Are we mad ?

wye
wye Forum Participant Posts: 241
edited January 2016 in Caravan & Motorhome Chat #1

Morning ....

My partner along with Fred the terrier who has just turned 15 .... and Betty the budgie are  away in Colin the caravan this weekend , on a basic CL in Suffolf .

We have been promised hard frosts , clear blue skies by day...  is it normal for a grown man just on retirement age to be this excited  ??

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Comments

  • scoutman
    scoutman Club Member Posts: 441 ✭✭✭
    edited January 2016 #2

    Of cause not, but are you as excited as the budgie?. Have fun.

  • rogher
    rogher Forum Participant Posts: 609
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    edited January 2016 #3

    The mad ones are those going into work.

  • elainekirk
    elainekirk Forum Participant Posts: 3
    edited January 2016 #4

    Perfectly normal, fantastic feeling sitting in our cocoons with the added bonus of being able to venture out and hear the crunch underfoot of frosty grass and.canine companions really enjoy the challenge of having to try that little bit harder to detect
    scents.

    I really enjoy winter vanning 

  • Pippah45
    Pippah45 Forum Participant Posts: 2,452
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    edited January 2016 #5

    Enjoy Wye!  I am sure Fred the terrier will take on a new lease of life in the frost - it seems to energise dogs somehow! 

  • JohnDH
    JohnDH Forum Participant Posts: 183
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    edited January 2016 #6

    Wye, you are perfectly normal. The whackos are the ones on their daily M25 commute.

  • JohnDH
    JohnDH Forum Participant Posts: 183
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    edited January 2016 #7

    I should also add, that it fills me with joy to see older folk get excited about somthing in the same way any child would.

  • Bakers2
    Bakers2 Forum Participant Posts: 8,196 ✭✭✭
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    edited January 2016 #8

    It is perfectly natural to revert to enjoying nature after fighting against it for years
    Laughing  Have a great time, you'll be warm and cosy inside the 'van and can watch or venture out as you please.  Wish we could get
    out in ours but because of family committments it'll be late March or even April
    Frown.  Mind you off to visit daughter in NZ with a stopoff for 10 days in Thailand, so not really complaining
    Wink

  • JillwithaJay
    JillwithaJay Club Member Posts: 2,485 ✭✭
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    edited January 2016 #9

    I'm feeling much the same.  Getting the van ready to go on Sunday. Just taking layers of cosy clothes and good shoes. Happy

    300 siggy photo 6b161378-22ab-47bd-97dd-22af5e8f67ba_zpsbtkpqljt.jpg

  • huskydog
    huskydog Club Member Posts: 5,460 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited January 2016 #10

    There is nothing wrong with enjoying our hobby, roll on retirementSmile

  • hitchglitch
    hitchglitch Forum Participant Posts: 3,007
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    edited January 2016 #11

    Fair weather campers us, that's why we generally go overseas and avoid UK. If it rains or turns cold we either go South or come home!

  • rayjsj
    rayjsj Forum Participant Posts: 930
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    edited January 2016 #12

    Fair weather campers us, that's why we generally go overseas and avoid UK. If it rains or turns cold we either go South or come home!

    Write your comments here...Then you are missing a very beautiful Country.......the UK.  And not using your van to the full. But we are all different, and enjoy different things. We much prefer the UK in fine OR bad weather.

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited January 2016 #13
    The user and all related content has been Deleted User
  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,671 ✭✭✭
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    edited January 2016 #14

    I would not mind being away in the van on a day like today, but most days recently have been pretty grim.

    Hope you get some decent weather!

  • hitchglitch
    hitchglitch Forum Participant Posts: 3,007
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    edited January 2016 #15

    Maybe it depends where you live? We are surrounded by countryside and are two minutes from the Thames. People come to this area for a holiday! Our home is warm and comfortable and close to my golf club. We are 5 minutes away from the train to London. Not
    much incentive to go elsewhere unless we want to visit a particular town.

  • Oneputt
    Oneputt Club Member Posts: 9,145 ✭✭✭
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    edited January 2016 #16

    Certainly not.  I'm just about to go off for the second trip this year, just love it and excited whatever time of year and wherever we goHappy

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited January 2016 #17

    I'm not a hot weather person so I'm happy even in the cold. Hopefully we'll be enjoying Baltic Wharf soon, I love the waterfront there and using the ferries. Then we're off to a cottage for a few days in Cornwall. I like to see the seasons changing in the
    UK. So another vote for all season travel.Smile

  • TanyaandMick
    TanyaandMick Forum Participant Posts: 139
    edited January 2016 #18

    There is nothing wrong with enjoying our hobby, roll on retirementSmile

    Write your comments here...I agree (3 years 11 months and two weeks and counting).....

  • eurortraveller
    eurortraveller Club Member Posts: 6,830 ✭✭✭
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    edited January 2016 #19

     

     

    We have been promised hard frosts , clear blue skies by day...  is it normal for a grown man just on retirement age to be this excited  ??

    I wouldn't say you are mad. - that would be very rude, but as soon as we both hit retirement age we were riding the boats from Krabi to Khao Lak and down through Malaysian waters to Langkawi and Penang -  catching up with all the experiences our backpacking kids had had, and on their sort of budget too.  There's more to retirement than winter weekends on a CL.

