all marked up with their preferred pitches and said they would like a hard standing in one of these areas!
Warden very patiently explained the pitching rules, explained that the site was very busy, advised them to go and look, not to drive down the dead end bits, and said that as there were several outfits still to report their pitch numbers, she could not tell them which pitches were free. They seemed a bit taken aback!
Warden then apologised to OH for the long delay and booked us in. We trundled in a couple of minutes behind the folding van and found them busy reversing onto the first vacant hardstanding, quite far around the site road. We took the next empty one a few pitches along.
When OH returned to the office to report our pitch number after we had pitched and levelled, the warden insisted on apologising again for the delay, and asked if the folding vanners had found a pitch, as they had not reported back.
Who would be a warden!
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It would be very easy for the CC to do, and very usefull to us happy campers, if the compas on the site plans also showed the direction to the nearest, usable televesion transmitter(s).
An app called Freepoint UK designed by a cc member is available on smart phones. Very useful app for satellite and TV signal directions and it is free
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So after registering on arrival you can check which of your selected sites are available with the Warden and drive straight to it. This saves the otherwise inevitable drive around to find suitable vacant pitches.
We have asked to do this several times on more than one site - we know which pitch numbers we like best on certain sites - but have always been told we cant just take the keys in case someone else who has arrived first has chosen that pitch but just not reported back to the warden yet.
It would be very easy for the CC to do, and very usefull to us happy campers, if the compas on the site plans also showed the direction to the nearest, usable televesion transmitter(s).
We dont very often look at the pitch plan once on site - we either know the site or we look in advance at the site plan online - but to us it would be useless info that just clutters the plan up as we dont use a TV. not bothered if its on there but definitely wouldnt need it to be.
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So after registering on arrival you can check which of your selected sites are available with the Warden and drive straight to it. This saves the otherwise inevitable drive around to find suitable vacant pitches.That's not possible though; unless you are the only arrival for quite some time, there will be other people looking for pitches, who may not have been back to the office yet to tell the warden the pitch number.
I was told by one warden that it happens regularly that people don't come back for a few hours; and sometimes the wardens have to go looking on the site for where they have pitched; if the site is geetting full with only a handful of pitches left and to
save new arrivals looking for vacant pitches they will mark them on the plan.0 -
Ahh BB you did not consider the awning. It's in the sun nearly all the time if the van is facing north and we like the setting sun. We don't "do" early mornings so that does not matter.
Unless you vist where I live then the sun never comes out anyway.
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When we arrive on site its a quick look round to see whats available, then from these we sort them into. 1 not under trees, 2 away from dogs and kids, 3 not near but not too far from facilities, 4 door side of van facing South or West, we don't do early
mornings either much prefer sitting outside in the afternoon/evenings, getting all of these are a bit more harder to achive on a CC site.0 -
When we arrive on site its a quick look round to see whats available, then from these we sort them into. 1 not under trees, 2 away from dogs and kids, 3 not near but not too far from facilities, 4 door side of van facing South or West, we don't do early mornings either much prefer sitting outside in the afternoon/evenings, getting all of these are a bit more harder to achive on a CC site.
I love it - we sort them into
Under the trees yes please
Close to the exit/dog walk if possible
On the edge of the site so as quiet and out of the way as poss
I dont want to sit out at all but I do get up early.
Thankfully I dont think we will be competing for pitches Tammygirl
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When we arrive on site its a quick look round to see whats available, then from these we sort them into. 1 not under trees, 2 away from dogs and kids, 3 not near but not too far from facilities, 4 door side of van facing South or West, we don't do early
mornings either much prefer sitting outside in the afternoon/evenings, getting all of these are a bit more harder to achive on a CC site.I love it - we sort them into
Under the trees yes please
Close to the exit/dog walk if possible
On the edge of the site so as quiet and out of the way as poss
I dont want to sit out at all but I do get up early.
Thankfully I dont think we will be competing for pitches Tammygirl
...HaHa perfect companions, with more people like us the sites would be very well balanced.
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In reference to the OP Surely unless you have been to a site recently the site plan and picking a pitch is no guarantee of getting sun as there are many sites where the south facing pitches are not in the sun because of the trees?? I just turn up and take
what looks suitable as long as i get some sun of and evening thats good enough
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We tryto face South if possible as with no rear window this gives us the most sunshi e assuming we get any. Facing North means the least sun so we try to avoid that.
In the event that we get mid day sun I prefer it to fall on the rear of the 'van where there are no windows. We will be out anyway and hopefully come around 4 pm we can sit in the sun outside the caravan. If it is too hot I will leave OH to it and sit on
the other side in the shade0 -
We tryto face South if possible as with no rear window this gives us the most sunshi e assuming we get any. Facing North means the least sun so we try to avoid that.
In the event that we get mid day sun I prefer it to fall on the rear of the 'van where there are no windows. We will be out anyway and hopefully come around 4 pm we can sit in the sun outside the caravan. If it is too hot I will leave OH to it and sit on
the other side in the shadeOur idea is with a South facing pitch we get both the morning and evening sun. On a longer stay though we might have a day on site but on most we are somewhere else.
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