Warwick Winter Warmer

So, our first year of caravanning comes to an end as we complete our last trip of the year! A fantastic trip it was too! We'd planned some time back to meet up with some friends from the young caravan club forum.

As it happens I just so happened to win a competition, through the Caravan Club to use a Nissan X-trail for our holiday, the club would also pay the site fees on the site of our choosing. So the holiday was planned and this weekend we went, sadly the break was a little shorter as I'm having to save my holidays at work as events at home mean I will need them soon in less pleasant circumstances.

However, we made the best of our two nights and had a fantastic time. As I don't believe anything should end on a low, I will talk about the Nissan first, as I am obliged to. After a small insurance error meaning the car sat outside and I couldn't drive it for the first day. I keenly awaited the day to take the caravan away with the Nissan in anticipation. Sadly the day never came, we could not tow our caravan with it, they had supplied towing mirrors, a rear number plate for our caravan and although there were no provisions for my peace of mind (my stabilizer bar) with the weather being clear I was prepared to take it anyway. However the crunch moment came when the Nissan failed the math test when hitching up, seven does not go into thirteen twice, or even once, and it was game over.

The trusty old Passat was called upon at short notice for only it's second time towing for us, the journey was smooth, economical and stress free even though we hit rush hour on the M42 having been delayed swapping cars. It is easy to see, even from older examples why VW wins so many tow car awards.

Added peace of mind came, that even with my 11 year old Passat, I know that in the event of tyre failure, I am able to continue towing on the spare wheel provided.

What can I say about the X-trail so far? It's been a rough couple of days, I've always loved the look of the x-trail and although we've only been to work in it twice, and to my dads once, it reminds me of some wise things my mother told me as a child, many popular sayings. To sum it up, I like the heated seats, the reversing camera is useful and the large sunroof is novel and although from the cars solo performance our doubts remain, we'd hoped it could redeem it's self on it's towing performance. I guess we will never know.

Back to the holiday, we chose Warwick Racecourse club site as we'd been there before, it was local for us, and to our friends, plus Warwick is a great place to stop. We stayed on the site back in the Summer and visited the Castle and part of the town. The sites location means once pitched up, we didn't need the car again, Sainsbury's is a 5 min walk, so is the town center and also the Castle.

Being at work Friday ment we didn't get to the site till late, so set up in the dark. The wardens were very helpful yet again and had marked out for us on a map the better pitches to use with all the wet weather we'd had recently. We set up, headed to get something for dinner and waited for our friends to arrive before settling in for the night.

This time we'd planned to Visit Kenilworth Castle on the Saturday, a short 10 min drive from Warwick, however at short notice we changed our plans and we found our selfs all heading into Birmingham City on the train. Our friends mentioned visiting the German Christmas Market in the city, which I'd always fancied visiting, and with a less than ideal weather forecast for the day at the castle we joined them. A short walk later we were at Warwick train station, it's been a very long time since I used the train, I admit the ticket cost shocked me, £14 saw 4 of us with return tickets to Birmingham, a bargain! The train ride it's self was only around 35 min and took out the stress of driving, or finding parking. We got off right over the road from the famous Bullring and headed in.

With less than 1 month til Christmas it was no surprise the city was busy, and the German Market was no exception. But the atmosphere was fantastic. I'm the first to admit i'm a bah humbug yet couldn't help feel the spirit in the city. Less tolerant than the average person to crowds I found my self laughing at how busy it was, rather than cursing. The smells of all the food being cooked ensured our first stop was for food, we queued for what I can only describe as the most incredible German Hot-dog, with a sausage almost a foot long in a bread roll. There was a choice of red or white sausage being Pork and beef, or just pork cooked on a huge fire pit. The queue was long, but fast and very worth the wait! We did debate returning again for another straight after finishing the first but thought best to move on, there was a lot to see.

The air was cold, the sky was clear and the views over the city were fantastic, as we headed to the top of the market the sun had started to set. Mulled wine was flowing, and so was the beer. I couldn't help let my sweet tooth take charge and found my self queuing for kebab sticks of a different type, fruit covered in the most lush Belgian Chocolate in existence! Or for those with the ultimate sweet tooth, Marsh mellows covered in chocolate. The Marsh mellow was my choice and a good one at that, heaven, pure heaven.

We returned through the busy town to the train station as dark crept in, a short wait saw us on the return train, leaving Birmigham illuminated by a fantastic dusk sky and glowing from a very special atmosphere.

Our walk back to the site found us walking past a chip shop, so that sorted a quick supper and off we trotted. On returning to the caravan's we all sat and ate in our Friends caravan and looked back on the day over chips and drinks.

When we returned to our caravan, even though it was still early, we were truly exhausted, and ready for bed. I fetched in the water pump to protect from frost while my better half set up the bed, and it was lights out.

Sunday morning dawned and it had been another fresh cold night. After fighting though and inch of ice in the aquarolls i re-installed the pump so we could wash, and have breakfast. Then I found I had to clear the waste pipes of ice, cracking the flexible pipes like some kind of 3 foot glow stick, but without the glow. All part of the fun of winter caravanning. We packed up in our own time, at our own pace and headed home. Our friends stayed on a little longer to take a walk into the town. As it stands, we still have Kenilworth castle yet to visit, and while heading back from the train station the night before we found a fantastic model and toy shop any big kid would adore, the sort full of old, classic and retro items bursting with charm rather than cold modern, fresh out the factory type stock, it was his closing time so we only had chance for a quick look around this gold mine. However, these two attractions are only part of the reason we will have to return to Warwick Racecourse very soon.

I had always looked forward to winter caravanning, although a little apprehensive I couldn't wait to get stuck in. All our non-caravanning friends think we're mad, the reality is we love it! It brings new challenges, yet as first year rookies it's very satisfying to know we can, and have done it. For me personally there is nothing better than stepping out onto crunchy grass and taking a walk though the cool air to see natures frozen beauty. Returning to a homely caravan with the sun streaming though the windows, the radio on low and the heater on high.

Bring on next year, all year!