What's the very worst thing about caravanning?

2

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  • IanH
    IanH Forum Participant Posts: 4,708
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    edited September 2016 #32

    Inconsiderate fellow campers. Everything else is acceptable even cleaning the van.

    I agree, Wherenext.......

  • IanH
    IanH Forum Participant Posts: 4,708
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    edited September 2016 #33

    I think its the realisation that its all starting to get a bit too much, -- rigging the awning especially. Can't get down to peg out any more, - & dont want to peg out trying!  Can hopefully manage for a couple more years because we'd miss it too much I
    think.  I wish now we hadn't bought another heavy  Coachman, because a lighter van would have permitted a smaller lighter `car!

    TF

    TF, just forget the awning.

    I'm sure a lot of people just use them out of habit - part of the ritual of setting up on site.

    When we realised that we didn't really need one, caravanning became so much better. No more endless pegging, no more worrying when the wind was blowing, no more concern about when to take it down if rain threatened.

    When we realised that we'd moved from tenting to caravanning and no longer needed all that, the whole process improved considerably.

  • nelliethehooker
    nelliethehooker Club Member Posts: 13,647 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2016 #34

    Inconsiderate fellow campers. Everything else is acceptable even cleaning the van.

    I agree, Wherenext.......

    Me too. I like cleaning our caravan inside and out. It fills in the time between trips!Wink

  • Pippah45
    Pippah45 Forum Participant Posts: 2,452
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    edited September 2016 #35

    Finding a CL is overcrowded on arrival - we love these for the peace and quiet. 

    Only put up the awning now for stays of 4 or more nights and the weather is due to be good. Between Sept and April it doesn't go up at all if we are out and about.

    Daft one - bending down to locate the electric drill to find the nut for the rear steadies - its well under the van on our Bailey. 

    Write your comments here...Paul a dab of white paint on the nut helps me locate it!

     

  • Pippah45
    Pippah45 Forum Participant Posts: 2,452
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    edited September 2016 #36

    My dislike currently is the uncertainty of being able to find the site I am headed for although now I have tried Google Earth successfully I may be spared this stress.

    Filling and emptying aren't a lot of fun either.

  • cycletourleader
    cycletourleader Forum Participant Posts: 5
    edited September 2016 #37

    The worst thing is that days only have 24 hours and weeks on,y have 7 days.....

  • black caviar
    black caviar Forum Participant Posts: 242
    edited September 2016 #38

    Tygerfish i agree with ianh ,if you could manage without awning it might make it easier , our old hymer caravan was bought secondhand and came with a very nice awning , we have everything to go in it but , because theres only two of us i dont think its worth
    the effort of putting it up and up to now we havent used it but i keep thinking well weve got it therefore we should use it , but its so much easier not too :)we havent got any dogs ,kids, or bikes so i think ill leave it at home cheers mrs bc:)

  • black caviar
    black caviar Forum Participant Posts: 242
    edited September 2016 #39

    Ps i also think ill get a garden kneeler with the handles at side .... Good idea , i just have kneepad at moment and it's embarrassing when i try to get up off my knees lol 

  • Spriddler
    Spriddler Forum Participant Posts: 646
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    edited September 2016 #40

    Washing the van its like washing a bus Sad

    v9

    Yuk! I can't be doing with step ladders, buckets 'n hoses and water running up my arms.The team of Eastern Europeans at the village garage do an immaculate job of my motorhome twice or thrice a year, roof an' all, for 60 quid a pop.

    After 45 years of graft, retirement's too precious to spend time squidging flies off fibreglass.

  • Spriddler
    Spriddler Forum Participant Posts: 646
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    edited September 2016 #41

    I meant to add that they do caravans as well...............whilst owners wait, and on one occasion there was a mud-caked JCB being sparkled up. I've also seen them washing off horses and an AGA cooker (Well, I am by the horsey Hickstead Showground, although why one didn't get one's gardener to use one's moat beats me) .Cool

  • DSB
    DSB Club Member Posts: 5,677 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2016 #42

    I know what you mean about the awning Tigerfish and IanH.  We only used the wind out canopy during our 7 weeks in France/Germany/Italy - mainly to provide shelter for our 'awning fridge'.  We didn't even take the sides with us.  Since we've been back, for
    our visits to Cornwall and Dorset, we didn't bother -especially as there was only two of us.  I can see us only putting the sides in the awning for a long stay.

    David 

  • SELL
    SELL Forum Participant Posts: 398
    edited September 2016 #43

    For me taking the awning down when it is raining and then getting it dried and packed away at home.

  • tigerfish
    tigerfish Forum Participant Posts: 1,362
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    edited September 2016 #44

    Thanks Guy's, I guess I do get a bit down occasionally. After a lifetime of being the strong guy, its a bit difficult to accept that things are different now.  Nil Desperandum!  The Old warhorse will keep going as long as possible. I agree that the awning has become an unneccessary incumberance!

    TF

  • RangeRoverMan
    RangeRoverMan Forum Participant Posts: 125
    edited September 2016 #45

    I meant to add that they do caravans as well...............whilst owners wait, and on one occasion there was a mud-caked JCB being sparkled up. I've also seen them washing off horses and an AGA cooker (Well, I am by the horsey Hickstead Showground, although
    why one didn't get one's gardener to use one's moat beats me) .Cool

    That sounds good to me. Where is It? I'm in Horsham.