     Go for it you youngsters ! 

     

  • hitchglitch
    hitchglitch Forum Participant Posts: 3,007
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    edited January 2016 #20

    Our new Motorhome is available and ready for collection but we will not pick it up until the end of March. Too cold, wet and dark for us I'm afraid.

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited January 2016 #21

    Call from friends two days ago fancy a few days away?? Well that did not take much thinking about ,so here we are at Ferry Meadows until Sunday at leastCool

  • Wildwood
    Wildwood Club Member Posts: 3,585
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    edited January 2016 #22

    Not mad to enjoy the caravan but we would only go away in winter if weather forecadt was good. 

  • 1Tracey1
    1Tracey1 Forum Participant Posts: 240
    edited January 2016 #23

    Don't mind the cold at all...in fact I cannot wait for frosty mornings.  Don't mind the dark.  However, what is putting us off at the minute is all the rain.  This is probably as we have a dog we have to walk and everywhere is just so muddy at present.

  • Spriddler
    Spriddler Forum Participant Posts: 646
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    edited January 2016 #24

    Maybe it depends where you live? We are surrounded by countryside and are two minutes from the Thames. People come to this area for a holiday! Our home is warm and comfortable and close to my golf club. We are 5 minutes away from the train
    to London. Not much incentive to go elsewhere unless we want to visit a particular town.

    Exactly. I have winter interests, family, social activities and live in the countryside, walk my dog 3 or 4 miles over the fields every day and never feel I need to 'get away'. TBH I can think of nothing more miserable than swapping my log fire to sit be-jumpered
    in my m/h on a virtually empty site watching the rain. But then I am retired Happy and spend most of the spring and summer travelling in
    Europe following up interests and visiting places that were mentioned in non-fiction winter reading.

  • nelliethehooker
    nelliethehooker Club Member Posts: 13,647 ✭✭✭
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    edited January 2016 #25

    Fair weather campers us, that's why we generally go overseas and avoid UK. If it rains or turns cold we either go South or come home!

    Write your comments here...Then you are missing a very beautiful Country.......the UK.  And not using your van to the full. But we are all different, and enjoy different things. We much prefer the UK in fine OR bad weather.

    A lot  of folk see many  more "blue skies and crisp frosty mornings"  than me. I too am a fair weather camper and its not  because I have not toured our own country extensively that I go south where there is at least a chance of blue skies. We get 4 months
    a year in our van and wouldn’t mind doing a little more but not if it means sitting inside it  to keep warm and dry.

    Regardless of the weather there's no need to sit in to keep warm and dry. There are plenty of places to visit and things to see in this country, all the year round. We've managed plenty these last two months and hope to do ome more in the winter months to
    come.

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited January 2016 #26
    The user and all related content has been Deleted User
  • ABM
    ABM Forum Participant Posts: 14,578
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    edited January 2016 #27

    WOOHOO  !!Laughing

    Off  tomorrow  morning  for  a  few  days  in  the  Peak  District  { C.C. Site  @  Castleton }  to  cover  yopungest  Nephews  50th  birthday,  rest  of  family  will  be  in  the  party  hotel  for  the  duration,  while  I'm  out  of  the  'MadHouse' 
    enjoying  myself  no  matter  what  the  weather  Wink

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 9,394 ✭✭✭
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    edited January 2016 #28

    Motorhomes are too expensive to leave idle for too long. I largely use December and January to get the servicing done. Chassis and MOT done in December, habitation after Christmas. It is also the time insurance and vehicle tax falls due. I also use the time to get jobs done around the house. Be off in February though for a few days. February usually offers some crisp, dry sunny days.

    Where I live has nothing to do with whether I go away or not, even the most interesting and scenic places can become stale after you have lived in them for a while. Its one reason I have no wish to own a holiday home of any kind either here or in any other country.

    No the OP is not mad, enjoy it when and while you can.

    peedee

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited January 2016 #29

    Developing on from this topic, is caravanning/MHoming a means to an end or is it an end in itself? Is the caravan 'the thing' or is it because it lets you do other stuff in different places?

  • rayjsj
    rayjsj Forum Participant Posts: 930
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    edited January 2016 #30

    Developing on from this topic, is caravanning/MHoming a means to an end or is it an end in itself? Is the caravan 'the thing' or is it because it lets you do other stuff in different places?

    Write your comments here...bit of both really, the Winter is too long to hibernate through, and I dislike flying and being herded like cattle.Don't use the van locally though, go somewhere beyond a car day trip.For us of course that could be Ireland ?

  • Bakers2
    Bakers2 Forum Participant Posts: 8,196 ✭✭✭
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    edited January 2016 #31

    Our new Motorhome is available and ready for collection but we will not pick it up until the end of March. Too cold, wet and dark for us I'm afraid.

    I admire your containment, I couldn't have it ready and not want to see it and use it.  That'd be like waking up Christmas morning as a kid, seeing he'd been and being told despite the wait you've already had you'll have to wait until new years day or whatever. 
    I do hope when you collect it and take it over you have a great time.  I know you will
    Wink