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited September 2016 #46

    Has to be cleaning the caravan roof. I'm always amazed at the speed with which some of you can apparently clean your vans. Washing mine off takes about 1.5-2 hours. Polishing a further couple of days, mostly because it's too tiring to do it all in one go.

  • papgeno
    papgeno Forum Participant Posts: 2,158
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    edited September 2016 #47

    For me the only bad thing about caravanning is worrying that I'll be able to get the awning down dry because I don't have anywhere to dry it at home. Most of the time I worry for nothing as we usually manage to get it down the day before we move on. I agree
    about pegging out since I'm waiting for a knee replacement and the other one is starting to go as well. I use an old car mat but I can only kneel on one knee and getting up again is a challenge

  • Mitsi Fendt
    Mitsi Fendt Forum Participant Posts: 484
    100 Comments
    edited September 2016 #48

    Meeting grumpy people on site who haven't got the time of day to say hello or good morning, heads down when they go past you going or coming to the toilet block, totally ignore you.

    Write your comments here...Agree

  • meecee
    meecee Forum Participant Posts: 304
    edited September 2016 #49

     

     

    The team of Eastern Europeans at the village garage do an immaculate job of my motorhome twice or thrice a year, roof an' all, for 60 quid a pop.

    After 45 years of graft, retirement's too precious to spend time squidging flies off fibreglass.

    My feelngs entirely - however OH will never pay anyone to do something he thinks he can do himself (male pride/he thinks he's 25) so he spends nearly a whole day cleaning the m'home, aarrgh!

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited September 2016 #50

     .... My feelngs entirely - however OH will never pay anyone to do something he thinks he can do himself (male pride/he thinks he's 25) so he spends nearly a whole day cleaning the m'home, aarrgh!

    I can spend all day hoovering, washing & polishing a car ... never mind  motorhome Cool

  • Briang
    Briang Club Member Posts: 670 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2016 #51

    Watching someone on a pitch quite close to you washing and polishing their car every single day.

  • meecee
    meecee Forum Participant Posts: 304
    edited September 2016 #52

     .... My feelngs entirely - however OH will never pay anyone to do something he thinks he can do himself (male pride/he thinks he's 25) so he spends nearly a whole day cleaning the m'home, aarrgh!

    I can spend all day hoovering, washing & polishing a car ... never mind  motorhome Cool

    Haha, same happens here .............not by me, needless to say.

  • Metheven
    Metheven Club Member Posts: 3,987 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2016 #53

    Knowing there are 'saddo's on site watching my every move through their little window on the world Frown instead of enjoying the holiday they were suppose to have come for.

  • katieb
    katieb Forum Participant Posts: 74
    edited September 2016 #54

    It used to be cleaning the van

    Although we did it properly only once a year, the prospect always filled me with dread.

    The one good thing about my back getting worse has been that  I can now get someone else to do it without feeling guilty.

    Being a natural worrier, my new concern is whether the battery is charged up enough to get us in and out of the barn where we store the van - I would not be the most popular person in the village if I blocked the narrow approach lane.

  • JonCaz
    JonCaz Forum Participant Posts: 84
    edited September 2016 #55

    The very worst thing about caravaning for me is: 

    Not being away in the caravan....that is all 

  • Spriddler
    Spriddler Forum Participant Posts: 646
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    edited September 2016 #56

    I meant to add that they do caravans as well...............whilst owners wait, and on one occasion there was a mud-caked JCB being sparkled up. I've also seen them washing off horses and an AGA cooker (Well, I am by the horsey Hickstead Showground, although why one didn't get one's gardener to use one's moat beats me) .Cool

    That sounds good to me. Where is It? I'm in Horsham.

    Hurst Hand Car Wash, Albourne Rd, Hurstpierpoint. BN6 9TX,  next to 'The White Horse' pub

    The boss who has fair English wasn't there this morning but one of his operatives was, and in a gesticulating and monosyllabic 'conversation' he said that caravans are fine. I was unable to get a cost from him (depends upon size and condition) but my 6m m/home was 60 quid in June, including removing grubby winter rain streaks and some algae around the windows and body trim with a sort of T-Cut cleaner. I point out not to aim their pressure hose directly at window and door frames, seals and roof vents (which they comply with), nevertheless I fit the covers on the two fridge vents. Many decry the use of pressure hoses but it has never leaked either at the time nor later in heavy rain. (Touch wood).

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited September 2016 #57

     

    I can spend all day hoovering, washing & polishing a car ... never mind  motorhome Cool

    To do a decent job, it takes all day.

  • hitchglitch
    hitchglitch Forum Participant Posts: 3,007
    1000 Comments
    edited September 2016 #58

    Finding a CL is overcrowded on arrival - we love these for the peace and quiet. 

    Only put up the awning now for stays of 4 or more nights and the weather is due to be good. Between Sept and April it doesn't go up at all if we are out and about.

    Daft one - bending down to locate the electric drill to find the nut for the rear steadies - its well under the van on our Bailey. 

    For the steady problem you need two short sections of plastic pipe  as used in plumbing and two U-brackets which you can screw to the underside of the van. They will act as guides for the brace.

  • Remus
    Remus Forum Participant Posts: 132
    edited September 2016 #59

    Anyone kicking a football within 50 metres of the caravan.

  • trellis
    trellis Forum Participant Posts: 1,102
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    edited September 2016 #60

    Having to return home and go back to work .

  • AutoAddict
    AutoAddict Forum Participant Posts: 114
    edited September 2016 #61

    Having to return home and go back to work .

    Work? What's work.....